Atop Mont Ventoux with Charlotte and Peter.

 Yesterday's hike took me to the summit of Mont Ventoux with Charlotte, Peter, and their group.

Charlotte and Peter admiring the view from the summit.

Inspiration: a one-legged cyclist finishing his climb - photo taken near the summit...

The hiking trails and the views toward the north:

The serene forest on the northern slopes, laden with larch, spruce, and fir.

On the way down I stopped to cheer on Betty Kals, who was attempting to break the record of the number of bike ascents from Bedoin to summit in a 24-hour period. She had already completed 5 ascents when the pictures below were taken. The number she needed to reach was 9, with a total of over 14 000m of altitude gain over the day. Crazy. Hope she did it.  

Vercors - le Grand Veymont

Last week we were in the Vercors mountains -- and to its summit -- le Grand Veymont, for incredible views of the entire chain of the Alps.  

Our self-guided walking holiday: click here !

One of the many Ibex on the rocky crest. Reintroduced in the Alps in the 20th century, ibex had become extinct in France due to hunting. Naturally unfazed by human presence, you can get to within inches of them, and sometimes need to skirt around them if they've decided to camp out on the hiking trails...

The wild and grassy plateaus of the Vercors range, a playground of open pastures and hiking paths, and in a fairy-tale setting:

The Mont Aiguille - literally "needle" - reserved for climbers...

Alpilles : new signs along the trails

New walkers' signs in the Alpilles mountains = escape from the office, and a 60km mountain bike reconnaissance of all the trails along our self-guided Alpilles walking holiday

Phew! All done in one day's work. And paid to ride my bike!

As we currently have walkers out on the trails, we need to ensure that our world class Roadbooks are 100% accurate and up to date!

Below is one of the new signs, replacing old wooden signs. Most of the new signage just replaced the old ones, while there were also signs in new places.

On the crest of the Alpilles: cistus flowers in bloom

the month of May, rich in poppies along the trails...

A well-deserved lunch at the Café de la Fontaine in Maussane les Alpilles. Yes, I realize that the Coke all but spoils the aesthetics of the French café picture. But after a few hours of bike riding it's hard to shake off the call for gratuitous sugar...

A hidden trail behind the village of Les Baux de Provence, almost too overgrown to walk, let alone to ride my bike...

valerian in bloom:

It's interesting how a few missing letters can change the meaning of things...