Sunday 26 July 2009

Ian beats Bradley Wiggins to top of Mt Ventoux



Ian beats Bradley to summit of Mont Ventoux!

….mainly because the Tour de France doesn’t get here for another day! But, that aside he is a superstar. It was already boiling hot when Ian set off for Bedouin, at the start of his ascent up “The Beast”, as Mt Ventoux is known in the cycling fraternity! We parked the van near Malaucene, so that I could wander around a local village and Ian set off.
As it was, it was too hot to go wandering, so I joined the rest of the curious French people, who seem content to park their vans for hours on dusty car parks, in 30degrees of heat, and sit outside them! So I staked my spot under a scrawny tree, in an attempt to get some respite from the lunchtime heat. I sat and snoozed my way through a good chunk of a Terry Pratchett novel and a large bottle of water, wondering if Ian was whinging about the heat as much as me!
A mere three hours later, Ian returned having successfully climbed Mt Ventoux, 1600metres! I successfully brought back a large number of bottles of water, and very soon we were on our way again. We decided to head for the hills, to get away from the heat, the mass of camping-cars, and the crowds of spectators. It was all getting a bit too much, after the peace of the Haute-Savoie!
We headed for the Cevennes region, higher up. In particular, the Tarn Gorges area. My mate, Jude, had been there before, and if Jude and Ron thought it was a good place to stay, then that was good enough for us!

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