Birthday Weekend Biking

Before I launch into this post I want to show you a pic of the gold lamé knickers (as requested...). They are actually relevant to this post because they came with me on the trip to Mt Ventoux, not that they saw much of the views...

The weekend of my birthday, my DB and I joined a small group of merry motorbike enthusiasts for a weekend in Mont Ventoux. He knew everyone, I knew one guy from a few years ago because he is also a keen cyclist and mountain biker, and my boys used to do mountain biking in his club. So that was nice - one familiar face (two with my DB...). As I said to my DB, Montpellier is a small world and it's no surprise bumping into someone I know since I've been here for 20 odd years.

The group going across a lovely old bridge

There were four other bikes, two of which had partners on the back, everyone about the same age. Motorbiking groups are great (!) if everyone is of the same biking standard. But if one is not as confident or experienced as the others, it leads to, let's say, high levels of frustration both for the biker and the others who have to wait for him.

I didn't take this drunk, the trees lean to the left - it's a windy place!

Mont Ventoux is a couple of hours ride away from Montpellier. We took the back roads as the autoroute is no fun really despite being practical if you're in a hurry. We weren't, so I could sit back and enjoy the views. It was vendange time, so there was a lot of tractor/trailer activity and heady smells of fermenting grapes.

This is a field of tomatoes on the floor

I didn't know that you could grow tomatoes on the floor professionally. I have done it in my garden because I'm too lazy to pin up my tomato plants, especially when I suspect I'll get the usual meagre harvest so the effort would be unlikely to be rewarded, but a whole field? That's one lazy farmer! Respect!

These are the giant's teeth that I wrote about in a previous post (one that has had the most ever visits and can be seen in the right-hand column), seen from another angle. My DB told me at 11pm the night before we left that we had to take a picnic lunch the next day. Cue dash to boulangerie early on Saturday morning to buy bread, plus hunt around the fridge for cheese. Luckily I still had some bits left over from my party the week before! Those who had found out in good time came with a variety of goodies including a tomato salad which was kindly shared with us. We had a lovely view with our lunch of the 'Dentelles' (sticky-up bits of rock in the distance):

View with lunch time picnic

Picturesque hamlet

We spent the night in a hotel which had a lovely view overlooking a valley. For €55 each we got the room plus dinner.

Hotel Plantevin

View from bedroom window and terrace

The dinner menu looked quite nice but we were on a 'forfait' so we got no choice and fairly miserable portions. The starter was some tasteless sliced tomato with a bit of basil sauce dribbled across it, the main course was a small piece of salmon and a couple of accompaniments (wheat 'Ebly' and a thin square of aubergine gratin). Dessert was ice-cream in an edible container and too much squirty cream. I don't reckon it was really value for money (and said so on Trip Advisor) but the rooms had been recently decorated and it was all nice and clean.

Of course we all had dinner together and it reminded me of a party I'd been to when I first met my ex-h. He was still a medical student and fraternised solely with other medical students (and me). I arrived at the party with him, said 'Bon soir', sat through an evening of medical discussion and said 'Au revoir' at the end. I told him he could go to the next one without me.

The discussion around the dinner table that evening (as at lunch time) was, au choix: motorbikes, bicycles, mountain bikes, places visited on said bikes, problems experienced, competitions done, and sport (which I'm not interested in unless it's the Olympics). When I did open my mouth to say something, I annoyed my DB intensely (cos I was networking, lost my head, and mentioned my ex-h), and ruined the rest of our weekend!

I was already tepid at the idea of a group holiday mainly because I'm not a 'group holiday' type of person. I've had the experience of group holidays in the past (mostly when young) which were enough to put me off for life and I can't say I've really moved on since then! Unless they are family or my DB (et même...!), I like people in small doses. I don't like to feel obliged to interact with, or take into account the wishes of others over an extended period. Call me an antisocial old bat but I like my space and doing what I like when and how I like.

The good thing about motorbiking of course is that you're riding for most of the time. My DB and I don't even have one of those communicating mic systems because we like to ride in peace. If I have something to say I have to wait, or if it's important like I think he's going to miss the next turning, I indicate with my hand the direction to go in. Works fine for us and ensures lots of lovely peace and quiet, and no need to chat.

As we still weren't speaking to each other the following morning it was just as well!