Ballard's Tour de France: June 10, 2014: Provence Bike Tour

Our rides for the next few days will be exploring many of the hill towns in the Luberon mountains of Provence. Today we left Les Baux and headed toward Menerbes, with stops in the small towns of Eygalieres, Robion and Oppede-le-Vieux. Since we are in the mountains, we are still climbing lots of hills. In Eygalieres, we bought fresh fruit (cherries, strawberries and apricots), salami, cheese (including a goat cheese rolled in herbes de provence), and a baguette of bread for a picnic lunch in Robion. We ate our lunch in the park in Robion's main square, after which Becky, Jerry and I got back on our bikes to ride to our new hotel in Menerbes. Rich took the van, since by this time he had already ridden 28+ miles and his bum was hurting.

We gathered again in the early evening and our Backroads leaders shuttled us to a wine tour and tasting at Domaine de la Citadelle. They were very generous pours and by the time we finished our fourth tasting, I had had enough wine for the evening (I am such a lightweight!). We had dinner at our hotel, which was one of the better meals we've had in France, and then we all called it a night. We have an early morning tomorrow riding even more challenging hills than what we did today. Sara says it's her favorite ride of the week, but we're all a bit nervous.