Gorgeous scenery — some of which looks a lot like Napa :-). Sorry you had to navigate such narrow, trafficked roads; that can really ruin an otherwise beautiful ride.

Completely agree. A ride from Lourmarin to Vance can go through many wonderful small towns as you know. Reviewing our previous route from 2018, it was hilly but a great ride. We would love to travel through this area again - and likely will!

Wow, a great place to ride.

That looks like a cozy place. If you buy it, I'll come and stay for.a few months to keep an eye on it.

Oh no-another trap.

It's a trap!

Well yeah, but not particularly colourful.

I’d forgotten you came this way, else I might have studied the map more myself. We did better on the way south from SMdSB and found some very nice, quiet miles to the crest. Beyond that though we were on the same road as you most of the way down and didn’t care for it much either. If we’re ever down this way again we’d stay higher up and go east through the Var.

I think that must be about right. I was planning to study orientation and profiles at some point and figure it out. We were really lucky to have such a clear day!

We were in Saint Maximim last May - even stayed at the Hotel France! We also found that SM was not the easiest place to fall in love with but it does fall nicely into the distance requirement. We were cycling from Monosque on route to Toulon. We had a very nice ride to Monosque and you come to expect the riding conditions of the Luberon / Mount Ventoux area. South of Monosque the roads were busy and it was difficult, but it was also a Saturday. Better route planning on my part may have helped but the further south you go in France the busier it seems to get - but you likely knew that!

Looking northeast towards Col d'Allos/Colmars region, I imagine?

Very cool.

And it's good to see that incredibly rich deep blue sky again.

It was probably sunny above the clouds.

Only in a very small way, because it was very short. I just whine a lot, as you know by now.