Moustiers - Forcalquier

Saturday 23 July 05

We were up and on the road early again this morning. Todyas ride was really pretty as we rolled through lavender and wheat fields. The climbs were all easy and pretty short. Our first stop was Puimoisson for coffee, from there we continued through the fields until Valensole - a pretty town on the side of a hill. We decided as it was too early for lunch that we would stop and have another coffee. While climbing out of Valensole we were passed by another cyclist. About 2km's later on a long fast decent we caught him and drafted him for the next 7-8 kms. We were a fast train cruising down the hill at around 45km/hour.

We rolled into Manosque - the end of the ride at around lunchtime. As Manosque is one of the first major centres we have hit with a bike store we stopped in for some repairs. Cam's front brakes were loose and they were flexing under load and rubbing on his tired - I told Cam the simple was to avoid this was to ride slower and not use his front brakes - but we all know Cam....

From Manosque you have the option (well you don't really have any other choices) to ride to the start of the next ride which is 26km's away. As the ride had been so easy and it was still early we decided to grab some lunch and push onto Forcalquier.

The ride out of Manosque starts with a climb to Col de la Mort d'Imbert which is 591m. We then raced down the other side - right past a sign that said....

"For your safety, if you hear a sound similar to that of a jet blast, head away from the sound and leave the area immediately. Thank you."

What the.....? We are riding in a Regional Park what could possibly make that sound. Was the wildlife that bad here? : )

As we decended we came across what look like a huge Gas Pumping station or a gas field. Not what we expected to see in a regional park. Oh well - at least it explains the sign we read ealier.

Once at the bottom we climbed slowly to the town of Forcalquier. We ended up riding 78km and Jay was completely shagged.

We headed to the campground and set up camp. After freshening up we headed into town for a a look see and to gran some dinner. We headed back to the tent so a much needed sleep. Oh thank god tomorrow is a rest day!

Sunday 24 July 05

Today was our rest day and so we enjoyed a sleep in and then a lazy breaky.

After breaky we did our washing before hitting the pool. We pretty much stayed at the pool the whole day reading and escaping the heat.

At around 4.30pm we watched the last part of the Tour de France. So Lance goes out on a high. 5 Aussies in the top 10 for the day and Cadel Evans in 8th place overall

After the Tour ended we wondered up to the little Cittadel on the top of the hill overlooking town. After wondering around town for a bit we headed back to the campground and got ready to leave tomorrow.