To Carpentras

April 18, 2022

We’re staying in a stylish place here in Tarascon, and a lineup of distinguished countenances greets us as we enter the dining hall and sit down to one of the better breakfasts of the tour so far.

Breakfast with friends at the Hotel du Commerce.

Once again the weather is sunny and summery today. We’d better enjoy it while we can - tomorrow looks to be like this as well, but after that it appears like we’ll be settling into a prolonged wet spell and resorting to windowing our rides into the least wet part of the day.

Our day begins with riding more or less due east toward Cavaillon on the Durance, the major river originating high in the French Alps and flowing down through Provence. Our route for this half of the ride crosses the northern edge of a regional natural park, with the small limestone range of the Alpilles rising to the south. Except for crossing through busy Saint-Remy-en-Provence, much of the way we bike on quiet lanes and cycle paths. With temps still in the mid sixties and minimal winds, it all makes for a very pleasant morning.

Very pleasant riding in Les Alpilles Natural Park.

The Chaîne des Alpilles, a limestone range that is an extension of the higher Luberons to the east. A low range, but visually dramatic as it rises abruptly from the plain.

The Durance, with Cavaillon spreading below the cliffs and Mount Ventoux visible in the distance.

The day is warming up by the time we reach Cavaillon. It’s afternoon, and the square is still being cleared from the morning market. We’re happy to find a bench in the shade to take lunch before heading north.

At the top of the hill behind Cavaillon is the Chapel of Saint-Jacques, a Romanesque hermitage from the 12rh century. The view from the top must be fantastic.

The second half of the ride begins well as we continue our way along bike paths and small lanes. When we approach L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue though, traffic of all sorts intensifies - and when we arrive we find it packed with people milling around enjoying the views and licking at their ice cream cones. Today is Easter Monday, a French national holiday, and the weather is brilliant so of course it’s drawn in the crowds.

A colorful cabbage patch, north of Cavaillon.

The holiday crowd is out in force in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue.

In L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. A pretty place, that we stayed over at in July, 2003. We didn’t really enjoy it though - it was too hot!

We’ve been feeling left out, reading of some of the adventurous days put in lately by the Strydoms and Maher-Wearys in Spain and Portugal. Not wanting to miss out on such fun entirely, I route us through a short stretch of dirt bike trail for a short off-road experience. It’s too much for us though, and it doesn’t take long before we’re staring at a steep, crumbling rocky path dropping down beside a canal that hardly feels safe on foot, much less with a loaded bike.

When Rachael pulls up to a stop I take her bike and continue on a short ways further, since according to our Garmins we’d be back on pavement in under a quarter mile. It’s quickly obvious though that it’s a no go, so I turn back and start struggling to push her bike back up the hill. I manage to get hers to the top and then come back for mine, grateful for her help pushing it from the rear.

So we backtrack a ways and come to a branch marked with a bike sign and take it, as it follows the opposite side of the canal we were trying to drop to. This side is much better and carries bike and foot traffic, so the biking is reasonable - if only we were sure of where we were actually going. It’s a relief when a half mile later we’re back on pavement dropping into Pernes-Les-Fontaine and back on route. Even though our detour added the better part of an hour to the ride we’re surprised that in distance it added under a mile.

Quite nice, once we’re on the right side of the canal.

In Pernes-les-Fontaine, a village worth more than one photo; but we’re hot, tired, and just ready to get there.

It’s so close! We could just dash right up there tomorrow!

Video sound track: Ethereal Mood, by Jean-Luc Ponty

Our hotel in Carpentras doesn’t open for the evening until four, so for much of the day we’d wondered how we would fill a couple of hours waiting for it - have lunch as the main meal of the day? Find the laundromat and do the wash? In fact though, it’s already after four when we finally drag in so it’s not a problem. We’re quite happy to be able to get out of the heat (it’s over 75 by the time we arrive), get to our room, and crash until dinner.

We’ve stayed in Carpentras before, in 1993. One of our more humorous (in retrospect at least) meal-searches occurred here:

One major accomplishment in Carpentras was locating a restaurant. It's not really that large of a town, but we probably spent close to two hours searching for a creperie - passing one pizza place I believe six times - before stopping at a restaurant where we had our first fixed price meal, perhaps a half block from our hotel.

It’s Easter Monday, so we have an easier time of it today because there’s really only one restaurant open nearby. The meal was just average, but it was very pleasant dining outdoors in the shade. We should be dining out more often when the weather permits.

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Ride stats today: 44 miles, 1,100’: for the tour: 874 miles, 41,400’

Today's ride: 44 miles (71 km)
Total: 874 miles (1,407 km)

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