Driving Through the Drôme and Provence

The 2014 Tour is less than a month away.  The Dauphiné is taking place this week in the vicinity of Lyon.  But we needed to go to Nice.  Going down, we followed Route 75 from Grenoble through the foothills of the Alps, through the upper Drôme, stopping for the night at Lus la Croix Haute.  The map in the village square showed a "Boulodrome" just beyond the church.  I had to check it out.  Four of the locals were battling it out in the traditional "pétanque" style (as opposed to the "Lyonaise" style played near our apartment in Lyon).  Two completely different games!  The lady in red was called "The Golden Arm"  ("Bras d'Or") because of her prowess "au tir" (blasting the opponent's ball out of the way).  From 8 meters away, I watched her throw 8 out of 10 perfect strikes!  It was amazing!  The "tireur" (shooter) on the other team (man in grey) took some time getting warmed-up, but then he too made several amazing shots in a row to rescue his team from disaster.

Les amis du village jouent à la pétanque au boulodrôme.

La dame en rouge mérite bien le sobriquet "Bras d'Or!"  Elle n'a presque jamais manqué le tir.

Et Monsieur en gris n'est pas malin non plus.

Madame en blanc est pointeuse pour son équipe, mais, (hélas!) elle m'a appris pas mal de jurons au cours du jeu.

Monsieur "le Jardinier" a réussi à chaque reprise de planter sa boule au plein centre de son "jardin."  Avec Madame "Bras d'Or" son équipe a gagné presque tous les points.

Après le jeu, ils sont rentrés chez eux pour l'apéritif traditionel.

What is the connection to the Tour de France and biking?  Well, we were touring in France.  And, the next morning our trip was detoured for a bike race taking place along our planned route.

On Tuesday, as we headed back towards Lyon, we took a side trip to Gordes, a medieval village in Provence, where we saw this cyclist climbing up the steep incline to the top of the village.  Does that count?

 The next pictures will give you an idea of how steep the climb is.

View of Gordes from below.

View of Gordes from above - from the top of the neighboring hill.