May 23, 2019 To the top of the mountain! Conquering Mont Ventoux & Sault

We did it! We did it! We did it! 

It's going to be 80 degrees, sunny and clear so we're headed up to the top of Mont Ventoux. We packed a picnic lunch in case we decide to take a side adventure. And we did.

We headed to Malaucène, the same way we went last time. Although our GPS has us venturing through farm roads to get there.

Our GPS thinks this is a road. Really?

It's a bit hazy but we hope that will burn off as we head up the mountain. Once again, we met lots of cyclers on their way up the mountain. This time, however, this path is open to the top. This is the second most difficult way up the mountain with 1575 meters of climbing over 21 km.

The lower part of this drive is only somewhat hair-raisingly scary. The road is wide by French standards - a mid-line and a bike lane in the up direction. (There's no need for a bike land going down as the bikers are often faster than the cars.) But there are drop-offs without guard rails, hair-pin turns, and blind curves.

It's good to have a bike lane going up - cyclists are everywhere

If that makes your stomach queasy, don't go any higher than Mt Serrein's ski area. Once we started up to the top past the metal barrier used to close the road until May 15, the road narrows - no more center land, no bike lane. And the drop-offs are more dramatic. And when you get above tree-line, you know that if you miss a turn, you and your car will roll down 800 feet of scree before possibly crashing into some scrubby brush you can hope will stop the car. Yikes! Don't look down.

part of the road to the top - the mountain is white on top all year round because it is above tree line and only the rocky scree is visible

But we got to the top, thanks to Dave's excellent driving.

a well-loved sign at the top

The top left us with several impressions.
1. We lucked out with no wind and temperatures in the 50's with warm sun.
2. The electronics installation is huge. (I should have expected that since you can see the top all the way to our house.)

radar and telecommunications equipment at the top

We see this needle from home - no wonder. It's huge

3. It's barren of facilities (and why not, it's bikers and tourists who come up here, otherwise, it's just a radar/military/phone installation). There's one tacky tourist shop and, just below the peak, a restaurant.

4. Bikers are seriously training on this mountain all the time. (Don't they have to work?)

This is an English bike touring company waiting for cyclists to make it to the top. They have snacks set out and are carrying the cyclists extra gear

Still 6 km to the top

5. Lots of cyclists are OLD, like us!

See what I mean?

We met a ?Dutch? (guessing from hearing a Germanic language I didn't understand) woman who was greeting cyclists as they made it to the top. She explained that they owned a house in Malaucène and friends were here to try the trek up Ventoux. Also, her husband was training for the Marmotte race on July 7. Mont Ventoux isn't part of that race, it is run over 174 km (120 miles) in the Alps and goes up 4 peaks - only the first of which is about the height of Mont Ventoux. These folks are crazy.

It's true that cycling seems to be a national sport practiced even into old age. We saw many women, old and young, and many grey-haired men all sporting the proper dress and climbing Mont Ventoux. No wonder the French are not overweight! They exercise like maniacs and seem to love it. While there were a few who seemed to struggle to get to the top, most we saw were fit enough to lift their bikes over their heads in celebration. I'm in awe. Again.

We headed back down via the route to Sault (pronounced like "sew" - you don't pronounce the l or the t I was told when I asked a shopkeeper). This way down is also exciting - the road is narrower although less steep - 1210 meters over 25.6 km. It opens up into valleys we haven't seen before. The valley here grows grains and lavender, rarely wine. Sault sits perched above this valley opposite Mont Ventoux. People had moved up here from the valley in the early middle ages for protection.

We easily found parking in a large lot just behind the tourist office and a lovely park overlooking the valley.

Green fields of grain. The brown are planted in rows of lavendar

That's all lavender planted around this house.

A popular "jumping off" spot for cyclists, the restaurant at the end of the park was full of lunching cyclists

We found a sunny/shady spot to eat lunch with a view to the valley below. Next to us is a lovely little library.

