We did get off forty minutes earlier, which was good. But other events conspired to make us out even later than before.
It started off well. We left Cadenet and headed north. We had an option to do a side trek to the village of Cucuron, but we decided to skip it and go onward to Lourmarin. I didn’t particularly care for that place. It had a flea market that was selling stuff that wasn’t compatible with a bicycling lifestyle. I poked around back and found a hidden castle, but that was about it.
We then continued over the “Petit Luberon” mountains. That was going to be the most significant climb of the entire trip. It wasn’t that hard. It was a tolerable grade, and the scenery was nice. Although I must admit that Provence seems very dry, but it is known for growing a great variety of produce.
I passed the entrance to the bicycle only route of the “Massif des Cedres” which I found out later would have been a lovely route to take. It is all along the mountain range, but doesn’t go up or down significantly. However, if we had taken it, it would have taken us all the way back to Cavaillon.
Once over the mountains, the entire Luberon valley opened up to us. The village of Bonnieux was just ahead of us, and we stopped there for lunch. We ate at a place with a terrace view of the valley, and it even had access to the Internet. So I updated my Facebook with a picture of my spectacular view. And then used the map program to try and figure out what all the villages we could see were. Definitely a nerd.
After lunch, things started going bad. The map, the directions, and reality didn’t always agree in this trip. Here is where the written directions said one thing, the map route implied another, and reality did whatever it darn well pleased. The directions won us over this time, and it did take us to the village of Apt, but then everything went to pot. The directions and the map route were completely confusing, and frequently in conflict with one another. We got lost several times in that village, even going up a steep hill just to find that it was the wrong way. This could have all been solved easily with a simple map of Apt, but the organizers didn’t have the decency to do that.
I got the impression that this route we are on has never been beta tested. At no point did they give the instructions to someone and see what happened. Very poor ethics there. I’ve been keeping my Garmin on at all times in the route, and I think I should send the results to the organizers, along with notes on the instructions so they can make this product halfway usable.
Despite the best efforts of the directions, we did get to Roussillon. We promptly raided a grocery store and got liquid refreshments. We accosted a German tourist with a GPS system to find out where our hotel was. There it had our luggage. It did not have a pool, but that may have had something to do with the hotel being several hundred years old. My colleague got a room with a large bed, but I got a room that feels like a converted attic. I have to go up two flights of stairs, the latter being narrow with ample opportunity to bash your head in. At the top is my room. The bed is small. The bathroom doesn’t have a shower curtain, so when I use the sprayer, water get everywhere. I also have to crouch a lot with the low ceiling. However, I have a deck, that gives me a great view of the valley. I am on it right now, at eleven o’clock, enjoying the stars as I update my journal.
I’ve been giving my Australian colleague a quick overview of the northern hemisphere’s stars. She now can find the, previously unknown, North Star. I’ve also been using a iPhone app to figure out some of the constellations I should know.
Tomorrow, the guide gives us several options, all of which return us to Roussillon. I could go do a mountain that is on the Tour de France. We could do a loop through the “Provence Collorado”. However, we have lost all trust in the guidebook, so we aren’t about to go on a 42km cycle ride on its word. As for the Mount Ventoux part of the Tour de France, I don’t feel it is advisable with a heavy, steel bike. Maybe if I had my light road bike.
In any case, Roussillon, with it’s beautiful ochre cliffs, sounds like a nice place to spend the day.
2012-9-8 23:08