Today was one of those days. Everything hurt when I woke up and I had to struggle to get going. God Bless Pjoter and William. Pjoter got bread (and a chocolate croissant for me!) so we could have a 'Community breakfast'. It was all very gezellig.

The boys took off first, followed by Caroline and Michiel then us. We left about 10am. The first 30km were flat (thank goodness). About ½ way there we ran into the rest of the group (they took a wrong turn). We all stopped at around 12 in a small village and sat on a terrace (in the shade, since it was HOT) and had a drink, then on to the carrefours mall. We spent almost 2 hours shopping for food and stuff to carry. Lens wanted a disposable BBQ, but had no luck. I did find him two books, though. After that trip, William and Pyoter went on ahead and the four of us (the two of us plus Caroline and Michiel) went to the Quick burger. We wanted McD's but it was too far.

After lunch, the last half of the ride was almost continuously uphill, a steep ones at that. Of the group, I was consistently the last uphill, working my turtles pace on low/lowest gear. All three were always waiting patiently for me at the top with words of encouragement and time to drink my water before going on.

The last part was (HURRAH) downhill, my favorite part. I must have been going around 60kph/37mph. It doesn't seem so fast now, but it was exhilarating.

We got to the campsite and found the boys waiting for us. They told the reception we were coming, so we bought lots of beer and went off to find them and set up camp.

We sat around having a rest and a drink and William offered to fix my bike. Lens had noticed that my back tire was bent, so William looked at it and noticed that I had broken a spoke. He temporarily fixed it until I could make it to a bike shop. We had a GREAT dinner with a burrito kit and found that the campsite had a washer and a dryer. Jackpot! It was a nice campsite and although we were reluctant to split up with everyone else, we decided we needed another rest day. We were tired and needed to give our bodies a rest.

We had decided to make today a rest day, to prepare for a 7km/4.3mi climb we had coming up. We got up at 7am and I decided it would be a good time to do laundry. So I put in the first of two loads. It was already warming up. We were sad to see the others go but we were tired. I got the first load out and put in the second. It was GREAT washing machine. The clothes were almost dry when I took them out.

We all had breakfast together then William and Pjoter left. By the time Michel and Caroline left, we had decided to go on too.

While Michiel was packing a Dutch kid walked by and pointed to his bike and said (in Dutch) I have the same bike, but mine is better (Ik heb de zelfde fiets, maar mijne is veel mooier) Michiel said I'm sure it is (Inderdaad, ja!)

By 11am we were packed and ready to go. It was hot, +30C/+85F. Almost immediately we hit the climbs and there were lots of them today. I decided that my knees were more important then my pride today and walked up the steeper hills. The hills went mostly through forest land (or along military ground), so it was almost like taking a stroll through a forest (while pushing a bike loaded down with crap uphill).

By 16:30 we hit our destination, Haute Rives. It was 37C/98.6F. We found the campsite and were starving, so we set up camp, showered and headed into town. We had a few drinks on a terrace then headed to the restaurant on the corner. There we had what was probably the BEST meal so far, a great bottle of wine then headed back to sleep.

We got up around 6:30am and headed out at 8:15. We wanted to make it to a bike shop before 11am to fix my broken spoke and get a check up on my bike. It was a good thing we left early because it was warming up and we had a few climbs to start off the day. We got to Romans at 11am and promptly discovered 2 things:
1. August 15th is a national holiday, so EVERYTHING is closed
2. The bike shop was closed until August 20th anyway.

We were out of luck so we had a drink on a terrace.

We continued on to Chambeuil and ran into Caroline and Michiel on the way. Together we rode into the historic center of Chambeuil and had a good lunch (hache, frites and a salad) and headed out a little before 15h. I took some beautiful photos of the town and the ride that day. Sadly it was all lost with my camera in Orange…

We had a long climb ahead and the sun was pounding down on us. In addition we had the added benefit of a hot wind blowing against us up and downhill so we could get no relief. To add to our misery, we realized that we had forgotten to refill our water bottles and were out of water.

Dehydrated, tired and HOT, we got to the top of a hill in a small village, in the shadow of the ruins of an old castle (another photo lost) we found a water found filled with icy cold water. What joy! Sweet relief! We filled all of our bottles and refilled them again after we had drenched our heads and bodies with ice water, then continued on.

The famous Crest Castle

It was a hard long hot day. We finally got to the campsite in Crest at around 16h. To our great joy (two great joy's in one day…can my heart take it?) there was a swimming pool and a bar/terrace/restaurant. We set up our tents and went straight to the pool.

It was the first time I felt like I was on vacation. Alternating between dips in the pool and lounging in the sun reading my book, trying desperately to get rid of my bikers tan.

After about an hour, the four of us migrated a few feet from the pool to the terrace and had a few drinks then dinner. It was a perfect evening. It was warm as we sat outside, the sun was setting, the alcohol was flowing and the food was coming. We ate and drank until 11:30, where we discovered in the course of conversation that Lens and Caroline went to college together, although she was 1 year behind him.

We crawled to our tents and fell into a deep sleep.

We got up around 7:30, probably still a little buzzed from last night and slowly made our way out at 9:30. Caroline and Michiel were long gone by then. We went to the bike shop only to find that they didn't carry spokes in my size. Figures that with all the other problems my bike has, irregular wheel size is one of them.. So we went to the super market to get breakfast and headed out.

Our first climb was a killer. A 7km/4.3mi long steep climb. Both of us were feeling the pain from last nights beer/wine fest which didn't help, nor put either of us in a good mood. Fortunately the weather was sympathetic and it stayed cool and overcast most of the day.

I walked most of the way up and tried to drink in the breathtaking scenery around me. Through the Saore forest with running streams and thick trees, interlaced with sheer granite cliffs. It looked like Yosemite (my frame of reference).

When we got to the top we had to put on our fleeces for the sail down. It was cold and it was sprinkling.

The ride from the point was beautiful. We sailed downhill and rode through a valley which was carved through a mountain.

We stopped for a drink and a sandwich before the second 7km/4.3mi climb of the day then headed out. Lens made it all the way to the top in one go. I rode up, but had to stop a few times. The top of the mountain opened up a wide expanse of Provence below us.

The herbs, the herbs!

At the bottom, after sailing past several old stone houses and fields of rosemary and thyme, which perfumed the air, we passed through a village, rode through the medieval center then on to Valreal. A little ways outside of Valreal we officially entered the provinces of Cote D'Azure and Provence.

We got to the campsite and were happy to see a pool. Things went downhill from there. The French guy at the reception gave us the impression that we were bothering him. The showers were cold both in the morning and in the afternoon, but there was a washing machine. We were glad to be staying only one night and couldn't wait to get out of there. Tomorrow we were going to Orange where we would have a rest day. Yay!