My past two summers had been spent cycling along the Canal Du Midi which was beautiful but it was time for a change. Cycling in the South of France was a great experience and I wanted to go there again and also it’s a great opportunity to speak a bit of French which I had been practising in night school over the past couple of years.
I came up with the idea of cycling in Provence by looking at all of the other adventure holidays out there to see where they go.
We caught the European Bike Express to Orange and then went off on our adventure cycling in a loop around the area. The European Bike Express is a guaranteed and environmentally friendly way of getting your bicycle to your destination. I did look into catching a train down to the south of France but there were restrictions on some of the trains when it came to carrying bicycles so I thought that the bus would be the best option.
Cycling in France is an absolute pleasure. People cheer you on as you cycle up a hill or mountain. Motorists give you plenty of space as they overtake. The south of France means that it’s warm and dry to enough to make camping a pleasant experience. On this tour we stayed at least two nights and in some cases three nights at each campsite so that we could enjoy and explore the area.
Of course Mount Ventoux had to be climbed. I did have visions of it being a day trip out, stopping along the road side enjoying a picnic here and there. Of course it wasn’t anything like what I had imagined. We actually didn’t start until after lunch as we messed about, so it was evening by the time we got to the top.
Susan Doram 