wine and chocs

Lazy day. It actually rained a bit first thing but was bright again by the time we toddled up to Beaumes for foodstuffs to feed the guests tonight. Then coffees in the Bar du Siècle watching civic operatives blow and suck up leaves with their machines. Such attention to detail - vehicle made a good half dozen passes up and down the road. His sidekick with backpack and blower chased every leaf from the cafe terrace, much to the general amusement of us all, lifting our feet as he passed. It’s what you pay your taxes for!

A truly awful bad taste bit of municipal planting - gnarled hand is for scale.

Then, as it was still coolish we drove up the the road under the Dentelles, looking back up at where we’d been yesterday. Past the hunting dog training kennels where all the lithe lovelies with their floppy ears were flaked out. 

Past the most strangely located chocolaterie -not much passing trade. Past the vineyards where a large group of men were circled round a table with clipboards…we think it must have been some sort of wine auction given the number of vehicles. And stop at the top under the trees in front of a vast domaine and its stone wall. The view back down is all olives trees, vines, scrub woodland. The Village Kite wheeled overhead, butterflies danced.

Lunch at Roaix. Home to relax pre receiving the guests. Thunder threatened for tomorrow.

Butterflies and Le Barroux

 

You have to grab your walks when you can these days so despite no sleep worth speaking of I was showered, hair washed and ready by 9.00, and off we set for the hills of Suzette. A leetle cooler but still three bar sunshine. We know a place up twisty roads under St Amand at the back of the Dentelles. 

There is a track to a vast gorge and it is awash with all manner of butterflies who simply love my blue t shirt.

This poor chap was looking a bit the worse for wear after a morning on the nectar.

Only a handful of people passed us going the opposite way so it was very peaceful if hot. But there was a good up draught of cool air from the gorge and plenty of shade. Great views too.

About an hour and a half, not too steep, a bit rough in places but generally a good circuit.

We needed a drink (as you know we never carry anything!) but not desperately. More important was a sit in the shade. Both were located in Le Barroux on the terrace of Les Géraniums hotel. Peach kirs complete with bowl of peanuts. Bliss.

Rain

At 6 this morning as the bin lorries were crashing about there was another more welcome sound…rain. It has been so sticky and hot these past few days that even I felt pleased to hear it. We’d planned an early start to Malaucène market to avoid the expected heat so as we were up we decided to go anyway. Well…not many stalls at 8 am I can tell you, and a lot of no shows! But also no queues. We gathered croissants and sat under cover with coffees watching the goings on. Home by 10 by which time it was sunny and heating up again.

This afternoon it was rearrange the middle floor sitting room day! TV was brought down from on high and repositioned in a corner, sofa was moved to another wall, wooden chair and large log basket relocated in the upstairs bedroom.

But what of Tuesday? Ah well we had a lunch date with Liz and Keith at Côté Terrasse in Séguret so it was a lazy morning sort of. I swabbed floors and was about to get Henry out when the lights went off. Had totally forgotten we’d been promised a power cut that morning. But the electricity came back faster than they had said and we’d time to put on our best frock and shirt ready for the outing. Séguret very busy this summer with galleries and festivals and little events. The restaurant was lovely though.

Snail’s pace

Less hot…a bit. Off to the hills above Visan and a walk round the snail factory! Lovely going downhill in shade alongside viburnum berries and abandoned truffle groves but the penalty is an uphill return. 

We’d spotted a trail bike track down the hill that would cut the corner but somehow missed a turn going back and ended up in a dead end at the top of a vineyard. Groan and about face! But luckily on the way back down I spotted the blue waymark splodge of blue and we tried again. Success!

 Refreshment required so Richerenches beckoned. A long shot as the café is invariably closed when we pass. Today however there were tables on the pavement and local chaps supping and discussing moussaka recipes with la Patronne. We decided to stop and eat in order to delay the return. Not bad, possibly Brake France, but jolly pleasant anyway.

poor little molluscs…going happily to their doom

Where my caravan has rested

Two days of sapping heat…Friday we stayed in. I swept floors while it was relatively cool then slumped with various books for the rest of the day. This is my reading binge - I hardly touch a book in Cheldon but here they are consumed at a frightening pace.  I read the whole of I’m not scared and am already half way through Suite Française. 

