Day three started similar to all of the others, bright blue skies, brilliant sun and more birds chirping/singing than I have heard in a long time. Obviously they are in their happy place, as are we. We slept extremely well, with the windows open and the only thing we heard was the gurgling fountain in our courtyard. Breakfast started at 730a with the route rap at 830, and we along with our Ed and Shelley were the first of the group to arrive in the restaurant. This means we were rewarded with a wonderful view of the vineyards while we enjoyed the varied food, with as much healthy or options as you wanted.
The others straggled in and before long we all made it to the parking area, where Vidal and Scott had our trusty rides, snack table and Whahoos charged for the days ride. We have an elevation guide for each day, and today was clearly one of the biggest climbs we were going to do all week. But we started out of the hotel amongst the now familiar poppy fields and through the beautiful Luberon Valley with what to be some of the most picturesque landscapes
of Provence for our 15 mile morning ride. We made our way to the base of Roussillon, which rests on one of the worlds largest ocher deposits and all took a quick water stop before hitting the uphill climb to Gordes. Ed and Anthony both on manual bikes decided to take the boost, which was a great choice.
We all got in the groove and hit the hill, which was quite doable, especially on ebikes. While a good 4 mile climb, with some steeper grades I stayed in the Tour gear for pretty much the entire thing. Our ebikes are outstanding, and are made for Backroads out of the Netherlands, which known for their biking and their equipment. We have 4 powers, Eco, Tour, Sport and Turbo and as usual, this is not a scooter. No pedal, no go. But it does give you the ability to assist on the big hills and truly make the ride enjoyable. We did Tuscany and Croatia on manual bikes and I ended up walking up some of those hills which was not so fun.
the way up were rewarded with incredible views of the valley below on every turn. Gordes had a farmers market in full swing, with several blocks of cheeses, sausage, fruits, vegis, clothing and crafts. We were all on our own for lunch, and Ken/I decided to take advantage of the market and enjoy our own little picnic. We picked up some yummy local cheese, homemade tapenade from the local olives and a bag of roasted almonds that were incredibly crunchy with just the right amount of salt. With a small baguette in hand, we spotted a coffee shop and luckily someone was leaving, and we snagged the best spot on the deck hanging out over the cliff with great views.
After yumming our way through our small picnic and awing over the views, we went back to the bikes for the 17 miles back to the hotel, which was an immediate great down hill and for which we were advised that there were some of the now expected Provence rollers (translation: hilly). Sandy and Eric were going to do the extended 27 mile loop, but Ken/I and the rest chose the normal route so we could enjoy another afternoon
And guess what? Those rollers? Uh yeah, they were just darned hills and some of them long and steep. That evening we all decided it was actually worse than the long climb to Gordes! I actually went in to Turbo a couple of times after thinking I was at the top of the hill, only to look up and see an even steeper one! We made it to the hotel and definitely felt we deserved some rose and relaxation next to the pool.
For the evening we took a shuttle to the small village of Roussilon, where we had stopped for a water break earlier in the day, but only say it from the bottom of the cliff where it was perched on. We had a guide that took us on a short walking tour and explained the history of the area, as well as a bit more of the bright red cliffs containing the mineral Ocher, like the mine we saw on our brief stop yesterday.
