Not really sure if we have how an adequate amount of good humour left to describe today's chain of events.
But, let's start from the beginning a few days back...
On the upside; our tour of Versailles was magical (as previously reported.)
On the downside; whilst we didn't want to harp on it earlier, Gosia was already a little ill with a cold that day, and unfortunately I started feeling ordinary half way through the day as well.
On the upside; we still managed to find a quaint little place open late to give us an evening meal - Gosia had a really nice marget de canard (duck breast.)
On the downside; I had a funny tasting steak which made be violently ill more times than you can say "merci" in a week in Paris.
On the upside; I managed to restrain Gosia in La Fayette (massive, über-chic store in middle of Paris) such that we may still be able to afford the flight home.
On the downside; we didn't see the Grande Arche or the Sacre Coeur and had to see the Eiffel Tower at night from a bit of a distance due to both of our incessant symptoms (enough said.)
On the upside; Paris overall was awesome as was the train ride almost the length of France North-South to Avignon. Far superior to the Eurostar experience in terms of service and facilities. We met our local bike tour representative in the station as planned.
Double-Upside (for Gosia); he looked like a slightly older and smaller Rafa.....
Double-Downside; our guide may have thought we where drug dealers from Columbia carrying cargo given Gosia's incessant sniffling and my pastey complexion and clammy cold sweat.
Upside; despite some sizable language "hurdles" we checked in to our awesome little Mediterranean looking hotel and had a great French dining experience. 3 courses of salmon, smoked rabbit (Dad you would be proud of Gosia inhaling this dish) and an apple tart with almond ice cream for dessert.
Downside; by this morning I was still as crook as a dog and gave up on the planned early departure for the Day 1 ride and instead made an immediate departure for La Pharmacie where Gosia triumphed by asking in French both the directions to the pharmacy and requesting the necessary medications. Big tick wife.
Upside; felt better within an hour of taking medication and by lunch time we had kitted up and headed out for the 70km loop around the bottom of Mt Ventoux and the climb of the col de Madelaine.
Triple downside; the triple ring front dérailleur on Gosia's shiny new Look* decided to skip it's merry little way right off the smallest chainring, wedging the chain between the frame and the chainring. That part of the Look is now not so shiny. After much swearing in all known languages we gave up and called our tour operators help-me-I-am-a-little-bit-retarded-line. Again with the obligatory French back and forth, eventually the cavalry arrived (after an hour) and back we went to Bedoin and the bike shop for repairs. We got back on the road too late to do the loop planned, so we settled for the massive warm-up of about 20km!!!
(* for those playing at home, bikes are 2011 Look 566's with 105 right through, Mavic's, 3T forks and headsets, and a garmin GPS between us - nice rigs)
Upside; we are both feeling heaps better and we have energy reserved for tomorrow's assault on the Giant of Provence.
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