Ventoux puts up its defenses

Dead man's pass (again)



We hunted everywhere in this village for a control stamp - a picture will have to do!

We strapped the bar bag to the back so that the wind would have less effect on the steering





Summit from about 6km back

Yesterday there was a huge event taking place on Mont Ventoux with between 3 and 5 thousand (reports varied) Belgian's taking part. The Belgian cyclists at our B&B told us that the thunderstorm we experienced in the valley had fallen as hail on the summit and that the hailstones then froze on the road. They said cyclists had to be bussed from the summit because it was not possible to ride. This morning the rain had gone but it was very windy with significant gusts even down at valley level. I was horrified when I got my first glimpse of the summit - the top section, of 6 or 7km is just so completely bare. At times like these I wish I had chosen a life as a couch potato rather than pilot a tandem up a bare wind strafed mountain. I have been (perhaps overly) nervous of wind ever since Steve and I were blown right across the A6 at Shap by a counter gust one dark night back in November (a lorry was blown over on the M6 that night). As it turned out, most of the route up was shielded to some extent by the slope of the mountain - we were on the sheltered side if there is such a thing on Ventoux! The top was a bit hairy, and also the first part of the decent. It wasn't so far down the other side until we were getting some shelter from trees. There were lots of other cyclists taking their chances on the mountain today.

We have seen a few deer here and there on this trip but this afternoon a small ibex crossed the road just ahead of us and scrambled up the seemingly impossibly steep rock to the side of the road. A few small rocks were loosened by his hooves and clattered down onto the road.

Not long after that and I must have hit a stone in the road because we suddenly had a completely flat front tyre while descending at 25 mph or so. Luckily the road was straight or we would have been off. This was our first puncture of the trip so we shouldn't complain. We now have a tyre patch in the front tyre and I had to straighten some minor rim damage with my adjustable spanner.

Today we have covered 121km and climbed 2711m.

Tonight we are resting our heads near Simiane-la-Rotonde.



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