Day
17, 18 and 19. Mazan – Camaret sur Aigues, 48kms; Camaret sur Aigues – Ancone, 80kms; Ancone – Valence, 47kms.
Late start after the big assault on Mont
Ventoux yesterday. Lots of weary legs
that turned to lactic at the mere sight of a hill.
The ride to Camaret sur Aigues (Orange) was
largely uneventful. Although we had planned to push on past Orange we had all
had enough for the day, so decided to put down camp in the area.
We visited the Roman theatre, which is one
of three remaining in use in the world.
They are quite spectacular having been built in the 3rd
century and as usual it has survived the odd fire, restoration for other
purposes and renovations. A town had
been built on the site at some stage, which has since been demolished to allow
the theatre to be renovated. An opera
performance of La Boheme was to be performed that night, so lots of lighting
and scaffolding etc had been erected.
Our camp for the night was supposedly a
farm stay with 6 placements turned out to be a large block of land on the
outskirts of the village. There were
many more than 6 placements and no new arrivals were turned away.
It was a very hot day, so we were pleased
to be able to have a swim in the pool at the camp.
The next morning we headed out of town through
the Arc de Triomphe (a la Orange).
Although we couldn’t find a date it was built, it was obviously
centuries old.
Clem and Lesley decided to catch the train
to Valance.
Unlike last year when we found lots of big
cathedrals, this year we are discovering lots of Roman ruins!
We set our sights on the nougat factory in
Montelimar for Steve to rate the nougat against Aussie standards. The ride was very scenic, taking us through
small, quaint villages and lots of beautiful lavender farms. Every so often there was a glimpse of Le
Ventoux over our shoulder. This route
took us through some quite tough hills, but we were always rewarded with a
beautiful view at the top and Linda’s complaining about the hills was minimal!
Once we did some circle work in Montelimar,
we decided we would reward their drivers the least considerate so far. Chris nearly got her front wheel wiped out
and Linda was “severely” beeped!
Unfortunately our arrival at the nougat
factory was greeted with the info that tours were only in the mornings. We arrived early afternoon. Steve’s decree was that no-one was to
purchase nougat at the factory as it was extremely overpriced.
We were having a little trouble locating
our campsite and requested advice from a lady at an intersection. She obviously decided her English was not
good enough to explain were we should go, so said we should follow her. Off we set, behind her car and when she
indicated to another car to overtake her but we thought she wanted us to turn
off. We turned off in that direction into a dead end. By the time we realised and retraced our
steps, there she was, ready to help us again.
We would have had great difficulty finding the campground without her
help.
We dined at the camp restaurant and decided
that Australian chefs do know how to prepare and serve steaks. Our entertainment while having dinner was
watching others playing petanque.
The ride from Ancone to Valance was very
uneventful. We rode along the N7 which
is the equivalent of our busy highways.
A very polite lady held up all the traffic while Linda and Steve crossed
from one side to the other. Luckily
there were no rear enders!
Although the ride was uneventful, it was a
hard day. We were pushing into a
constant headwind and the traffic was constant.
At the first toilet stop in the middle of nowhere we hit the jackpot,
when we found 50 euros in a gutter. Following a bit of clean up, we decided it
should be spent!
Dining in tonight, at the “three star tent”
restaurant. We’ve found single use
disposable barbecues which we are testing.
Shall report later if they work!
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