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Last night was one of the the three meals Neil and Nat prepared for us during the trip. We teased Neil what a manly Weber Grill he had!!
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emJay pinched in and helped with the bread . . .
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. . . delicious marinated chicken shish ka bobs . . .
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. . . as we sat down the food just kept coming . . .
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. . . . fresh fruit salad. shish ka bobs, potatoes with crème freshe, LOTS of wine. . .
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. . . and for dessert . . . a Paiova meringue with LOTS of chocolate and poached pears.
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Nat, Jamie, Lucy and Neil. A GREAT family and it has really been fun hanging out with them!!!
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Soon it was morning and time to ride. Neil has developed a great ride system with many alternatives. Besides the GPS routes there are also laminated cards to take along telling you everything about the route . . .
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. . .including recommendations on where to stop, what to see and most importantly . . . where to eat lunch!!!!!
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Today the herd would break into two groups. A shorter ride and a long one. Local artists . . .
![fr0611 fr0611](https://travels.wohu.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/fr0611_thumb.jpg)
. . . adding local color. LOTS of it!!!!
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We rode by the apple trees that had been covered yesterday . . . today they were opened . . .
![fr0613 fr0613](https://travels.wohu.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/fr0613_thumb.jpg)
. . . and being mechanically picked.
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The first part of the ride was through a large orchard area with lots if irrigation . . .
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Love the signage in the rural areas, especially the train crossings . . . Choo-Choo!
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Many of the trees were sprayed with some kind of blue sulphate to prevent insect and disease damage.
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There were also lots of these hot houses along the way that are used to start tomatoes early in the season . . .
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oh , , , and the French are into kale too!!!!
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there was either a reroute of this irrigation ditch or someone forgot to pay their water bill!!!!
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Those of us on the longer route went around the mountain today and had several climbs. . . we soon left the valley floor and started climbing . . .
![fr0621 fr0621](https://travels.wohu.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/fr0621_thumb.jpg)
. . . . fun to watch the sheep along the way. The lambs are very busy . . .
![fr0622 fr0622](https://travels.wohu.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/fr0622_thumb.jpg)
. . . and there were horses along the way too out for a morning walk.
![fr0623 fr0623](https://travels.wohu.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/fr0623_thumb.jpg)
. . .we rolled though several small villages and this one had a salon where you could get the nationally recognized ‘French Girl Cut’.
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. . . Greg, its cheap here . . . no $50 haircuts!!!!
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around the mountain . . . .
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, , , ,circuses may he passé in the US, with the Ringling Brother’s recently shutting down, but they still seem to be popular in FR.
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We stay primarily on small farm lanes during the day but once in a while need to pop out onto busier roads used as connectors . . .
![fr0628 fr0628](https://travels.wohu.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/fr0628_thumb.jpg)
. . . this one leading us to Lorimarc, another one of the most beautiful villages in southern France!!!
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. . . beautiful!!!!!
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. . . with a great chateau . . .
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. . . and fun fountains. Talk about morning breath!!!
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We stopped for a nice lunch where there was great people watching . . . including ‘’’man scarves.!!!!
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. . . the local kitty stopped by to say hi and to get a handout.
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Johnny had a salad . . .
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Pam had the pasta . . .
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Terry had the blood sausage and I had an omelet . . . all on a perfect day, in a perfect setting!!!!
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nice sights as we walked around town and back to our bike for the climb up to Menarbes . . .
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, , , on the ay to our bikes I saw these two rigs. Déjà vu. Would have like to have talked to them but couldn’t figure out who the riders were.
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lets head up the mountain. . . .
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oh yeah . . .
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there were several switchbacks , , ,
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but after a hearty lunch, it was not a problem!!!
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. . . and of course more Kodak moments!!!!
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mmmm . . . . wonder if they have any dessert ??????
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We stopped at a restaurant overlooking the lower part of the town . . .
![fr0647 fr0647](https://travels.wohu.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/fr0647_thumb.jpg)
. . . where I had to poke my nose into the kitchen . . .
![fr0649 fr0649](https://travels.wohu.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/fr0649_thumb.jpg)
. . . admiring their wood fired pizza oven . . . which sounded good . . .
![fr0648 fr0648](https://travels.wohu.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/fr0648_thumb.jpg)
. . . but I settled for a nice little tiramisu. . . .YUMM!!!
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. . . on the way own we looked across the hillside and the was LaCoste, an ancient village now mostly owned by Pierre Cardin, the clothes designer. A former owner was . . . the Marquis de Sade!!!!!
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There was construction on the way back to Coustelett and this one is for Charlie. Not a Caterpillar, in fact I have never heard of this brand!!!!