Vaucluse Dreamer

Our decision to potter back to Provence, rather than trying to get there as quickly as possible was the right thing to do, as the last couple of days have been particularly lovely. Although we have still been watching the storms, we have been sensible and made sure that the rides we have planned, get us to where we need to be, before they are due to start.

Yesterday evening, we had a relaxed walk into the beautiful heart of Capestang, enjoying supper by the square, before taking a walk up, to sit by The Canal du Midi, watching the boats, whilst the sun set.

We were tired, but not exhausted and were able to just enjoy the time we spent there, rather than feeling we simply needed to get ready for today’s ride. Eat, sleep, cycle repeat really isn’t what we’re all about.

The nice thing was that today’s ride was the shortest of the trip so far. A mere hop, skip and jump through the beautiful Herault countryside, between Capestang and tonight’s stop in Pezenas.

We were under no pressure to get going, so had a slow start to the day, pottering into the village for breakfast… (An almond croissant day for me)…

And a little amble around its small Sunday morning market.

Finally pottering on, heading out on a quiet road, alongside The Canal, towards Maureilhan. Once again, it was a beautiful ride that took us through open countryside, with wonderful views up towards the ridge of the Haut Languedoc to the north and the vineyards around Beziers, to the south.

The roads here have been delightful to ride, gentle undulating routes, with no steep climbs that have taken us between the pretty and quiet villages.

The only real traffic we have come across has been tractors and today, I chased one down, overtaking it with a cheerful wave, as I pedalled past. I was so proud of myself … I like to think it was doing at least 50km per hour, although Andy says it was probably more like 5 …I can dream.

What we have realised is that we are best planning our routes along the white roads on Via Michelin, which turn yellow when we zoom right in. Whenever we have to travel along, even a yellow road, we immediately notice the increase in traffic, especially when the roads head towards large towns, like Beziers, today.

The small roads though, make for pretty much perfect cycling and we passed through some beautiful little places, even stumbling across a couple of unexpected cycle routes on the way, which took us off the roads and straight to the next village on my list…

We were in slow mode today, knowing that we had only about 55km to do, so stopped in another small village for a cold drink, enjoying watching the bustle of the Sunday morning comings and goings …

And again for lunch on a bench, in the shaded square of Bassan, stopping just as the church bells started chiming for mid-day.

Moving on again, we stumbled across another well-surfaced cycle route that would take us straight to Servian, stopping in the heart of the Béziers vineyards to do today’s Daily Update

The birdsong was a delight, with Orioles, Hoopoes and Bee-Eaters (or wibbly birds, as we still call them) providing the soundtrack to the ride too.

As we approached Pézenas, we were aware of the clouds starting to build again, the towers of black starting to rise up around us, so we knew that we had probably made the right choice on the distance we were travelling today.

We rode into Pézenas, just before 2pm and went straight to the ice cream shop, which we always visit, whenever we’re here, treating ourselves to a couple of ‘boules’ and sitting in the sun, whilst we waited to get into the apartment that we had booked at 3.

The apartment is in an amazing old building, in the heart of the old town, with an incredible open staircase, which has its own family of swallows. As the owner showed us round, we heard the first rumbles of thunder and the heavens opened again.

Once again, we had made it by the skin of our teeth and hadn’t been caught out in the storm, whilst on the bikes.

So this afternoon, we’re relaxing and will enjoy a peaceful day off, in this beautiful and historic little town tomorrow, before we make the final push for home.

If all goes well, and we will keep everything crossed that it does, we will be cycling back up the valley towards Apt on Thursday.

It’s hard to believe that is only a few days away now