Strasbourg to Nice

[Cathryn]

Wednesday 20th

46 miles from Montmaur en Diois to Nyons! Lovely climb up the Col du Premol and then got utterly soaked and cold on the 17 mile descent! Soooo cold! Recovered in the bar/tabac at La Motte Chalancon and when we came out, the sun was shining again! A wonderful ride down the Gorge de Saint-May, although the road was busier than I enjoyed! And then finally 8 brutal
miles on a gravel rollercoaster to Nyons! Today felt really hard, but we’re in good spirits and Nyons is beautiful. The scenery today was spectacular!

 

[ColinJ]

It is indeed stunning! (The video is still on the link!)

It isn't for me! Is it only available for people who are logged in to Facebook?

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Wednesday 20th

46 miles from Montmaur en Diois to Nyons! Lovely climb up the Col du Premol and then got utterly soaked and cold on the 17 mile descent! Soooo cold! Recovered in the bar/tabac at La Motte Chalancon and when we came out, the sun was shining again! A wonderful ride down the Gorge de Saint-May, although the road was busier than I enjoyed! And then finally 8 brutal
miles on a gravel rollercoaster to Nyons! Today felt really hard, but we’re in good spirits and Nyons is beautiful. The scenery today was spectacular!

View attachment 784288

Wonderful. We stayed in La Motte a couple of years ago and swam in the lake nearby. Dozens of vultures circling!

 

[Cathryn]

Wonderful. We stayed in La Motte a couple of years ago and swam in the lake nearby. Dozens of vultures circling!

It’s stunning there, we saw the lake too! And saw loads of vultures. I think Drome is an utterly magical department!

 

[briantrumpet]

It isn't for me! Is it only available for people who are logged in to Facebook?

Ah, quite possibly, sorry.

 

[briantrumpet]

It isn't for me! Is it only available for people who are logged in to Facebook?

Remembered I put it on Youtube.



Also Gorges du Nan isn't one for those who suffer from vertigo

 

[briantrumpet]

Wednesday 20th

46 miles from Montmaur en Diois to Nyons! Lovely climb up the Col du Premol and then got utterly soaked and cold on the 17 mile descent! Soooo cold! Recovered in the bar/tabac at La Motte Chalancon and when we came out, the sun was shining again! A wonderful ride down the Gorge de Saint-May, although the road was busier than I enjoyed! And then finally 8 brutal
miles on a gravel rollercoaster to Nyons! Today felt really hard, but we’re in good spirits and Nyons is beautiful. The scenery today was spectacular!

View attachment 784288

Those gorges to Nyons are a great ride (especially with a tailwind), but very crumbly in places - there have been several complete road closures there in the past couple of years, following some significant rockfalls and a fatality here - I think it's been netted since then, but you rode under here.

 

[Cathryn]

Those gorges to Nyons are a great ride (especially with a tailwind), but very crumbly in places - there have been several complete road closures there in the past couple of years, following some significant rockfalls and a fatality here - I think it's been netted since then, but you rode under here.

View attachment 784350

We did! They were solidly pinned but I did put my foot down in those stretches

 

[ColinJ]

Those gorges to Nyons are a great ride (especially with a tailwind), but very crumbly in places - there have been several complete road closures there in the past couple of years, following some significant rockfalls and a fatality here - I think it's been netted since then, but you rode under here.

The nets would have to be incredibly strong and well fitted to hold back chunks of rock as big as those, falling from a great height!

I took a look at your video on YouTube of the mountain pass. I will rephrase that... I took a look at your video on YouTube of the terrifying side of the mountain - PASS!!!

It does look like a fantastic area though.

 

[briantrumpet]

The nets would have to be incredibly strong and well fitted to hold back chunks of rock as big as those, falling from a great height!

I took a look at your video on YouTube of the mountain pass. I will rephrase that... I took a look at your video on YouTube of the terrifying side of the mountain - PASS!!!

It does look like a fantastic area though.

The nets do a combination of things... some of them are to stop chunks falling off catastrophically in the first place by holding them tight to the others, others are there to slow things down if chunks do fall off, and often they drill gert big bolts deep into the rocks to hold specific chunks on (which I might have expected in the Gorges de St May photo).

One of the diagnostics they use is to monitor the amount and regularity of rocky stuff that needs to be swept off roads, using that as an early warning system to investigate potential catastrophic falls. That specific bit that caused the fatality is actually quite unusual in that I don't think it had been either netted or bolted, despite the apparently obvious weak strata structure. I do tend to pay some attention to aspects such as this, as I ride under so many of them so frequently!!

Here's one I feel safe under, near St Benoit-en-Diois - it's one massive hunk of limestone... no nets, not bolts.

 

[Cathryn]

Thursday 21st

36 miles from Nyons to Sault. A shorter day but lots of climbing. Some stunning villages, olive groves, vines and some gorgeous long views of mountains. And our first glimpse of Mont Ventoux! Stopped en route to video call my parents - the teen took one GCSE a year early and my parents got his result! 9!! So proud! Once in Sault, we did laundry and picked up our rental bikes for tomorrow’s* attempt at Ventoux.

*This post is a day late so tomorrow is today! We go up Ventoux today and I am slightly terrified!

 

[briantrumpet]

Thursday 21st

36 miles from Nyons to Sault. A shorter day but lots of climbing. Some stunning villages, olive groves, vines and some gorgeous long views of mountains. And our first glimpse of Mont Ventoux! Stopped en route to video call my parents - the teen took one GCSE a year early and my parents got his result! 9!! So proud! Once in Sault, we did laundry and picked up our rental bikes for tomorrow’s* attempt at Ventoux.

*This post is a day late so tomorrow is today! We go up Ventoux today and I am slightly terrified!


View attachment 784486

Ha, you've left my domain now! I hope the last legs of your ride are splendid and the weather kind!

 

[rualexander]

Why rental bikes when you've got your own bikes?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Why rental bikes when you've got your own bikes?

Cost of flying with bikes, and the hassle, often makes it simpler to just rent.

 

[Legs]

Congratulations to Pog and good luck on Ventoux!