September 4, 2025
Day Five - Châteauneuf-de-Randon to Orange
The first of two travel logs written months later looking at some notes I'd taken down on the day...sorry!
After a delicious meal the night before, I was ready to break camp and get ready to leave for my next adventure for the day. I think this was the morning I managed to (hope you're not eating) step in the leavings of one of the dogs that seemingly has free range in the rather quiet campsite. Bother. In addition to that, one of the zippers on my frame bag got caught in the bag that my tent's poles are stored in...not ideal!
Still, I did manage to leave by 9:30 AM which wasn't too bad in the end. I can't quite remember what my plans for the day were, I know I was heading for Mont Ventoux but I think about 10 miles in I realised the weather for that evening was awful, and the next day at Bedoin and Ventoux wouldn't be good in the morning either, so I decided to cut my route for the day short and book a hotel in "Orange". I'm sure the French pronounce that name different from what an English speaker would! Maybe they're secretly Dutch.
The views were pleasant albeit familiar as I slowly descended following the previous day's climbing. I guess I'd better check out the photos. Yes, similar to the previous days...rolling green hills. Pretty but familiar. I did encounter the first (foreshadowing!) hydroelectric dam of the day too.
I knew a steep descent was coming up...annoyingly my Garmin only colour codes climbs. I'm really not a fan of super-steep descents though. How do I know how much descending my disc brakes can take? Well I suppose it's always bound to be more braking than my rim brake equipped Triban 3 can handle, so no chance of heat induced flat tyres, but all the same I don't want my disc rotors warping.
Anyway, yes the start of this descent was quite steep, such that I ended up stopping several times just to let brake fluid and rotors cool down. Quite whether this was necessary in the slightest I have no idea but it made me feel better at least! I bet I've said this ten times already but the descents I like are the ones where I only feel the need to brake immediately before the corners. If I'm going so fast that I feel the need to brake on a straight...not for me.
With me whinging about riding conditions while on holiday out the way, once the descending had flattened out a bit - wow!
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The surroundings were nothing like what I had expected. I was greeted by steep valleys all around me, covered in brown rocks and cliffs, it all took me rather by surprise. I did of course take lots of photos - the vista I was presented with didn't look far removed from what I've seen in the south of Spain. I guess that's not actually particularly shocking, I was travelling both south and descending. My planned ETA for the Hotel F1 in the evening was steadily getting later and later but at this point I wasn't bothered. Stunning views always slow me down, as they should!
I did encounter a few more hydro-electric dams, along with another rider on holiday, who unfortunately didn't speak great English, and of course I don't really speak French, so that was a shame. Soon after the descent gradient became less steep I also came across a guy going up the climb with a full pannier bag setup (at least front and rear) - rather him than me! I hope he had very very low gearing.
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Much to my relief (I assume!) I managed to get my lunch for the day from a supermarket and found a nice view of the town I found myself in - Les Vans, not the shoe brand I suspect! Finding lunch in France at lunch time will forever be a bit of a chore given they like to close their shops just as my stomach starts to rumble! I shared the view and the location with the Leighton Buzzard cycling group I'm part of, Leighton BuzzCycles. I hope I didn't make them too jealous! I did see a bunch of cyclists with touring kit on the other side of the valley while I was eating, closer to the centre of the town. They appeared to be cycling about as fast as I'd expect someone to who was laden with all those pannier bags.
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By 2PM I'd eaten my lunch and I knew a thunderstorm was approaching, and I'd only just finished getting to the half way point of the day's riding! It's difficult for me to have a cheery disposition in these situations, so perhaps it was just as well I was on my own.
Once I'd finished descending out of the "Parc National Des Cevennes" the ride became rather plodding and monotomous. In the end the anticipation of the first storm of the day turned out to be more of a concern than the storm itself!
I know that because once the heavens had opened and I was soaked through, rather peversely my spirits had actually improved! I was still warm, had some good music playing and I knew things couldn't get any worse really! Well, I suppose I could have got a flat tyre, but I didn't! I ended up taking refuge at a petrol station so I could actually use my phone in peace under shelter and fill my gob with food to power the next 15 miles or so of riding to get to Orange. The French like to lock their bins seemingly so I think the staff at the petrol station stop realised I'd tried to get rid of my litter and failed, and then they kindly took it off me instead. I don't know how municipalities that don't make it easy to dispose of litter expect people to keep the place clean. They probably don't consider that not all of us are travelling in cars and can store rubbish easily. Careful, I might go off on an anti-car rant, we don't want that! According to my notes I ate "raspberry jaffacakes and orange jam dessert things". I bet you're jealous now!
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There were a few flashes of lightning but the storm didn't actually last that long at all. Not only was the storm short lived, but it was replaced by sunshine - rejoice! I did try to sprint the last hour or so but the higher power output probably only lasted about fifteen to twenty minutes. Still, my mood had improved and if you can't put the power down after you've just taken in a whole load of sugar and you're in a good mood, then when can you?
Completely accidentally I ended up cycling on Eurovelo 17, which was a pleasant surprise after having followed EV5 plenty of times last year on my way to Rome.
By this point the storm had rumbled past and the sun was out, what a contrast! Three hours ago I'd been in a grumpy mood, but now the sun was beaming my spirits were lifting along with the temperature. I got to the Hotel F1 seemingly at the edge of town. It turned out the room I had booked was not on the ground floor, so that quickly got rectified, I don't really want to hike my bike up a flight of stairs.
The room was really very spartan, but that was fine. The main point of my stay was to avoid the storm. My shoes were soaked through still from riding through the earlier storm, oh dear. That had to be dealt with as soon as possible, so it was time to stuff them full of toilet paper, which does seem to work.
After that was sorted, it was time for my evening meal, and I'd decided that meant pizza! Something posessed me to try walking in the uncomfortable sandals. That was not so great but it was only a ten minute walk. I decided upon a pizza from a trailer at the edge of a car park. Yes, seemed a bit incongruous with pizza worth eating, but it had good ratings online. It seemed to take forever to make! There were other people there already waiting for orders. I thought I'd try using google translate to see if I could make out what they were saying - I recall someone of it being about work and various swear words peppered in. They were quite animated anyway.
At last my pizza was ready! Time to hurredly shuffle back to my accomodation before I got rained on. The storm started about five minutes after I got back, phew! Deciding not to camp that evening was definitely a wise decision.
I'm not exactly sure where I was aiming for before the route change - maybe all the way to Bédoin? Just as well I didn't as the next day supposedly wasn't great for riding up Ventoux anyway.
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