The stench of lavendar

DAY 6
Another well earned rest day, walked up a rocky staircase to the chapel which is up in the cliffs, great view of the town from there. Some coffee, some food, then sat down to watch the Tour de France time trial on tv with a few beers. Nice day, finished off with a huge storm which cooled things down nicely.

DAY 7
Heading north now. Passed through Riez where they had the fete in full swing. Lots of people dressed up and riding horses and stuff like that, all very cultural i'm sure. After lunch we continued on the small D6 road to Valensole and then decided to risk using the smaller D15 so we could ride through the lavendar fields. The risk was worth it, small roads often mean bigger hills but this time it was miles of nice country side and lavendar followed by a high speed descent to the Durance river. Dodgy stormy weather was approaching so we hammered it along the flat to a place called Les Mèes, known for its weird rock formations behind the town.



Into town for some pizza and settle down to watch the world cup final. Bit disappointing really, the French should be banned in future for the lack of excitement about the world cup final. There were a few guys getting drunk on Pastis and talking crap, everyone else was having a chat and occasionally watching the match. Therefore they deserved to lose i say.

Another nice day, 62km

DAY 8
Destination Gap, gateway to the alps. We continue north roughly along the Durance river. Hot, hot day, ends up reaching near 40 dedgrees. Stupidly we continue onwards, on the busy N85 road then the smaller D4 through small villages and then fields of fruit trees. Stop in tiny sleepy Thèze for lunch, water that we have left is almost boiling so we refill, then back into the sun. Stop again in La Saulce for fluids then the final 15km to Gap via the N85. To be honest we had had enough by this stage, finally get to Gap and head for the nearest campsite, about 2km out of town on the way to Grenoble up a huge hill. We get there completely wrecked, the Etape cycle race has left from Gap today, the city is gearing up for the real race on the 16th to 18th July.

Mei missed a thin strip on her lower back when she was putting on sunscreen and now has an awful comedy burnt line, i have lost some of the feeling in 2 fingers on my left hand, think it might be from the pressure on the handlebars...hope it gets better. Think we have booked in for a couple of rest days now.

88km today in sweltering heat, impressive.