Car free Sunday in Paris

Back to blighty

Sunrise over Mount Ventoux from Avignon

Avignon

Back to the start

One for Mike

Bauxite ore

Mont Aigoual

The incredible view from the top.

Leaving Le Rozier

Tarn Gorge

Paper boat racing in a thunderstorm.

Le Long de Montvert

Food Stop

A group of Frenchmen kindly set up a refreshment stop for the English cyclists.

Gastronomie in Villefort

At the top

A Little Bridge over the Ardeche

There's no escaping ...

... the Black Sheep.

Mt Ventoux

The Bike Bus made it to the top of My Ventoux. Picture shows the start of the descent.

Bedoin

Cafe in Bedoin at the bottom of My Ventoux.

Col de Murs

Stephanie at 628 m.

Stephanie's Desert

Dinner

Dinner at La Moulon de Lavon near Apt.

Parking

Is it safe to park here?

Olive Museum

Penny buying some honey at the museum.

Apt

a cafe!

Lourmarin

Cafe stop with 10 km to go before we reach our overnight stop at Cucuron.

Adjusting the hire bikes

A crowd of cyclists adjusting the bikes obtained from Provence Bike

Hire Bikes

Tom and Geoff inspect the Avignon hire bikes.

Food

Roy making sure the pigeons are happy.

Purfume

Geoff and Tom raiding duty free

Exeter airport

Roy (2)

I'm on Eurostar. Haven't lost anything so far.   A pedal fell off in Goodge Street - but the cars missed it.

Roy

Roy (1)

I'm drinking tea by the Serpentine.

Roy

Abstract Absentmindedless

After adjusting my list lots of times and finding that it slipped easily into my bag - it suddenly dawned on me that I would have to put the things on the list in my bag.

Unfortunately I couldn't find the third item on the list (a silk sheet sleeping bag) which Marilyn had warned us sternly was essential ... so a quick trip up to town was required ...

I will be organised in time ....

I will be organised in time ....... I promise.

Marilyn and Roger are Off ...

Marilyn and Roger leave on Tuesday 28th very early in the morning. Bikes are just about ready with a bit of Heath Robinson modification to M's derailleur. (Not sure about spelling)

... Meanwhile plans for the Bike Bus trip to the south of France are well advanced.
Roy has now got enough helpers to man his pigeon loft. Incidentally he would like to thank everyone who sent in packets of bird-seed - but unfortunately racing pigeons have a very specialised diet - especially when preparing for a long flight - so he has passed the food onto the RSPB.

Rodney & Sasha at Cadbury

All the birds are well, except for Mary VII, who has a bruised and bent keel. Roy assures me that she will make a full recovery - but she needs to be rested for the next three weeks. Her place has been taken by Rodney. Last weekend all the birds successfully completed a trial flight from Geoff & Penny's house in Cadbury back to Exeter.

The selected birds are now being driven to Avignon by Roger and Marilyn. They had a fright on entering France when Customs appeared to think they were importing livestock. Only when Marilyn produced Roy's National Pigeon Club documentation were they let through.

Assembling the troops ...

Assembling the troops in readiness for all our messages.


As last year the Executive are taking nine of their favourite friends on a two week trip to the south of France. It's not a complete jolly as the riders will have to climb Mt Ventoux (1,900 m) and climb and sleep at the top of Mt Aigoual (1,700 m).

None of the nine are very technical ... but Roy again has come to the rescue and will be allowing us to use a number of his homing pigeons to relay messages back to the rest of the Bike Bus. One problem is that Roy is one of the select nine and will be in the south of France ... so we will need help to man his loft back in Exeter.

We've already got a number of volunteers ... but we are still looking for help for the period 6-11 September. If you would like to help (it will only take one hour a day) please contact me or Roy as soon as possible. Please note that we can't accept anyone who is sensitive to serum protein antigens or who has previously suffered from ornithosis or hypersensitivity lung disease.

preparations continue....

ingenious preparations begin....

Contemplating a swim

The Plan

This blog has been set up to record a trip around the Luberon area of Provence and the Cevennes in September 2012.

Maps of the planned route are available on-line .