I like this little library's box

This little library is located in the park where we ate lunch

With maps from the tourist office, we plunge into the medieval city to find what used to be the castle. Our tour is called "an hour in the steps of the wolf d'Agoult." The wolf was the symbol of the lord of Sault in the middle ages. You can still see the corner turrets which were cut down in 1792 to the level of the wings between them, at the same time as the castle was sacked and the records burned in the town square.

One of the former castle towers

things have changed over the years. Notice the steps going to nowhere? there was once a door where that window is not located. Another door at the bottom of the steps has been bricked in.

These castle parts still exist but as private homes and businesses now. It's interesting to look around the former Place du Château and imagine what the castle was like. Today, there are clearly several different houses as can be seen by the different colored shutters.

multi-colored shutters indicate different residences all of which were once part of the castle

Following the "nails" (clous) helps keep us on course.

We follow along to the church, Notre Dame de la Tour where there is a public fountain as well as the Romanesque church.

Notre Dame de la Tour

a bell for Clark

fountain on the square in front of the church

The coat of arms of the Seigneur has a wolf  

We walked through what was once a portal (Porte Royale) to the city

Interesting door under the Porte Royale

then followed a path on the edge of the cliff face along to the lavoir (the wash house)

lavoir

and to the hôpital St. Jacques. Down the Rue Blanche (Jewish area) for a quick walk down to St. Mark's quarter then up the Rue Rompe-Cul (Break your Ass) which should be avoided on rainy days.

Dale on Rompe Cul street

Dale and Kim coming up Rue Rompe Cul, the steep street made of cobblestone steps

Some of the things I found interesting in Sault weren't in the guide.

a cool door

steps to nowhere that used to be a door, with a new door next to it

this painting hung on the wall of a house

another old door with a lock - but seems not to have been opened in ages

a cute set of  entrances to homes

Did you notice this stairway goes nowhere?

We ended back at Market Square

market square restaurants are empty of people as it's too late for lunch and too early for dinner

town hall

It's not unusual for waiters to have to cross streets to serve customers

and through a little passage to reach the main street.

We walked up this very charming but busy street

A typical brasserie like you'd find in most towns - so typically French

to the Patisserie/Glacerie Boyer which had the most deliciously caramel ice cream.

carved wood panel under the window of the patisserie

We went home via the Gorges de la Nesque.

Who could believe that tiny stream could have carved this huge canyon over the milennia. It must have been a lot bigger at times we think.

When we got to the Castelleras overlook along the Nesque we found lots of people stopped for the view. Including many cyclists and a man setting up shop out of his truck to sell lavender products.

Even more amazing was to see what looked like a boar crossing the road right next to me.

Looks like a boar, but it belongs to the farmer we met and is  quite docile

Then a somewhat scruffy looking man speaking English shoo-ed the pig back. What we thought was a wild boar turned out to be one of his pigs that he was raising in the house across the street (which by the way, was the only house we'd seen since climbing into the gorge. Dale started talking to him and then brought him over to talk to me.

The farmer from across the road chatted with us for awhile

He was not only an American, but from Richland Center, Wisconsin, not too far from Madison. He had farmed for 14 years there and then moved to France. (I wished I had asked him why he moved.) He's been here for 37 years, some of it in Corsica and Africa, and for the last 18 years he has lived in the house at this overlook. The house has running water, but no electricity. He works for farmers in the area and they pay him with a bit of cash and lots of fresh vegetables. He claimed to have eaten 5 liters of strawberries yesterday since they were in season and would go bad. That's lots of strawberries. He loves where he's living and the life he's leading where he knows where all the birds are nesting in the cliffs. We chatted awhile longer and then parted ways. I wish I could have sat down with him for awhile to ask him lots of questions about France and the French.

We headed the rest of the way to the end of the gorge and headed down for home. Dave felt that driving this road was worse than driving up Mont Ventoux. You can see why.

We drove on narrow twisty roads that often went through one lane tunnels where you couldn't see if anyone was coming from the other direction

Well, mostly home. We have a grocery list so we made a stop at LeClerc in Carpentras for a few things. Then we can go home.

Dinner tonight (after aperos of course) is Boeuf Bourgignon with mashed potatoes and salad. It's been another great day,