Lavender, Chateaux, and One More Mountain

We left the Med behind and headed north, well, a little north. Just so happens that Mont Ventoux of Tour de France fame, was more or less along our route and since our Lonely Planet guide to Cycling in France said one of the takeoff points for that peak was a quaint village in the middle of lavender fields in Provence, I agreed to making this our first stop. My French has progressed enough that I felt confident in calling ahead to a hotel recommended by the guide so we could have reservations.

The town of Sault turned out to be even better than the guide said and I wandered the wonderful village streets that I love to my heart's content. On the way we got to see lavender being harvested. We ate at a creperie with a view of the town square with it's fountain and stone walled buildings, their shutters painted red and blue. I kept telling Rick I could not believe how lucky I was to be there.

Mont Ventoux

The next morning Rick rode off to knock off Mont Ventoux, a ride which the guide said should take at least 2 1/2 hours to the summit. He was back in less than three hours even though he spent a good twenty minutes visiting with various riders at the summit. I think he's in shape now...

While Rick was riding I found a great shop with nice table linens and splurged on a set for my patio table. I felt a little guilty until we got to the Loire Valley and I saw the prices there. I did good!

We pretty much drove the next day and arrived in Chinon on the Vienne river just next to the Loire on Sunday afternoon. Our hotel was in a century old house on Place Jeanne d'Arc with a large statue of Joan on a horse trampling over some poor guy in the square. The town was charming (not again!) and with lots of the old narrow streets (again!) that I love to wander. Then next day I finally got on my bike for the first time. Geez! We had been warned to expect busloads of tourists in the Loire, but the Lonely Planet guide served us well once again, guiding us on a GREAT ride on tiny, quiet roads along the Loire. We rode up to the castle at Usse (also known as the sleeping beauty castle, and then on to the castle at Langeais. I stopped often along the way to take pictures of the lovely countryside and the many old villages we passed through. We caught an English tour of the castle and Langeais and I'm glad. It was very entertaining and educational. Never saw a single bus!

Rick rides up to Usse. The Castle at Langeais

Tuesday dawned kind of rainy so we opted to learn "French Laundry!" Language dificulties resulted in two loads of very well rinsed clothes, but with the soap still in the machine's dispenser! Oh well....

I kept thinking the weather would improve but when it didn't I decided to get Ricky to drive us out to another castle. Villandry was noted to have the best gardens in the region and was only 20 kilometers away. The rain increased as we drove that direction but we did the chateau tour first, which was impressive, and then the gardens later. The rain did let up a bit after the tour so we had a nice walk through the grounds. The gardens there are absolutely amazing. They are the usual French geometric hedgework, but so extensive and so well and beautifully filled in with red, purple, white, and pink, and SO HUGE that I was just blown away. I bought a book on it and a large poster. I took photos, but they won't do it justice. So glad we did that. (Sorry, photos not downloaded yet!)

Now we have arrived in Paris and are enjoying the hospitality of another Holiday Inn on points. Some of our friends from Rick's bike club are here, too and we plan t get together with them sometime during our stay here.