Relief without Relief

There must be some kind of way outta here
Said the joker to the thief
There’s too much confusion
I can’t get no relief

I can hardly think of a quatrain more apt regarding the continuing Covid conundrum. I really would like some relief from the incessant reminders and/or demands to wear a mask, stay 6 feet apart from everyone except Stoker and Luke, and wash, wash, wash these Lady Macbeth hands that will “ne’er be clean”.

We are not going to France until late July at the earliest. So just to make sure that I remember what I am missing, my friend and tour guide Gerry sent me a couple of wonderful relief maps of the area we have cycled since 2014.

The top map is the area around Mont Ventoux. Our Malaucene rental house is just at the upper left of Le Geant de Provence. The lower map is the Cevennes national park where 44 5 runs a week long tour. I’ve done it 3 times and #4 was supposed to be in 2020, since postponed to 2021, and now 2022. It is certainly worth repeating; if I could only do one week long bicycle tour for the rest of my life I would pick this one. It has everything except traffic.

These maps provoke many memories. Here is the Col de Fontaube, an incredibly beautiful and tandem friendly (6% max, 3% average) climb on the way to the lovely village of Brantes for coffee. We’ve been up it 3 times. Over there is the Col de Homme Mort, which despite its foreboding name is a pussycat of a climb unless the wind is blowing. The Dentelles and Col de la Suzette, where Stoker and I encountered trucks laying fresh chipseal that forced a 2 km hike in cycling shoes. And over in the Cevennes, we have Mont Lozere and Mont Aigoual, the the gorges of the Tarn and Jonte rivers, and the causses (plateaus) between them.

• 

• 

Fantastic memories of cycling adventures shown in relief maps. Which do not provide relief from disappointment. Like the fans of ‘them bums’ back in Brooklyn’, Stoker and I are chanting ‘Wait ’til next year’ for some kind of way outta here and across the Atlantic.