Saturday we got up early and went off to market for breakfast. Our vineyard cut through road was peopled with bee eaters and yet another hoopoe - a goodly score of sightings this year! At five o’clock we stirred from our stifling rooms and put on gladrags to go a’visiting! Soirée on the campsite with John and Louise at the Camping du Théatre Romain. That was just great! They have a shady pitch with all mod cons and are loving life on the open road. Adrian was quite taken with it all I can tell you. He has seen the future🤗

Today (Sunday) there is a slight breeze. The breeze is even better up in Rasteau so that’s where we went to sit under pines listening to the deafening scratchings of the cicadas. 

They hide in cracks in the bark and occasionally come out for a sit on the trunk. They think they are camouflaged but if you look carefully there they are, all golden and shiny.

A refreshing drink in the bar next to the raucous old blokes, and home.

Cry, the beloved mountain

 or Hell on Wheels, L’enfer c’est les autres, They paved Paradise, put up a parking lot…all of the above. And I  have to include us as part of the problem. Slapped wrists, naughty step and bed without supper.

It had been decided that Ventoux would be visited on a hot day.  Today was said to be the hottest of the week so off we went, taking in Ventoux Coop at Bédoin for supplies of their finest.

But we could see the looming horror as soon as we left town on the road up to the climb. Many many cyclists, some riding two or three abreast, clumps of cars trying to pass, oncoming downhill racers taking the bends on the wrong side…nightmare. What is normally a lovely rise up through changing forests  became a nail biting ordeal. 

We realised we should never have come, not in the middle of school holidays and just after the Tour. Everyone and his dog, children, granny and selfie stick was on the slopes.

We pulled off just below the  summit at the usual flat plateau but even here there was devastation and spoil heaps from the so called improvements up top. Fewer people thankfully but still groups of walkers with poles, trail bikes.  

On top of one heap someone had made a flat relief Tour logo rider out of sand but you’d need to get above it for the full effect.

We decided to retreat across the summit and down to Malaucène but even that was fraught with hazard. The vehicles going up had to negotiate parked cars and vehicles coming down. We were behind a ruddy great motorhome that couldn’t get its fat arse through and kept stopping, eventually given a police escort by the Gendarmerie van! Pedestrians crossing to go up the ghastly new concrete flight of steps. A Horror Show. No chance to see if bench had by some miracle been spared.

Once on the relatively quieter descent we decided a Crestet Ice Cream would soothe the nerves but here too hopes were cruelly dashed. It was 1 o’clock, the sign said open, but no one came in response to my phone call to the number on the door -“tell them I came and no one answered, that I kept my word I said.”

Still hot

 

Wednesday is often Malaucène but we have no need for food - it’s too hot! Lassitude has set in. Nevertheless we set off before ten to visit the Chapelle de St Hilaire above Beaumes. An unchallenging but pleasant walk along the ridge and always a delight. Oh yeah! By the time we got there the sun was beating down and we sought out shady stone benches in the garden.Young volunteer women were mending paths and an elderly stooped lady was tending a row of newly planted lavenders. They will be a glorious sight once established - right on the edge of the terrace. 

It’s all volunteer work, apart from the actual masons, a labour of faith and love and quite special. Sad to be told that they had severe vandalisation earlier this year, which means they have had to install security cameras.

Down on Comedy Hands Roundabout some wag has given the fingers traffic cone nails!

Drink at  Vacqueyras followed by lunch. We weakened…unwilling to slink back home quite so soon. Delicious daube for him and John Dory fillets in pesto and lime for me followed by a scrumptious half coconut shell filled with a frozen coconut and coconut cream confection.

Purple patches

So hot…yesterday we walked round the hill above Séguret for an hour and a half. Mostly down a shady combe but now and then in the blazing sun! home for a change of clothes and then As de Coeur to sit under the mulberry trees. After that…slumped in darkened rooms until Only Connect! The terrace was too hot to walk on.

So today, like all good Raj Folk, we headed for the coolth of the hills, in particular the valley beyond Buis around Ste Jalle where lavender is to be found and vultures circle overhead. Scored on both counts. 

So many butterflies and bees in the lavender, 

and beehives everywhere for the production of lavender honey.

Then we continued up to the Col de Soubeyrand, parked and took the forest path for about a kilometre. We eschewed our usual walk on the other side in yet more lavender groves as There Were Belgians! Sweet though they be and it is their birthday tomorrow, but we wanted to be alone, Garbo fashion. Anyway, it proved a good choice. The track was mostly shady, strewn with fir cones - someone had been creative.

Back via Buis, a drink then a pizza, which we were too hot to finish. John and Louise and Poncho came round later which was so lovely. We’ll be visiting them at the caravan on Saturday. Quite like old times.

