Now that we had a car, we were free to roam the countryside. A road trip was in order. Marlene Wong and Gary Hsueh decided to forego cycling for the day and join us. We were delighted to have company. We decided to follow two of the cycling routes. After all, a car should cover twice the distance as a bcycle, shouldn't it?

 

The first route was to the Gorges du Verdon . This was supposed to be an out-and-back route, but fortunately our GPS routed us out a different way through beautiful alpine country. We found our way to the real route after having lunch at Restaurant Les Lavandes in the small village of Monieux. We sat on the patio joining several cyclists, some who had ridden here on electric assisted bicycles. We had a simple lunch of sandwiches and salads, but we could tell that this was a "destination" restaurant because of the formal dining room and the well-dressed staff and clientele.

 

The gorges were gorgeous. The road wound down between high cliffs through tunnels and around switchbacks. Lots of cyclists were on the road going both ways.

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Our second route had lots of climbing with marvelous vistas. We joked about the many different views that we had of Mt Ventoux. The highlight of this route was our stop at Gary and Marlene's favorite boulangerie. We had some very good pastries.

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We also visited the picturesque village of Savoillan. It was asleep when we were there, but we took some good photos.