advance notice: autumn 26 is closing in plus footnote

My dear reader(s), despair not, despite the disposal of 1-rue FB we are still not done with exploits in PACA 84 (Vaucluse) although it is going on nine months or more since we retreated from Sablet with the last load of possessions, without the table, etc etc. I brim at the recollection. And given the extremes of weather reported thereabouts since our departure we also have given the odd sigh of relief: its been a mixed bag – remorse and thankfulness in equal measures. 

A new page has been turned, we are reduced to mere tourists once more, but one more time least, we are resolved to transfer by ways various (as outlined herewith) to turn up again in the vicinity of, if not actually resident within fair Sablet. Neighbouring Villedieu will be our base this time, in a rented property. That it should come to this. 

Notwithstanding, we plan to get there by the expediency described below; and after it is all over, return to Bullsmead Towers by the second expediency (or something like it) outlined below the expediency below. 

You may find these routes of interest, you may not. Whatever, you’ll be at a bit of a disadvantage without the A4 Michelin Atlas of Fr at your elbow… and as that is unlikely, I suggest you pass over this post and get on with stripping those doors… But whatever might be calling for your attention,  please don't skip the footnote that lurks at the end of this offering, it would be unkind…

A footnote here: I’d always hoped that Le Tour de France would pass through Sablet sooner or later, given the proximity of Le Ventoux and all that. Well, it didn’t although it came close in the summer that scorched us (40° no less). There’s a post. You’ll recall it, I have no doubt…… yeah, right.

Sure enough, as soon as we’d started the selling process, we received intelligence that the Tour-de-F Femmes would be finishing on the summit of Le Géant in 2026, and they would be passing down the D7 past Sablet, en route. Which they duly did. A key stage of the ladies race too, on ‘our’ local roads, and us not there to witness it pass a mere 20 metres from our former habitation, on the main road through Sablet to Beaumes-de-Venise — where there was a sprint even.

Sabbers does not feature on the official stage profile, unlike Seguret that is indicated and which the stage did not pass through (Sablet comes after Seguret and before Vacqueyras, as any fool know). 

the ladies leading group pass under Seguret en route to Sablet

part of the breakaway approach Sablet

Had we known in advance, our policy of not going to Fr anymore during the summer heatwaves would have probably prevailed, to be fair, even if we’d still been Sabletonians: as it was we were getting fried to a crisp (record breaking temps) in drought-torn Dirty Devon, just the same. There was no TV coverage of the TdeF Femmes in this benighted isle but at least The Guardian did do daily ‘as-it-happened’ reports and even published one or two snaps to rub the old sodium chloride into the jolly old wounds a bit more. Yes, you probably have just about concluded by now that the pictures and the graphic in the footnote are not the work of your author. I wasn't there, you see, in Vaucluse, on the seventh of August 2026. I was back at Bullsmead Court. I think I may have mentioned the fact. 

the breakaway leaving Sablet to the rear… 

the ladies sprint through Beaumes-de-Venise

So none of these images were made by me and I am risking incarceration or massive fines, community service etc by showing them here just to give you my reader(s) the feel of what we missed by selling up.  Amongst other things… I thank those lucky enough to catch these moments and trust they will look benevolently upon my presumption in their inclusion herewith. 

 Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney won the stage on the top of Ventoux and assumed the maillot jaune but it was Demi Vollering who ultimately prevailed as the race winner in yellow which concluded in Nice, after two more stages of racing. But you'll have known that, I'm sure.