And now….drum roll….that nice Mr Cummings being interviewed by our  Laura. Take your seats.

Read all about it

 

Another windy day. What joy…temperatures still bearable. We went to St C very early to avoid the crowds and queues. Almost succeeded until it came to buying Adrian’s apricots. The organic stall had a lengthy trail ofpeople buying industrial quantities in various stages of ripeness. They are a rarity, as this year apparently the crop was poor because of early frosts. And we’ve found delicious croissants at a stall opposite the bar so no longer have to line up at the boulangerie. 

Back home for a stroll round the putting up of book fair. Not so large this year, and confined to the square. Then the terrace for prawns and, well it should have been mayonnaise, but Silly Us grabbed a jar of Maille mustard in error! Adam will chuckle at this as he did exactly the same thing a year or so back. Just as well I spotted the word ‘moutarde’ before dipping the crustacean into it.  Adrian scoffed on whelks.

We poked our noses out again early evening to join the literary throng. Quite a decent turn out. 

Drinks not exactly on the house!

These two heavies were lurking behind Jean François Kahn,(to the right), political journalist and brother of the late great Axel Kahn, France’s leading geneticist and head of the European Commission on GMO crops. He died earlier this month.

I wonder why? Does he get death threats?

He was giving a talk on the pandemic and society in the Meffre domaine.

Whirling socially

 Turn up the volume

Yesterday all was calm on the social front if somewhat blustery weatherwise. A bearable temperature, even slightly chill in the wind. So what better than to take ourselves up the slopes behind Beaumes into the hidden valley between Durban and Lafare. As we drove up, a huge hare leapt from the verge and careered in front us before disappearing into the vines. The usual kites spiralled above, swifts dive bombed, cicadas vuvuzelad.

It was really lovely, views terrific, nobody else there. 

“when we grow up we are going to be Muscat de Beaumes de Venise”

We descended to Vacqueyras for a drink at the usual café under the planes then came home for an afternoon at the Tour. Too windy to eat on the terrace.

Then…tah dah, the weekend socialising began. 5 o’clock we were expected at the Danes for apéro with Kaisers and (hopefully) Roberts. The latter were en route on a marathon road trip from Calais to Sablet in a single stretch! I doubted we’d see them but, oh me of little faith, bless them they turned up before 7! Chapeau🤗.

Today we were planning a lazy day prior to going to our next door neighbours for another apéro. But as we were coming home from a key cutting excursion in Vaison we were hailed by the new neighbour across the road bearing a jar of apricot and lavender jam! We invited her in for a chat and this just went on and on followed by a visit across the road to look at her artwork. Very interesting, but exhausting for me having to translate arty terminology between her and Adrian. I needed a cup of tea!

Then tomorrow it’s the Book Fair…

It is day three of a fierce mistral that has been keeping the heat at bay but that makes sitting out to eat virtually impossible. We were driven indoors at Dorte and Søren last night and didn’t risk lunch on our terrace today. Nice tucked in behind the chimney for a few minutes however. I don’t mind being inside because it’s so bright up top anyway with the windows open.

Le Tour today once more took us along familiar roads dead straight up through the Landes via the Garonne to Libourne. Many a famous ruined château that we’ve passed by and stayed near and even a distant shot of Château Yquem.

Underdressed in Malaucène

 

Heavens! Only 17 degrees this morning as we decided to see if Malaucène was having a Bastille Day market or was taking the day off. I almost put a fleece on but opted instead for just the denim jacket - with shorts.Hmm. Approaching the town we could see that fears were unfounded. Belgium was there as were the camping cars from northern France and a sprinkling of German, Dutch and even Danish vehicles. 

The market was pretty crowded so we crept down the edge, got croissants for breakfast and  Vietnamese food for supper then plonked ourselves in the usual bar looking out over proceedings. The bar by the finish line if you recall. We were glad of warming beverages!

Good old Malaucène - some nice Tour decoration.

Homewards via the hills and Suzette. This was a touch hair raising at times as it seems everyone and his bike was pedalling up and down the narrow twisty road. We really do not like being here in summer - too many people. But Suzette is always lovely. Nothing of interest in the Book Phone Box today. I once got the French translation of The Little Drummer Girl there - best book I’ve read for ages, I even bought it in English afterwards to see if it was as good. It was. 

Anyway we then went down to the cimitière for a nose round. Jen had said someone famous is buried there but we couldn’t find anyone we recognised! Nevertheless, what a terrific spot. Definitely a tomb with a view. 

Full of swallowtail butterflies on the lavender.