Bye Bye Alps

Today we had to relocate to Bedoin, the start of the most famous route up Mont Ventoux. That meant bidding a sad farewell to the Alps for this trip.

It should have been a simple transfer of around 180 kilometres, with a little sightseeing thrown in. However, the modern propensity for the French to travel for vacation on Fridays, the closure of the route over the Lautaret and a couple of accidents, made it an all day trek. Oh, and in the middle of the day, we ran into one of the heaviest thunderstorms I've ever seen, with torrential rain and hail.

The accidents didn't involve us, thankfully.

After spending most of the day travelling, we finally arrived in the Bedoin area to be greeted with our first views of the famous observatory on the top of Mont Ventoux.

The observatory at the top of Mont Ventoux. That's not snow, by the way, just the scorched rock of the 'bald mountain'.

Bedoin is in the middle of a festival week. Things really kick off tomorrow. Over dinner we were treated to a band rehearsing its set, and some dancers walking through their routines.

The forecast looks ok for an attempt at the summit tomorrow. I've already seen the T-shirt I want to get if I manage it.