Gordes to Lourmarin: via Menerbes and Bonnieux

November 10, 2009

Weather: a mix of sun and cloud, windy

We lingered over breakfast this morning enjoying several cups of coffee before packing up and starting down the road we had originally followed to Gordes two days ago. Partway down the hill we branched off onto the D103, a lovely quiet road through olive groves, still downhill for about 7 km (and 200 metres) altogether. After crossing the main road through the Luberon at the bottom of the hill, we immediately started climbing (about 100 metres) up to the village of Menerbes. This is Peter Mayle country. He originally moved to a farm near Menerbes and describes life in the area in his best-selling book, “A Year in Provence”, thereby turning the tiny village into a tourist attraction. On the way up the hill, we passed several bus parking lots, completely empty this time of year.

The village seemed quite deserted on the way up to the church at the top of the hill. We were looking for Le Musée du Tire-Bouchon, a private collection of more than a thousand corkscrews from around the world, from the 17th century to today. However when we spied a lone passerby and asked for directions, we were told that le musée was several kilometres away from the village, in the opposite direction from our route, and down and up more steep hills. Since our route today was quite hilly anyway, we regretfully skipped the museum and continued on the D3 past Lacoste towards the village of Bonnieux.

The ride was very scenic through rolling terrain with cherry orchards and vineyards, and we could see Bonnieux from a long way across the valley. The village climbs up a hillside, but as we got closer, we saw that unfortunately we would have to go downhill a ways before starting up. From the valley bottom the road switchbacked steeply up into the centre of Bonnieux. It was sunny, but quite cool and windy with gusts swirling through the narrow streets, and we were ready for a warming lunch break. Not much was open, and after searching along several streets in vain, we happened to see a small lane down some stone stairs with what looked like a menu board outside a nondescript doorway. Al went to investigate, and sure enough, through the door was a bright, slightly rustic restaurant with a warm wood fire burning and large windows overlooking the valley. From our table we could just see Gordes, this morning's starting point, in the distance. The very reasonable menu du jour lunch was delicious, particularly the first course of tomato tartare.

Cherry orchards between Menerbes and Bonnieux, which is visible ahead in the distance.

The road between Menerbes and Bonnieux was rolling and very quiet.

Looking ahead toward Bonnieux, climbing up the hillside.

Thoroughly restored after lunch, we continued up the steep road out of Bonnieux, and were delighted to discover that the wind was now behind us, pushing us along, on our way up to a pass across the Montagne du Luberon at about 450 metres. The tailwind made the climb seem almost effortless, and we paused in a pine forest at the top for a few minutes, before starting gently down the other side. The road soon fell more steeply, and we had a glorious 10 km downhill ride through the Combe de Lourmarin canyon alongside the rushing Aigue Brun river all the way to the picturesque village of Lourmarin, one of the “plus beaux villages” of France.

Looking back to the north at the lower end of the gorge we had cycled down to reach Lourmarin.

Our chambre d'hote, Ancienne Maison des Gardes, was on the edge of the old part of the city, up an impasse just to the left of a three-headed fountain. Our hosts, Rose and Robin, were an English couple who had retired to Lourmarin and had renovated part of their 18th century village house into three comfortable apartments. We had booked their smallest accommodation, the Balcony Room, up an outdoor staircase from the enclosed courtyard where we parked our bikes. Besides the comfortable bed, the simply furnished room contained a small fridge and a cupboard full of dishes, glasses and cutlery, as well as an armchair and round table and chairs.

We had arranged ahead of time for Rose to cook dinner for us the first night, and Robin suggested we visit the nearby wine cooperative store to select a bottle to go with our meal. After much animated discussion with various people in the co-op, we picked out a local Côtes-du-Luberon, so local that the clerk pointed out the window at the vineyard where the grapes had come from.

The chateau in Lourmarin in the late afternoon sunshine.

The table set for what proved to be a very good dinner in our room.

During the warm season, Rose hosts dinner on their terrace, but November is too cold for eating outside, so she served it in our room on a nicely set table with candles. She brought each course from her kitchen a few steps up in the main part of their house. First a tureen of flavourful pumpkin and shrimp soup, then guinea fowl in a tomato sauce made from the last of the local tomatoes and some pungent olives. Afterwards a cheese course with four delicious choices, and a pear torte (made by Robin), finished off with coffee. It was extremely good value, one of the best meals of we'd had in France, and we wished we had booked dinner for tomorrow night as well.

A copy of “A Year in Provence” was on the bookshelf in our room—Peter Mayle had moved to Lourmarin after his time in Menerbes—and Eva managed to read a chapter or two before falling into bed after another excellent day.

Today's ride: 37 km (23 miles)
Total: 744 km (462 miles)

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