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Eurostar |
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Old barn near the Mas |
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Mt. Ventoux |
Getting there
We travelled by train, intending to take our bikes with us, but we were misled by contradictory information and ended up booking a service which didn’t carry bikes, so instead we hired from Cycles Louison in Beaumes-de-Venise.
The train journey was pleasanter than flying.
Avignon
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Pont St. Benezet |
Setting out
We picked up our hire bikes on the Friday, and immediately set out on a pre-lunch ride concocted by Tracey. After some climbing and a pleasant rocky descent we were riding along a relatively easy path when Tracey, slowing down too much to stay upright, toppled over and landed badly, breaking her wrist. This was after not much more than an hour. We pushed our bikes back to the car and realised we had to get first aid. The only person Colin could ask was the proprietor of Cycles Ventoux 1910 at Beaumes-de-Venise, and fortunately he realised that the injury was serious and called an ambulance.
Tracey spent the afternoon and evening in Carpentras A&E receiving her diagnosis. Colin made his own way to the waiting room, but he and Tracey were unable to contact each other. Colin was told he might as well go home, but we hadn’t checked in yet and his attempt to drive to our gîte without a map-reader was a failure. In the end he had no option but to hang around the hospital.
Tracey was told that she needed an operation, and could either return to have it in England, or have it there the next day. She leapt at the second option.
With her help (we had a GPS track on a cycle computer, which is hard to use when driving) we found our way to the gîte, arriving around midnight. Colin had been able to ring the caretaker, who had given us instructions to find the keys.
[The s in Carpentras has been silent for a couple of centuries, although the s’s in Gigondas and Vacqueyras are pronounced.]
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The Dentelles |
We had to get up early the next day (Saturday) to take Tracey back to Carpentras. Colin was able to walk into town and eat a meal. Tracey was mended in the operating theatre and discharged at 3 o’clock. We made our long-awaited descent onto the E. Leclerc, and took our plunder back to the Mas. We needed to make an appointment with a local nursing clinic for Tracey to have her dressing cleaned every couple of days.
Walks and Rides
After an unpropitious start we had to lower our ambitions. Tracey went for easy walks and made drawings. Colin limited himself to easy mountain biking. He made a couple of exploratory rides from the Mas; linking parts of them together, they make a satisfying circuit of the Dentelles Sarrasines. He did a longish ride from Le Barroux taking in some single-track, and a shorter one from Séguret.
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