Jour Onze – non je ne regrette rien!
Ok first things first….the Gorges d’Ardeche is easily the visual highlight of our trip so far! It is completely amazeballs and the climbing (and there is still plenty of that!) is totally worth it just to witness the most spectacular scenery…..
If you have never been please put it on your bucket list…pick up the D290 from Vallon Pont D’Arc and head south….you will not be disappointed I promise. I can if I am honest see that most right minded people will want to do it in a car but you will be really missing out.
We can now see far away in the distance the “Beast of Provence” and our target for the day, well at least the bottom of it…
We now realise that when we finally escaped the “valley of death” yesterday we could see Mont Ventoux far far away in the distance. We dismissed it as impossible at the time given that it must be at least 70 plus miles away but it definitely was. It is simply massive and totally dominates the horizon…..it also makes me feel really quite sick!
Once we leave Aigueze at the bottom of the gorge it’s a long flat and very windy plain across the Rhone valley towards Pont Saint Esprit and Vaison la Romaine and all the while Mont Ventoux continues to loom in the distance…..
…..it really is messing with my head a bit the closer we get…..I mean is it even possible to climb with panniers?
I don’t wish to sound cocky but 60 miles and 3500 feet of climbing has become a relatively easy day for us although it is fair to say that the 1000ish miles beforehand mean we are very, very grateful to roll into Malaucene and our campsite around 1630….
So tomorrow we now plan to take the rest day we didn’t have in Rocamadour and then tackle the monster of Mont Ventoux on Thursday.
For me this is the ultimate challenge and the one that I had planned right from the beginning and this is why we are here. Slowly but surely Marc and Dan have also come to see this as something that now needs to get done but please do not be in any doubt that this is next level stuff. Yes we have already cycled a long way and yes we have already done serious life changing climbs but this is off the scale!
If you have not already sponsored us then now is exactly the right time. If you have already sponsored us then perhaps now is the time to do so again……https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/nick-white24