This year’s bike trip was going to be different. For the first time, our route did not follow
a river or a canal. We were going to do
a circuit of Luberon, a hilly part of Provence just east of Avignon.
The area is extremely
photogenic and renowned for its ‘Perched Villages’. The so-called 'villages-perchés' are found in various parts of
Provence, especially in the Luberon region but also in several other regions /
departments, and are instantly recognisable because of the distinguishing
features of these villages:
- they are located high up on a rocky crag. As a result the perched
villages in Provence all have very impressive views across the surrounding
countryside
- they are usually in a historically important defensive position e.g.
on the edge of a steep valley or high an a hilltop. Most of the villages were
originally built around castles and surrounded by fortifications, although
these are often no longer apparent.
- the entrance to the town was through a narrow, easily defended,
doorway in the defences. In many villages you will still see these original
entrances.
- they have narrow steep streets winding steeply up through medieval houses
- they often have arcaded narrow passageways
- they have traditional Provencal architecture, with the houses (often tall) built
of the local rock, and having stone or canal tile rooves
- there are frequently decorative features on the houses e.g. carvings,
decorated lintels
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| Perched Village of Gordes - photo by Jean-Marc Rosier |
Roger and Gérard developed our itinerary based on an
established bike route around the area. This
route, unlike in the past, was almost exclusively on roads in the area; there
were very few stretches of dedicated bike paths. Roger and Gérard, much more
accomplished cyclists than either Tom or I, had done some portions of the route
in the past.
Roger had given me some pamphlets about the trip so I
could develop some information about the area, what to see, what some of the
towns had to offer, potential problems on the route, etc. While researching, I noticed that this is a
very hilly area, with a lot of ups-and-downs.
So, I decided I had better put in a bit of extra practice before we left
Lyon. I went out several times a week
and rode around Parc Tete d’Or near our apartment, trying to push myself as
much as practicable. After a few weeks
of this, plus a few trips of 30-60 km with a group that Roger and Gérard lead,
I felt I was in reasonable shape for the trip.
What I did not factor in was my proclivity to avoid the
short naps the others would take after a day of riding, when I would run around
the towns we would stop in so I could see as much of the sights as possible
during our visit. After a few days of
this, I came down with a bit of a respiratory problem, and was unable to
complete the last 50km of the trip.
Roger and Gérard finished the trip, picked up the car, and returned to
pick me up, along with Tom who had generously volunteered to remain with me.
The odd thing was that I had actually done pretty well at
coping with the hills and the traffic of our route. I did a minimal amount of pushing the bike on
foot up the hills, as I have tended to do in the past.
Our plan was to leave Lyon on Wednesday morning, May 23, and
drive to the town of Cavaillon, just east of Avignon. We would spend the night there and set out
the next morning on our adventure. As we
often do, we met at Gérard’s apartment building and loaded our bikes and equipment
onto his car. The three of us shared a
set amount for the use of the car so we could minimize any out-of-pocket cost Gérard
might have. We then returned to Lyon on Tuesday May 29.
Unless otherwise noted, all photographs have been taken by the four of us.
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Happy Bikers about to Leave Lyon
David, Gérard, Roger,Tom |
We were able to leave Lyon at about 9:30, stopped for coffee
on the A7 Autoroute, and arrived at Cavaillon in time for lunch. We ate at a café across from our hotel; I had
fish à la Provencal, with a nice rosé.
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| Lunch in Cavaillon |
The weather was pleasant, about 23-25 degrees [72-77F], so
beer or white or rosé wine seemed like the appropriate drinks for most of this
trip.
We checked into our hotel, locked our bikes in a garage, and
did a bit of sight-seeing around Cavaillon.
The entire area was once a Roman province, so there is lots of
history. Currently, Cavaillon is famous
for melons, which are not my favorite fruit, so this did not interest me very
much. Otherwise, we checked in at the
tourist office, where a very helpful lady provided us with a map of the town
along with information about two restored Roman-era arches nearby.
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| Square in Cavaillon |
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| David and Roger in the hotel bar before dinner |
We had dinner at the Fin-de-Siècle café, which appeared to
have authentic décor, as you can see from the photo. Tom and Gérard had pizza, Roger a big salad;
I had hamburger steak with frites and sauce béarnaise. We then headed back to our hotel to get ready for the start of our adventure the next day.
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| Fin-de-Siècle café |
