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France - West to Provence
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We headed back along the main road towards
Digne-les-Bains and being a Sunday it was empty - apart from bikers of
course. At the turning towards Mézel
we went south through a pleasant rural valley d'Asse passing typical
sleepy villages and then up a winding road through scrubby woods to emerge
on the flat Plateau de Valensole and its lavender fields, stopping among
the lavender for lunch. We turned towards Valensole which lies on a
hillside and looked very parched with its distinctive pale ochre
buildings. Taking a minor road to Riez across more undulating woodlands we
spotted several motorhomes parked in a field at the edge of the town near
the roman columns and ancient baptistry. The town was worth an explore
with many old narrow streets and bars. An old lady greeted us in a back
street wishing us a good long life especially if we climbed the hill to
the shrine of St Maxime (I think that was the gist of the conversation)
but as it was scorching hot . . . we enjoyed an icecream instead and
watched an old car rally pass through the town.
old Fiat Tipo at Riez
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Valensole lavender
Roman columns Riez
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After a peaceful night in the field we
continued through Allemagne en Provence a strange name for an ordinary
village and turned off to the Lac d'Esparron climbing through many
kilometres that had been ravaged by a huge forest fire perhaps a year or
so ago as the green shoots of grass were just re-emerging among the
blackened tree stumps. The village on the lake turned out to be a holiday
resort with many sailing boats and villas and parking payant so after a
quick look we continued south on the road towards Quinson with more
lavender fields. After a diversion to miss some narrow roads we arrived at
Ste Croix de Verdon a pretty village with an excellent and popular aire
overlooking the blue lake, the first place for weeks that we met some
British motorhomers. As it was still very hot we lazed around in the
little shade available watching firefighting seaplanes scooping up water
all afternoon to fight fiires down near the coast.
Firefighting seaplanes on Lac Ste Croix
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Ste Croix de Verdon
view from aire at Ste Croix
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The temperature continued to rise the next
day reaching 37°C in the afternoon. we drove down a steep winding road to
Moustiers-ste-Marie then across the bridge at the end of the Canyon du
Verdon which we had visited a few years ago. We headed south to Aups
another of our favourite towns taking a pleasant stroll around the shady
narrow lanes, and wondered if the row of old men sat by the fountain were
the same ones that we photographed a few years ago. After a quick shop in
a Petite Casino we drove along more winding lanes through woods of cork
oak and olive groves with many large villas on the hillsides many "a
louer" (for rent), passing the strangely named Fox-Amphoux and on to
Tavernes. The roads became busier with quarry lorries as we approached
Manosque a large busy town on the Durance. We headed for the cool of an
air-conditioned hypermarket just before Volx (an appropriate name as I
kept getting static shocks from the trolley as we walked around in the
cool air). We wondered at the range of cheap car and trailer parts that
you would only get from a specialist retailer in the UK. After a couple of
hours we left to catch the rush-hour traffic jams just like at home and
headed for an aire at the old village of Dauphin that we eventually found
next to the salle polyvalente where everyone gathered in the evening for
the World cup football match. Luckily France won judging by many cars
driving around late into the night with flags flying and horns blaring.
It's a pity there was so much evidence of vandalism with broken services
and glass strewn everywhere in a small village.
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Canyon du Verdon
Dauphin village
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Staying in this calm area of villages, farms
and gentle hills for another day we drove along to Montfuron where there
is a restored windmill on the edge of the sleepy village, then back to the
main road to Apt and north east to Rustrel where the ochre rocks in the
Colorado can be visited (at a parking charge double rate for camping-cars) then over the wooded hills to a wide
flat valley with more lavender fields and the climb up to the delightful
hilltop village of Simiane la Rotonde with its large tower and extensive
views where we lazed for most of the day after walking around the very
steep lanes. There were many colourful butterflies in the trees. It
should have been so peaceful but wasn't, an aerobatic plane seemed
to practice all day in the area! After tea we drove along narrow country lanes through rough woodlands to
St Michel de l'Observatoire where the astronomical telescopes stood out on
the hill to the north of the village and stayed at the motorhome aire for
the night.
butterflies
We were finding the daily heat up to 34°C rather restricting for more strenuous
walking so the following day drove to
Forcalquier, a busy town, to get some diesel and refill our gas tank
eventually finding a petrol station at the Intermarché on the far side of
the town but no LPG. We then turned north crossing the Plateau d'Albion
with more lavender fields not quite in full colour through Banon and St
Trinit arriving at Sault, where we stopped at a large forest and picnic
area opposite the campsite on the D950 for lunch. We then drove about a
mile into the town where parking was free and strolled around the compact
town centre stopping to look at the magnificent views across the hills
from the shady terrace where serious boules matches were in
progress.
Boules match at Sault
Rather than tempting providence we decided to avoid the road over Mont Ventoux, having had vehicle problems
there on two previous occasions and took the easier D40 road to the north of the
"windy mountain" passing through Brantes with dramatic and extensive views and
into vineyards, arriving at Entrechaux where we couldn't find the listed
aire, then south to Malaucène where the
motorhome aire was closed so back to Entrechaux and a small private
one star but expensive campsite tucked
away down a narrow valley in a pleasant location in woods beside a
river.
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windmill at Montfuron
Simiane la Rotonde
Plateau d'Albion view
Sault
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