A fine spring dawn in Marseille got me up for a sporty ride around the lakes of the lower Verdon: the Lac de Greoux and the Lac de Sainte Croix, in Provence.
First a stop at the Café du Midi in Peyrolles whilst my bike was being serviced. Saturday is market day and people were happy to chat in the spring sunshine. My friend Pascal from Marseille joined me and we enjoyed the roads through Vinon and Greoux and on to toasted goats cheese salads in a cafe at Esparron sur Verdon, which is on a calanque of the Lac de Greoux.
I rode on around the Lac de Sainte Croix, long clear roads and not a lot of traffic about so lots of opportunity for throttle-on/throttle-off riding style with cornering sitting on either edge of the seat or hanging off. Oh and back for grilled red tuna for dinner at the Rowing Club de Marseille. Fantastic view of the Vieux Port but it's not quite as posh as it sounds.
And a flight back to Gatwick that was completely clear of cloud all the way from the Mediterranean to the English Channel. Great views of the Alps all the way over to Mont Blanc and even the Jungfraujoch far away in the Bernese Oberland.