Friday 29th April (No Birding Today on Mont Ventoux)


Mr. Kite looked out of The Joint window at the white pinnacle on top of Mont Ventoux. Somewhere nearby a Golden Oriole was singing. On this clear morning Mr. Kite planned to watch birds on Mont Ventoux.

After a light breakfast Mr. Kite set off on The Beast with panniers bulging with binoculars, books, water, spare brake pads, cables and an inner tube. In Bedoin Mr. Kite started the slow ascent along the D974 to the summit twenty two kilometres away. A number of Common Buzzards and Black Kites were in the sky. Soon Mr. Kite was in the forest where birds flew in front of him; over him, above him and around him. Now on the relentless slope Mr. Kite was focused on the climb and not the birds. Interesting songs could be heard coming out of the trees; shrills, whistles and squarks. Mr. Kite with The Beast in 'granny gear' every now and again passed another cyclist heading to the top.

Eventually Mr. Kite emerged from the darkening forest at Chalet Reynard to see the beginnings of the lunar landscape on Mont Ventoux. It was still uphill and Mr. Kite was counting down the kilometres to the summit. With the end in sight Mr. Kite was overtaken by a whizzing Alberto Contador who was in a higher gear. At this stage Mr. Kite decided that the chase was not on and continued the slow climb in 'granny gear'. Two kilometres from the top the cloud descended, the wind took on a ice cold chill and small hail stones bounced off Mr. Kites sweating brow. Passing the one kilometres marker Mr. Kite was cooling rapidly and finally the half a kilometres marker with an eleven percent gradient. Mr. Kite sped to the top as the hail stones grew in size, the wind blew stronger and the air temperature plummeted.

This time Mr. Kite had packed a one litre bottle of Quezac eau minerale with gaz carbonique. This was soon drunk by a thirsty Mr. Kite. Now instead of unpacking his bird-watching equipment to identify the birds on Mont Ventoux Mr. Kite put on his gloves, shirt and jumper and decided that in the cold cloud and bombardment of bouncing hail stones, sleet and grot it would be better to to return to The Joint.

Now The Beast is an aging Trek T30 Navigator and wearing out rapidly. So Mr. Kite headed down the mountain with brake blocks screeching, wheel rims grinding and the chain humming. One kilometre from the summit Mr. Kite brought The Beast to a stop and read the epitaphs on Tommy Simpson's Memorial. With hails stones bouncing and the cloud swirling Mr. Kite descended past Chalet Reynard where The Heavens opened and Mr. Kite was nearly drowned in the deluge. Freezing cold and drenched Mr. Kite kept on going; braking, accelerating, negotiating corners, avoiding cars and watching other riders bravely going up.

Soon at St. Colombe the rain stopped, the sun came out and Mr. Kite rode slowly back to La Pastory and The Joint; a dry, warm and tired bird-watcher. After a short rest Mr. Kite walked into Bedoin and sat in a street cafe watching Feral Pigeons. Some were green and white, others blue and white, a few black and white and lots grey and white. Sitting in the warm sunshine drinking coffee and watching Feral Pigeons eke out an existence is a relaxing way to spend the afternoon wondering why they are all so different.

After a good day Mr. Kite sat and looked at Mont Ventoux and had a tipple of Kronenberg 1664. Cheers from Mr. Kite.