Mazan to Vaison-la-Romaine

June 28, 2023

It was a very windy night and we woke a few times with the noise on the tent walls. It was also much colder. I transferred Tobias into his proper sleeping bag when we went to bed for the first time in weeks since he woke up at about 11 and felt cold. Strange to go from a 36 degree day to needing our jerseys again the next day.

Tobias discovered another ride on plastic tractor toy, so we had an easy time getting away again. Though he has discovered "packing" and helps us out by throwing miscellaneous things into random panniers and the trailer which is a good start, but not so helpful. We waved goodbye to our host at about 10:30 and set off. She was incredibly friendly and we felt very well looked after. We got the name of the cafe her daughter works at, so we might call in next time we are in Queenstown.

Our ride today was designed purely for pleasure and not about the most efficient route from a to b. We wound our way towards Mont Ventoux, past a few groups of cyclists posing for photos with the mountain in the background. I'm pretty sure a few people asked us if we were going to the summit. I think they were joking, though I'm sure at least a few people have hauled all their gear and a baby up there. Instead we looped on little roads around the hilltop town of Crillon-le-Brave before tackling the very steep ascent into town for some pastry. The extra bonus of the loop was finding Tobias a new sunhat on the ground. The one I made him is too floppy, and the cycling cap James made him doesn't actually protect him from the sun.

We had a nice winding descent through olive trees before climbing again for the next 10km. The route was everything Bruno promised us this region would be - beautiful, quiet roads, and a few tough hills. We stopped for lunch beneath some olive trees and saw only a few cyclists and no cars come past.

After lunch we carried on climbing, zig zagging across the main road a few times, but mostly on almost car free streets. We risked going past a road closed sign at the bottom of a particularly steep section up to Le Barroux and luckily the big hole in the road had a meter clear beside it so we could get around.

On the descent we encountered some new mountains ahead of us, but still had Ventoux on our right all afternoon. Tobias woke up just as we were getting into Vaison-la-Romaine where we planned to stop at the supermarket. We stopped in the square for a beer, then headed to the Intersport for new gas and electrolytes and to the supermarket for dinner.

It was just 5km to our campsite from there and with a much milder headwind than yesterday. We are at another smaller camp ground with terraced sites under the pine trees. It's a really nice place and we are right next to the pool so we swam as soon as we got the tent up. It seems like everyone here knows everyone and a few people seem to be arriving and setting up for the summer. It feels very cozy. We supplemented our salad dinner with a pizza from the foodtruck down at the bar.

We have a longer, but less hilly, day tomorrow to our apartment in Bourg-saint-Andéol for 2 nights tomorrow.