A quick trip to Provence - Mount Ventoux

Top of Mt Ventoux

Today I headed down to Provence for the weekend, I was up early so after a 3 hour drive I still had plenty of day left. The weather wasn't looking too bad so I decided I may as well tackle the monster Mt Ventoux, its a tough climb on any day but can be near impossible if the weather changes and the wind is blowing on the exposed summit.
Not the perfect mountain to tackle backing up from yesterday's triple ascent of Alpe D Huez but I was feeling up to it. I did climb this monster back in 2010 when over here with our Bega group but I had forgotten just how tough it was, 21km's of mostly 10% grade which is relentless. The wind did blow as I got out of the forest and onto the exposed road nearer top, fortunately the grade eases off slightly though and with the switching road I had a mixture of tailwind and headwind. Got to the top in a very respectable 1hr 41mins for the 21km climb.
Its was blowing and cold up the top so it was a case of a quick photo, put on the wind jacket and head for the bottom. It was cold up the top of the descent but the good news you get to reap the benefits of the climb by enjoying downhill all the way back.
A big plate of spaghetti when I got back to Bedoin was just what I needed to refuel, then it was back to the hotel.