Sunday, October 23, 2011

The French Expedition

If you were to ask me where my all-time favourite place in the world is, I wouldn't have to think about it for too long. For me the answer is a simple one; the top of Mont Ventoux looking northward towards the southern tip of the Alps on a clear day. Perfect. For the last couple of years our family holidays have all been to the south of France and twice they have been to a small village called Seguret which is situated in the department of Varcluse in Provence and sits just a few miles west of the legendary Ventoux. Both of the times we have been we have journeyed down in early august, just me, my sister, my folks and of course the bikes. I have always used this time as a kind of training camp and took it up on myself to put In some hard long miles and prepare myself for an end of season peak, this has meant that although the riding was fantastic I never really took the time to savour the enjoyment and realise how great the riding actually was as there was always an sense of pressure to get the training done; I spent more time looking at my Garmin head unit and the watts than I did looking at the amazing scenery.

It's now late October and we are making the same trip down to Ventoux as we have made in previous years only this time a few things will be different. Firstly we are going at a different time of year, autumn, and I have no idea what the weather will be like which could prove interesting. Secondly I am heading down with my mum, my dad and my best mate Mikey, yes the same Mikey that broke his collar bone only a few weeks ago! Lastly, although I will be putting in some long miles it will not be hard focused training but will instead be about getting in some early winter base miles and actually taking the time to take in the scenery and enjoy being on my bike, my power meter will be present but I won't be drawn to the numbers this time.

Day 1& 2 – The Long Way Down

The south of France is long way away and we don't take the easy quick option of flying down, oh no, we like to do it the long and uncomfortable way of driving it. 800 miles from Stratford upon Avon to the Village of Villes Sur Arzon where we will be staying. In the past years we have just done it all in one go but this time we decided to break it up a little in order to make it a bit more bearable.

At 5.36 pm sharp we had the car fully loaded with 3 bikes, 1 week worth of food, clothes and essentials, various bits of equipment including 4 smart phones, 1 laptop, 3 Garmin's, 1 Tom Tom, 2 cameras and about 10 different chargers., Oh and 4 people! After a quick stop at a post box to post a letter which I forget to do we set off on the first leg of the journey, rather than drive straight down to Folkestone, get on the train and then continue down to France, we decided we would stop at a Travelodge about 10 miles before for the tunnel and get a few hours kip before boarding the training at 5am the next morning. We got the Travelodge at about 8.30 on the night and after sneaking 4 people and a bike in to a 3 person room, we had a quick cuppa, a bit to eat and then hit the sack before an early rise.


As expected it was crap night's sleep for everyone except for my old man who kept us all awake with his intoxicating snoring!! Teeth brushed, clothes on and beds somewhat made, we headed out the door at 4.20am and made our way to the tunnel ready for our depart and the start of what we class as the real journey. Thankfully we got on the train without a hitch and 35 minutes later we were in the gran land of the Frenchies and faced with a further 600 miles of driving ahead of us. The first 100 miles were easy as I made up for the sleep that I lost the night before and woke up at around 9am and was greeted by thick fog and a temperature gauge that read 2 degrees!!! A bit of a change to when we head down in the summer. I have to admit that I detest long car journeys but thankfully I had a few things to keep me entertained such as angry birds on my phone and writing this blog, I hope that these simple pleasures would help the journey go a bit quicker.


After getting 200 miles under our belt and breezing on past Reims, we decided to stop at service station and get some breakfast and fill the car up with fuel. It's crazy, every country is the same when it comes to motorway services, they know they have you by the bollocks and will charge extortionate amounts for anything they can. The petrol is twice the price and a couple a panachocolates, 3 bottles of drink and a pack of biscuits came to 14 euros. Filthy bastards! Anyway, breakfast consumed we are back in car and hurtling out way down to Lyon with 300 miles to go and the weather still looking grim.


600 miles later and finally we pulled up outside Le Maison Juane, out temporary home for the next week and what an amazing place. Right in the centre of the village, the house is 3 stories, full of character and has a real homely feel. It took about 20 minutes to unpack all of the car and get ourselves sorted, soon we a were sitting down in front of the TV with sore tired eyes, drinking tea and rifling through a box of roses whilst watching X Factor! Nice. It wasn't long before we were all in bed after a long exhausting day and looking forward to the first ride of the holiday just the very next day.

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