Day 5 - Cycling in Provence - Exploring More of the Luberon Valley - Joucas, Menerbe & Gordes

Riding Through Beautiful Villages and . . . Getting Lost!

Day 5 was our first morning leaving from our new hotel, Le Coquillade. One of the benefits of riding with Backroads is that they provide you with cycling routes that are all stored within a small computer mounted on your handlebars -- these devices are made by a company called 'Wahoo.' They are great at pointing out the proper turns for your route, although sometimes if you don't pay attention, you end up a bit lost -- and Jeff and I were lost on at least 5 occasions on this day. Fortunately, we managed to find our way back to the planned route pretty quickly by backtracking. Here's what the Strava Map looked like for Day 5:

One of the best things about cycling in Provence is riding through the incredibly beautiful old villages. Some of the villages we rode through included Menerbes, Gordes, Roussillon and Goult. These villages are specifically designated as some of France's most beautiful and they are called ‘Les Plus Beaux Villages de France’ (the most beautiful villages in France) and there are very strict criteria that they must meet to qualify. We stopped for coffee and/or lunch in several of these villages and they never disappointed.














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