Chateau d'Aulan, Buis

I took mom and dad to the Chateau d'Aulan today which is just down the (tiny) road from Montbrun. Actually, it looks like pretty fabulous place to ride a bike! We were taken around by a very enthusiastic and helpful guy, who explained the history of various rooms in the house. One of the most interesting things for me was that the Chateau is still in use. Photography is unfortunately forbidden, but I accidentally took this photo of Kenji and Gail in a small bedroom

The bed was very short, and apparently it was because they used to sleep sitting up, because of the superstition that to lie down was too close to death. Or at least that's what the guide said. Maybe they were just tiny people. There was a very cool red tiled study/library (still in use), a kitchen, and a formal dining room and billiard room (not in use) as well.

After Kenji did a little painting in the courtyard, we headed to Buis-les-Baronniers, where we wandered around, I bought olives and soap and we all had ice cream. It is a very pretty little Provençal Drome town, complete with a Sycamore lined street and a (mostly) pedestrian-only center.



We had dinner at the excellent Chez Paulette, just a few tunnels and medieval gates away.

Climbing!

Chloe and I went to la Baume Rousse this morning. After being misled by the stupid guidebook on how to get there (it is right next to the road!) we warmed up on some stiff but beautiful 6as, then moved right to stay out of the sun. We got on the amazingly steep and difficult, but very fun tufa climb 'L'Ecolo Net'. 7a seems a little stiff fort that one IMO, but I did it a vue after a struggle.




Baume Rousse has probably the coolest crag outhouse ever:

Made by Kazuba. Huge Kudos to whoever made that happen. It even has a sanitary hand wash dispenser!

Wine

We all road tripped to Apt, and the not-very-picturesque but really good Sylla vineyard.


We bought a case of the Orca wine. We also tried to go to Rousillon, but it was CRAZY and we turned around and wen back to Montbrun.

Ventoux

Today my objective was Le Ventoux. An early start to avoid the 90 degree weather… stomach tied in a knot for some reason, but there are public restrooms *with toilet paper* in town. Those of you who have visited France will probably know the horror of discovering too late that there is no toilet paper in the bathroom. Anyway, I grabbed a gel from a local shop, sucked it down, then went for it. I think other people have described the climb much better than I could, but my quick impressions are that the first section is not bad at all. Everyone seemed to still be getting used to the idea that they had just embarked on such an iconic climb and were taking it easy. A bit later the road started getting twisty and pretty steep, but I managed to get into a pretty good rhythm until the Chalet Reynard. For me this was probably the most difficult part. Next, the moonscape section which, except for a few ramps towards the end was not physically harder than the middle section, but mentally quite difficult, as it seemed like switchbacks kept appearing between myself and the summit. I passed the Simpson memorial, where people were paying their respects -- I didn't know it was so far up actually -- but was too focused on the top to stop… and then the top. I should mention that there was some wind at the top, but having read other peoples accounts, it seems that it was pretty mild for Ventoux in retrospect. It did not feel mild at the time however. The multidirectional nature of the switchbacks also insured that the wind was at my back for part of the time too, which was excellent. It's a great climb. Super difficult, but so memorable and beautiful at the top. And the descent? Just amazing, particularly through the middle section. I talked to my friend Hank about this, and we had the same impression -- just disbelief at how good it is weaving through steep banked curves. I had to ease up a bit because there were so many people, and the visibility is reduced with the foliage (Hank tells me sight lines are a lot better in the Fall). I was also having so much fun that I forgot to record it! Video is below

Drive to Montbrun, le 7

Today we drove to Montbrun-les-Bains with a detour to Valence to go to the bistro of the three starred Pic restaurant (on the recommendation of Franck). After waiting for noon to roll around (we left too much time to get to Valence) and looking at their display of all the Michelin guides since 1908 or so to the present, with other memorabilia


We found our seats



and started with a fun variation on the ubiquitous Caprese salad in which the Mozarella was foamed. My opinion on this is that while it was very good, the best way to improve on a Caprese salad is with the ingredients: better Mozarella, better tomatoes.

The kids, meanwhile, had amazing fries. I will admit that I stole a few of them while they were not looking. I think the fries were cooked in duck fat.

We then had a kind of fish stew which was also excellent.

Desserts:


And coffee

Actually, one of the best parts of the meal were the crunchy little pound cakes filled with jam that came with the coffee. Wonderful!

Next it was on to Montrbrun. We lost a little time trying to find the autoroute ticket, which had slipped under the seat somehow. When we arrived in Montbrun, I called the Gite owner, and he came and met us on his electric scooter. The roads are extremely narrow, so I think we were all a little worried about how we would get our cars up into the village.

After dragging all the suitcases etc up the stairs, Alex and I went to get some provisions (cookies, bubbles: essential stuff)

Market day, Museum

Today was market day, and after the kids beat up on Kenji

we all convoyed into Grenoble to go to the Museum. We ate at the Museum Cafe which had excellent food (the grilled veggies marinated in olive oil was probably the best thing) with pretty poor service.











mmmm Eau de Parking Lot!!

Leaving time

Time to pack up and leave :( Beforehand, of course, there was a little packing and basic cleaning to do before the cleaning guys arrived. Somehow we barely fit all the stuff into the car. We did make it to the market, where we bought some fantastic nectarines and nettle flavored cheese


After reluctantly giving up the key, we headed out. Since this was supposed to be the worst traffic day of the year, we picniced near the col du Lautaret (actually, just outside of Villard d'Arene) and Chloe and I got up a few sandbagged granite routes before we all got in cars again and drove home.


The traffic wasn't too bad in our direction, but coming up to the mountains looked worse than I have every seen. I think it more or less stopped around the turnoff to la Mure, but went all the way to the autoroute, and was at a standstill. A little piece of California in the Alps!

Izoard

I got up early and rode Izoard today, again from the North side. I have discovered that one problem with leaving early is that I ride slowly. Therefore, I had a pretty pitifully slow pace up to the top, but then again, it is more than 1200m of gain. In any case, the upper part of the col is totally beautiful, and only surpassed by the Casse Deserte on the other side. Indeed, I descended the short distance down the South side to wander around and take pictures of the moonscape.




Back at the top, the bonbon guy had set up his stand, with promises of natural flavored candy.

I bought an incredibly overpriced sachet for the kids, and then did the descent back to Briancon. I packed up the stuff and was back at the Chalet by 10:30. Not too shabby!

The babysitter arrived at noon, and Chloe and I got to enjoy a little spa time at les bains! Very nice.

We also finally bought another rope, after almost six years of loyal service:

At the fabulous AlpiMat store in Briancon. We bought exactly the same rope as before: A Beal Booster. I've bought a decent number of ropes, and Beal have always treated us well, and in stark contrast with other ropes which have suffered a variety of shortcomings like sheath shrinkage, extreme fuzzification and weak sheaths. The Beals have been perfect however.

Later that night, Chloe and I went for a walk and stumbled upon a hedgehog! I had never seen one in the wild and actually would not have seen it at all had Chloe not jumped into the air, temporarily lost her English vocabulary and started shrieking "HERISSON!, HERISSON!". It was a cute little dumpling shaped thing, but scurried off into the bushes before I could get a picture.