Dit zijn de afstanden die er per dag gefietst zijn. Dag 4 was de rustdag.Dag 5 en 6 waren de dagen dat we rond hebben gereden in de Veluwe zonder bagage.
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France - Day 7 : Finally a break
Like last year, we decided to buy a lot of food on our day off and then do nothing but eat. It was already warm at 9 o'clock, so we couldn't really sleep in. We had some food left from yesterday but needed to go to the village after breakfast to buy more. Everywhere were cyclists and stores selling Ventoux memorabilia. At first glance, there didn't seem to be a supermarket, but we eventually found one. I emptied all my bags so we could carry as much food as possible. We bought everything: bread, jam, cheese, paté, watermelon, pineapple, maple joe, fruitcake, wine, beer, lemonade, cookies, and candy. We could barely put everything on our bikes. With full panniers, we returned to the campsite, where we laid everything out in the last remaining shadowy spot.
We could spend a few minutes in the shade before it got super sunny.
We displayed all the food and drinks.
First, we ate the watermelon, then the fruitcake. I ate the entire fresh goat cheese with a baguette. Bram didn't like it. Then we started the pineapple. Butchering it with only a tiny pocket knife was pretty tricky. I ate a few pieces with the skin still on, which messed my mouth up. Afterward, we were pretty full, but the shade was gone.
Stefan and Bojan would arrive around 2 o'clock. It was around noon, so we needed to kill some time. It was too hot to sit in the sun, so we walked back to the village. There were three bike stores and some souvenir stands. We each send a postcard home before returning to the campsite. It was so hot that our bag with candy had turned liquid and spilled on my towel. I cut the damaged part out with a knife. The soles of my cycling shoes had also come apart due to the heat.
After a bit more sunburn, Stefan and Bojan fortunately arrived. They had come by car and were traveling from campsite to campsite. They had brought a tarp and some chairs so we could sit in the shade.
We were glad to be out of the sun.
Pitching the tent and tarp was pretty hard work in the heat, but we managed. The fridge was also nice to prevent the rest of our food from melting.
Stefan's tarp with my tent in the background.
To the right is Bram's bivy bag. I think this is the only picture of it.
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We would go out in the village for dinner, so we wouldn't have to do any dishes.
We started feeling a bit rested by the time we headed to the village again.
The Ventoux was always in sight.
There was no restaurant where people were eating a big pile of food, which we definitely needed. Most were also pretty expensive, so we went for pizza. The salad I had was good, but not the pizza. The waitress was grumpy as well. The ice cream was nice.
The pizzas were big but didn't have any salt, which we really needed after sweating for six days.
At the campsite, we drank some wine. Bram had bought French beer as well. We went to bed on time because we planned to climb the Ventoux the following day.