Au revoir Provence

No more cycling for me today, a nice leisurely plod around the Luberon countryside instead (have to do lots of steps for the work step challenge!)

With the obvious reward..

My donkey obsession is in danger of emulating the penguin one, the castle was quite pretty too.

It seems fitting to finish off our trip with a long lunch in the sunshine, to be followed by a re-read of ‘A Year in Provence’ by the pool and the re-packing of the utterly filthy Bob into his bike bag.

Provence has been stormy but completely fabulous, highly recommended for spring hill training. Cycling in France is just so wonderful, shame one has to return to normality. However, bike commuting to Cambridge next week will hopefully feel easy after 29790 feet of climbing on this trip!

Pootling westwards

Sadly it’s time to think about heading home (back to work on Monday boooo) so today we headed west,  vaguely back in the airport direction. I politely asked the Garmin which way it would like to go and it suggested going up into the hills,  so I made it redundant and resorted to the old fashioned navigational methods.

My route was 63 miles and ‘only’ 2473 feet of climbing - Cambridgeshire is going to feel very flat after this trip!

The poor tree trunks are very achy (let’s not mention my bum!) so a pain au raisin was definitely needed today.

Bob is filthy and in need of some TLC and my cycling shoes are so wrecked they may stay in a French bin - the cleats are so bad that I failed to unclip in a village today and now have a rookie error style graze on my knee.

We are now in Lourmarin in the Grand Luberon region.

Continuing the Peter Mayle theme, this is where he died in January this year, apparently he had no plans to return to Britain as he got older “Why be vaguely happy in England when you can be very happy in Provence?” 

In one of his last interviews, Mayles was asked about dying,  “I loathe funerals, and would prefer not to have one. Instead, I’d like to put aside enough in my will for a lavish lunch for a few friends. I’ve often thought the best time to die would be after a long lunch - just before the bill arrives.” Food for thought!

Meanwhile back in the rather funky hotel...

We are sitting on our tiny patio making the most of afternoon sunshine instead of the usual storms, listening to a rather drunk group of French people by the pool singing along to dodgy French pop music - utterly tuneless and very entertaining.

Evening walkies into the village was rather picturesque, almost designed for tourist photos.

Magical mystery tour

After yet more rain yesterday evening, the skies looked more promising this morning.

This place is really rather special and breakfast came with a view.

Instead of getting straight on the bike, we went to a nearby supermarket and found a fish counter, yippee! The ‘villa’ has a kitchen which we will be making lovely and smelly later with langoustines and Rouget fillets.

I let the Garmin have some fun and asked it for a round trip ride of about 30 miles, I chose the least hilly option but still managed to destroy the tree trunks (again).

It was a random but beautiful tour of Cote de Provence vineyards, poor Bob was thoroughly shaken about.

Obviously it would now be very rude to not try out the local produce... glug 

Pootling south

After yet more storms yesterday, the sunset was pretty impressive.

The forecast was for another storm today so I set off on the bike early, also to avoid the tourist traffic heading for the Gorges du Verdon and I had the beautiful road almost to myself.

The poor old tree trunks are now getting used to the relentless Provençal climbing but it’s still a relief when there is a lovely descent, only 25 miles today - anyone would think this is a holiday!

Weeheeeee....


Inevitably the storm clouds were gathering as I approached Tourtour, another beautiful hilltop village. 

As if by magic, the Support Crew drove into the village at the same time, so Bob was plonked into the back of the hire car and we set off for a walk around the village and of course lunch.

Another lunch, another village pooch...

My Winter Sunday afternoon planning sessions have provided some very pleasant surprises and our ‘B & B’ this evening is definitely one of them.

Rest day

I had vaguely planned to cycle around the very hilly area today but the rain and the knackered legs had other ideas. We had a lesisurely brekkie and waited for the rain to ease off, then set off for a walk with brollies at the ready.

Obviously we had to find a hill to climb, which isn’t exactly difficult here.

I would definitely come back to Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, especially to La bonne Auberge where we had another long, delicious lunch - creme brûlée and poire belle Helene are on the pudding heaven list.

It’s yet another French bank holiday today so French parking is en pointe...

Stormy Provence

Thank goodness we arrived early at the donkey sanctuary yesterday, a storm with bells on arrived late afternoon which would have been horrific to cycle in.

Once the storm had passed, it was a beautiful evening in an idyllic location which even had puddytats to make it perfect.

The weather forecast predicted storms from 1pm so I left early and pedalled as fast as I could up yet more hills, saying aurevoir to the eeyores on the way out.

The tree trunks are getting back into hill climbing but today’s was another mini monster.

I was expecting the col sign reward but this one just had a pretty plateau.

I could see the storm clouds gathering so was pedalling as fast as I could but then as if by magic, the Support Crew arrived and rescued me from another drenching. As a reward, I dragged him out for a walk once we had checked into the hotel, via a rather fabulous refuelling.

A few hours and vins rose later, we plodded up into Moustiers-Sainte-Marie which is simply spectacular. The star you can see hanging between the rocks was apparently put there by a knight returning from the Crusades, as you do.

The storm was coming back and Le Fuss was on the march to avoid it...

We stocked up on wine, cheese and bread on the way back to the hotel and watched the incredibly dramatic storm from the hotel room.