That is what I wanted after yesterday's exertions, which had me in bed at 9:30 pm and caused Glenn to sleep through the 8:00 am churchbells. Then, instead, I thought simply a short ride might be nice. So we headed to the town of Suzette, which is only about 6 km from Malaucene, all uphill of course, but very picturesque and offering many magnificent views of the Dentelles. There was a lovely little cafe (Les Coquelicots) where we had a coffee and numerous photos were snapped. The terrace was right among the vines of muscat grapes, which are now completely ripe and ready for harvest. They are relatively small grapes and a very dark purple. One vine next to the hot pink oleander on the terrace looked particularly striking, but you cannot really tell from the photo. Oh well.
From there we went downhill very quickly the 3 km to Lafare, and then took the road to Roque d'Alric (see photo above) and Le Barroux. There was one spot where the most impressive of the Dentelles were perfectly framed and it was simply crawling with amateur (maybe not all amateur) painters. Really, there must have been 30 of them on the road and in among the trees. The drawing rooms of Bruxelles must be full of the same landscape.
From Le Barroux we descended towards Carpentras, but then turned off to Beaumes de Venise (friendly to cyclists according to the sign above), and rode out of town again toward Suzette and had lunch at a fine little establishment (even if accessible only by means of a (thankfully short) gravel lane. Glenn had a very delicious pizza and I had steak and very delicious potatoes. Everything is cooked over a wood fire. We washed it all down with a small blonde ale and a glass of rose and espresso (very good by any standards) and then headed up the hill to Lafare and Suzette. Unfortunately the climb was quite a bit steeper from this approach (the opposite to the one we had taken this morning). And of course we set off on it full of food and drink in the very heat of the day (just after 2:00 pm). By the time we descended into Malaucene I had had enough of that and went home, calling it a day after only about 51 km. Glenn went on for another two hours and made it to Nyons and back in time to meet me for a pint here at the Blueberry (our home away from home).
Other than a few days last week, the weather here has been quite grim; lots of rain and cool temperatures. So, the thought of cycling in the heat seems appealing! I wonder what this will mean for *our* grape harvest. Sounds like a fab time.
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ReplyDeleteMAM, Tricolor Lycra befits you dare I say. Your culinary adventures are mouthwatering, but just reading about all that uphill cycling is hard on the thighs. As for that "friendly to cyclists" sign you took refuge under, well, I bet that was erected post road kill of some kind. Keep spinnin and watch your back. A bientot!
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