Aches in Provence

Come and join us on this amazing 8-day tour which offers the very best and most challenging cycling that Provence in the south-east of France has to offer.

Tour highlights:
The highest – at 2800m (9200ft) elevation, we will cycle over the highest road pass in France, the Col de la Bonette
The toughest – the “Giant of Provence” Mont Ventoux (1912m, 6270ft) is rightly known as one of the toughest climbs around. You have the choice of climbing it once, twice, or becoming one of less than 7500 people world-wide who have been crazy enough to climb all three roads to the summit in a single day and, in so doing, have joined the hallowed ranks of the Club des Cinglés du Mont Ventoux (which translates roughly as the Brotherhood of the Crazy People of the Windy Mountain!)
The deepest – the Gorges du Verdon is Europe’s deepest canyon, second in the world only to the Grand Canyon
The largest – the Lac du Serre-Ponçon, famous for its vivid green / blue colour, is Europe’s largest artificial lake, created by the damming of the Durance river
The strangest – the Col d’Izoard features the famous “Casse Déserte” – an awe-inspiring alien and barren landscape
The most infamous – the Col de la Madone is notorious as being the 925m climb on which Lance Armstrong used to test his EPO-fuelled form ahead of winning the Tour de France seven consecutive years
The most glamourous – cycle the Formula 1 circuit in Monaco, home to supercars, superyachts, supermodels, and let’s not forget the supercyclists: Chris Froome, Richie Porte, Geraint Thomas and many of Team Sky, and Team Astana.
 
Enjoy all of this and more in the stunning landscape of the sunny south-east corner of France, as we experience 5 of the major regions of Provence: the Var, the Vaucluse, the Alpes de Haute Provence, the Haute Alpes and finishing with the Alpes Maritimes.
Our reward at the end of each day is the rich and satisfying flavours of Provençal cuisine, the Mediterranean diet rightly famous for promoting healthy living and long life. Provençal food is very distinctive from the rest of French cuisine: the Mediterranean influence results in recipes with spices, and of course seafood features strongly. Garlic, olive oil and olives are the leitmotif, with an abundance of “Herbes de Provence”. Because of the mountainous country, without the rich farmlands and herds of dairy cattle, Provençal cooking uses very little milk, and where cheese does feature, it tends to be goat’s cheese which predominates.
Each day offers a very distinct cycling flavour too, from the mountain peaks of the Hautes-Alpes region in the north to the the glitz and glamour of the Côte d’Azur in the south, from the precipitous ravines and gorges of the Var in the east, to the vast open landscapes of the Vaucluse to the west.
The mediaeval capital of Provence, Aix-en-Provence, provides the inspiration for the name of our tour – “Aches in Provence” – although we don’t actually cycle in Aix itself…it was just too relevant a pun to resist.