Provence: Part 3

Day 3 was intense. The road wasn't mountainous, but it was tricky. At some point we took a wrong turn and we became completely lost. We ended up off-roading in a vineyard. For real. After many minutes (felt like forever) of slowly biking over branches and debris, we figured we had to be going the wrong way. Also, we had to escape our scary whereabouts. There were "beware of animal" signs and I was sure we were about to encounter a snake and/or bear. So we turned around. We ended up making many wrong turns before finally finding other humans who kindly pointed us towards our destination: Graveson.

Lost

Found

Still, we were quite far from Graveson. For lunch we stopped in a town in which everyone seemed to be celebrating some sort of sporting event. No one was at work or school. The locals gathered at a bar, many sporting red or blue tee-shirts, and drank, sang and mingled. It was very cool to be able to observe the local festivities while refueling.

Local Festivities

Once back on our bikes, we rode through farms and fields of pumpkins, tomatoes and flowers. The sights were gorgeous. And we were able to really take in all the details, considering we were moving as slow as molasses. Day 3 was The Day of Wind. There were 50 mph headwinds slowing us down. Even cycling on flat road was absolutely treacherous. When the wind finally let up after a few hours (no exaggeration) I was so excited to feel free that I decided to bike up alongside Justin. But when he turned his head backwards to make sure I was still behind him (as he did constantly throughout the trip), we collided and tumbled onto a grassy hill beside the road. There were no serious injuries, just a couple of bruised egos after our ridiculous crash.

Post Crash

Night 3 was spent in a tiny town called Graveson. The little village has no "downtown." It's rural and in the middle of nowhere, France. We loved it. There was nothing to see or do, so we relaxed by the freezing pool and then dined at the hotel restaurant with a bunch of 80-something-year-old patrons. (They were on a tour, too. But not a bike tour.) Then we enjoyed some much needed rest before our finale.