Winding Down

With the climbs all completed, today was a day to wind down, do a little shopping and take a gentle bike tour of the local villages. We bought provisions for tomorrow's dash to the channel. Bedoin was still busy despite this being a Sunday morning. The queue for one of the Boulangeries was impressive.

Then we set up the bikes and headed out for a gentle ride. The terrain is much more like Hampshire, at least in terms of gradients. Nothing quite compares with the clarity of the light through a dry atmosphere. The winds were much stronger today too, though certainly not cold.

The route is roughly triangular, starting out to the south west until Flassan is reached. The area is full of vineyards and plantations of fruit trees. Irrigation is clearly a major concern here, with extensive pipework feeding water directly to the roots of fruit trees.

 Flassan nestles on a hillside a few kilometres from Bedoin.

From Flassan, the route heads south east until it reaches the village of Mormoiron. Again, viticulture dominates the fields. In the main, the buildings have a faintly pink hue, due no doubt to the preponderance of sandstone at lower altitudes.

The village of Mormoiron is typical of the area, with a very Mediterranean feel to the buildings.

Finally, the route heads north, back to Bedoin. For us this was into the freshening wind. The suggested route steers clear of the inclines of the main road for most of its length, making it a very restful ride.

Approaching Bedoin from the south, one of the roundabouts has this tribute to cycling, with the observatory on the top of Mont Ventoux in the background.

Arriving back in Bedoin, we passed another winery responsible for producing Ventoux wine, and yet more vineyards.

Some of the extensive vineyards near Bedoin which provide the local Apellation Controllee Ventoux vintages.

And then we were back, and it was time to prepare the bikes for travel and to start packing up for the trip home.

The route for the trip around Bedoin is available on Garmin Connect.