A Return to Mt. Ventoux

Our first order of business this morning was to get to a market with Tony and Jackie, so we went to Ste. Cecile les Vignes. This market has everything one looks for in a market, without the swarms of humanity. We also happened upon a male chorus practising in the cathedral. There is nothing like music bouncing off the walls of a European stone church! Unfortunately I was intent on video for the music and neglected to take a still pic.

We returned our few purchases to the house, packed up a lunch and headed to Mt. Ventoux. This was Tony’s first visit and he had the extra thrill of doing the driving. Because it was a Saturday there were more bikers than usual on the route and especially at the top where you could hardly move for bikes.

It was a beautiful day up top and we took the obligatory photos, but had no brags about making the 20ish kilometre climb by bike. Yikes!

The road down is always a little anti climatic but exciting none the less, with each corner revealing a view of the diminishing summit.

Once we descended to the woods, we stopped for a pique-nique, our first one on this trip - we actually found a table.

Our route home took us through the picturesque villages of Crillon la Brave, Caromb and Beaumes de Venise with a stop at the wine co-ops of Vacqueras and Cairanne. Tonight, we opted for our first meal at Cairanne’s Tourne au Verre, just down the hill and a short walk from Chez Pigeon. As usual, we were grateful we had made reservations because the place was totally booked. We ate on the terrace under the plane trees tonight which is always delightful.

First course for the boys was stuffed chicken medallions and for the girls, gazpacho with crab mousse. Main course for the girls was medallions of turbot in ratatouille with an epautre risotto, while the guys had shoulder of lamb with new fried potatoes and girolles mushrooms. Desserts were chocolate and caramel fondant and fig pastry with creme anglais. We started with glasses of local white wine and had Cote du Rhone red from Domaine St. Oratoire with main course. The prix fixe is now 26.50 euros which still makes eating here a great deal.

Rain tonight?? and perhaps tomorrow??