Our first target today is the Abbey de Senanque, around 15km away from our hotel. This features in pretty much every guide book to Provence,usually with rows of lavender in front. It is still a functioning monastery and is located some way off the beaten track. However, at the moment, the lavender that usually appears in front of the abbey is missing. The land is having a fallow period before being replanted.
We arrived at 10:25, just in time for the 10:30 tour (quite by accident I should say). The tour lasts just over the hour and is in French, but was worth doing as it is the only way to see the inside of the buildings. I was very impressed by the architectural drawings that many of the rooms had, showing the manner of construction, especially the stone roofs. I am always very keen to visit monasteries - perhaps I still have a faint yearning for the solitary religious life?
Lots of fantastic books in the abbey shop but sadly all in French
The Abbey de Senanque - nestled in its quiet valley
An example of the many architechural drawings, all from the mid-1980s
How the roofs are supported
And a real roofFrom there we had decided to drive the 30 odd km to Mont Ventoux via Gourdes. As with all such drives, this takes about twice as long as one might expect, but is well worth it
Long telephoto lens views across to the far side on the Luberon
Artist shop in Gourdes - they always get very cross if they think you are taking pictures of their art - and rightly so!
Linda sitting outside the creperie where I had pancakes with chocolate sauce
More (very expensive) product regionaux
Baby lavender plants
Autumn in the foothills to Mont Ventoux
The first sign of thinning vegetation as we climb higher
Back towards the Luberon valley
Linda with the summit in the distance
More abstract views of the hills in the far distance
Looking back down the road to the summit - no vegetation any more. This is a famous part of the climb from the Tour de France
The actual summit - a surprisingly large number of cyclist were out
The summit on the way back down
Linda reading her John Sandford thriller
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We circle back round from Mont Ventoux towards Apt, the small town near where we were going to stay for one of our weeks in France last year, La Moliere. I couldn't find the actual house, but did get very close to it on a couple of occasions.
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We call in at the large Supermarket in Apt and buy snacky food for dinner in our room, which is ideal for the purpose with a small table in the room. We watch 3 episodes of CSI related to the miniature killer. Tonight's reading is mainly the Wittgenstein biographical sketch I brought with me. I am thinking of trying to prepare something like this for Kepler
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Thursday
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Our plan today had been to visit Arles in the morning, then down through the Camarge area. But due to a miss turn we ended up in the Carmarge first and indeed, never made it to Arles.
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The first flock we came across
Lots of herons too
Nearly a truly great shot - not quite in perfect focus and one wing tip missing
Flock number two
I spent ages trying to get a good shot of open wings - they only open them for a second or so
My pictures gradually become more abstract - this is one of my favourites
And this perhaps my second favourite
This one was nearly a great picture - just a little too far away
Several Camarge white horses
We think this is an egret - there were a few around, but they were quite shy
So we didn't make it to Arles after all. Late afternoon was spent at the coast and a leisurely drive back early evening.
Emma called when we were back at the hotel. She has an interview next week and needs to discuss it with us in some detail. She sounds very excited.
We have another dinner in our room tonight - and I have reached page 250 in Galileo's Daughter
Friday
An 8:00 a.m. start for today's long drive - brief stops for fuel, and a last visit to the local supermarket. Our next stop is several hours later near Carcassonne, a service station which I stopped at last year and where we could buy local wine (another 12 bottles). We have brunch in the picnic area where we come across a kitten which seems very happy to take any spare food we have going.
Linda sleeps for an hour or so and we push on past Toulouse, getting slightly lost on the way. I figure there is just enough time for a quick visit to Montagu de Quercy and to see the Chateau de Rodie where we stayed two weeks last year. Then onto Cahors and another stop at a supermarket where we buy 20 more bottles of wine - Cahor red is my absolute favourite
Back on the route to next place. It is further than we had thought, and we don't arrive until 6:00. This may be the best hotel we have stayed at so far. It also has a full "gastonomique" meal, and we are very pleased to accept an all-in price for this. It was a great relief to not be driving again
Our meal is a real treat - starter of poached eggs and salmon, while Linda has mussells, followed by quail stuffed with foie gras for me and sea bass for Linda, then rocamadour goat's cheese with honey and walnuts, and chocolate cake. We definitely plan to come here again!
Saturday
Another early departure, 7:45 - we did not really see this hotel well, but will definitely return.
To Limoge on the motorway, then slow on the A-road to Poitiers, more motorway to Tours, and Le Man (where we have lunch at a service station), then Caen and Cherbourg by 4:45p.m. More than 400 miles, during which I have spent a lot of time thinking about my PhD proposal - writing bits in my head
Read Galileo's Daughter on the boat and slept. Home by 9:00. Cat problems to do with one of the neighbour's cats attacking our's. Only a partial unpacking of wine tonight - that will wait till tomorrow
At St Gilles we stopped at another regional products shop and bought loads of local rice and some more wine including some with really beautiful bottles featuring the flamingos that we understood to be very much part of this area - them and the famous white horses.
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Our next stop was a "Parc Ornithologique" which we had read about in a guidebook. This turned out to be a real treat and we spent most of the rest of the day there. I took an extraordinary number of photos of flamingos (and other birds)
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The first flock we came across
Lots of herons too
Nearly a truly great shot - not quite in perfect focus and one wing tip missing
Flock number two
I spent ages trying to get a good shot of open wings - they only open them for a second or so
My pictures gradually become more abstract - this is one of my favourites
And this perhaps my second favourite
This one was nearly a great picture - just a little too far away
Several Camarge white horses
We think this is an egret - there were a few around, but they were quite shy
So we didn't make it to Arles after all. Late afternoon was spent at the coast and a leisurely drive back early evening.Emma called when we were back at the hotel. She has an interview next week and needs to discuss it with us in some detail. She sounds very excited.
We have another dinner in our room tonight - and I have reached page 250 in Galileo's Daughter
Friday
An 8:00 a.m. start for today's long drive - brief stops for fuel, and a last visit to the local supermarket. Our next stop is several hours later near Carcassonne, a service station which I stopped at last year and where we could buy local wine (another 12 bottles). We have brunch in the picnic area where we come across a kitten which seems very happy to take any spare food we have going.
Linda sleeps for an hour or so and we push on past Toulouse, getting slightly lost on the way. I figure there is just enough time for a quick visit to Montagu de Quercy and to see the Chateau de Rodie where we stayed two weeks last year. Then onto Cahors and another stop at a supermarket where we buy 20 more bottles of wine - Cahor red is my absolute favourite
Back on the route to next place. It is further than we had thought, and we don't arrive until 6:00. This may be the best hotel we have stayed at so far. It also has a full "gastonomique" meal, and we are very pleased to accept an all-in price for this. It was a great relief to not be driving again
Our meal is a real treat - starter of poached eggs and salmon, while Linda has mussells, followed by quail stuffed with foie gras for me and sea bass for Linda, then rocamadour goat's cheese with honey and walnuts, and chocolate cake. We definitely plan to come here again!
Saturday
Another early departure, 7:45 - we did not really see this hotel well, but will definitely return.
To Limoge on the motorway, then slow on the A-road to Poitiers, more motorway to Tours, and Le Man (where we have lunch at a service station), then Caen and Cherbourg by 4:45p.m. More than 400 miles, during which I have spent a lot of time thinking about my PhD proposal - writing bits in my head
Read Galileo's Daughter on the boat and slept. Home by 9:00. Cat problems to do with one of the neighbour's cats attacking our's. Only a partial unpacking of wine tonight - that will wait till tomorrow
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