Four glorious days riding in Provence

Dawn in Marseille

So lucky with the weather: warm and dry with little wind for four glorious spring days. Riding out from Marseille through classic Provence; through the techno new towns in the Durance valley, then Apt and the Lubéron. The Gorges de la Nesque are less well-known than the Ardèche but the road is at least as challenging.
Riding on to the villages at the foot of Mont Ventoux, Bédoin and Malaucène, on a route which to be used for motorsport rallies but is now given over to cyclotourisme. On to Vaison-la-Romaine and booking in at a charming old hotel in Nyons in the Baronnies Provençales.

Combe de Lourmarin

Lubéron, derelict fuel station

Gorges de la Nesque

Nyons, le Pont Roman

Nyons

Waking up to the Dawn Chorus of birds singing, there’s still a vocal population of blackbirds in Nyons. Petit déj on the hotel terrace watching the tourists arrive - car, motor, electric and many road pedal bikes.
I rode north to explore the Baronnies Provençales, rolling country that has been the frontier of many wars. Gorges, clues and big limestone valleys with roads already repaired since this last winter’s storms. Crossing the River Drôme at Die and tackling the fearsome Col du Rousset, another road in excellent state and with more apexes than you’d find on a track day.
Lunch on the Vercors Plateau and speaking with a group of bikers who’d passed and repassed me since Nyons, led by a new S10000RR.
My planned route back, down the similarly interesting Col de la République, didn’t work as the road was still closed from winter rockfall. So back down the Col du Rousset but a more direct route through the Baronnies.

Petit déj on the hotel terrace

Défilé de trente pas, Parc naturel régional des Baronnies Provençales

Saint-Nazaire-le-Désert

Col de Rousset. Probably more apexes than a track day!

Vassieux-en-Vercors

Vercors

Bourdeaux

Saint-Honoré, traditional patisserie

Artichauts confits

Sunset and River Eygues, Nyons

Onwards after a rest day, riding east along a fantastic sweeping cross-country major road alongside the Drôme. Big country this, reminding me of summers in Wyoming and Colorado, both the limestone cliffs and the farming. Thwarted again by rockfall on my return route, I had to divert via Sisteron, a disputed frontier town in many wars from the Romans and afterwards. Riding up the valley of the River Jabron, a smaller valley with its sparse villages now being repopulated by second-homers and tourists. Séderon is a key town linking the Ventoux country with valleys eastwards. Tempting to think of Sedona in Colorado but it’s a tenuous link. Now down the valley of the Ouvèze, the river that reaches Vaison-la-Romainr by a circuitous route in this topography that’s folded like a tablecloth ruffled from one side. And the roads traverse it despite the folds, so fun to ride.
Celebrating the last full day of glorious riding with a bottle of local fizz from Die. Different grapes and nothing like the ABV of champagne, it suited my last dinner out just fine.
Weather giving way to mist next morning as rain arrived from out of the area so a prompt departure. The vines need the rain but bikers don’t. The route back reading like a wine list of Cote du Rhone villages: Rasteau, Séguret, Gigondas. The roads were then dry back to Marseille.

Morning mist clearing, Nyons