Day 70: Cavaillon to l'Isle sur la Sorgue and back

November 15, 2022

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We have been planning our next days with an eye to eventually having to be at Marseille airport to catch our flight home. We got the bright idea that we could avoid any possible traffic problems getting to Marseille by taking the train from Cavaillon. This could also create a spare day for noodling around this part of Provence. So today as we were heading out on our planned excursion to l'Isle Sur La Sorgue, we stopped at the station (which is on the way) to see what convenient services they could offer. What we found was a shut down wicket and a sign that seemed to say the trains were not running. We thought this slightly odd, since at that moment a train pulled in, but at that moment there was no one around to argue this fine point with.

Thinking about it later, we took the position "Fine, we don't want your dumb train anyway". The basis for this is the idea that we would rather end on our own two pedals than being dragged into town on some conveyance. Not only that, it seemed clear that there is no train service at the airport, which is 30 km from town, so we would likely need to pedal 30 km to the airport anyway. (Later research might be showing that this assessment is not accurate, but tough, our minds are already made up - we're pedaling!)

The one plus from our stop at the station was that I realized that my photo of a raised bed of chrysanthemums there yesterday was only part of the story. The town actually has these all over the place.

Our hope is to see as much of this Luberon corner of Provence as possible, and we have found that the deck of "Luberon a Velo" maps that we picked up, and displayed on our bed yesterday is the really fabulous way to do this. Not only are there the maps, but the routes are signed out on the road with the route numbers given on the maps, and the maps offer a QR code for downloading the GPX. What more could you want?

Today we picked up "Autour de l'Isle sur la Sorgue", which describes four routes around the town, ranging from 21 to 35 km. And to get there from Cavaillon? Of course, there is the Via Venaissia (Robion to l'Isle to Pernes les Fontaines), which we can tap in to from the Calavon a Velo. How cool is all this!

Here we are on the Calavon. In 3.5 km we will turn north toward l'Isle.

Of course our first preoccupation is to look at beautiful earth toned houses, and if they can manage blue shutters, that's a bonus. This route was good for houses, but not stellar. Even so, here are some offerings.

Well then, how about Van Gogh style trees and plants? Yes, of course they were there, but not in blow you away form. Here is one photo entry in the plant department, showing that the Camargue style reeds are still much in evidence.

So what did this portion of the ride have? It had another great thing - orchards!

Orchards can be pruned and managed different ways. This one is covered with difficult to handle mesh.

We looked down this and were impressed by not only the total length, but the closeness of the trees, and especially the tidy way they were trimmed.

The trick behind the nice trim became apparent when we came upon these guys. This is really luxury farming. They have the lift to put them at the right height, and they are wielding hydraulic operated nippers. They are taking off about 3 foot lengths of branch and dropping them to the ground. Presumably someone comes along later to pick them up. Note that this orchard also features neatly wrapped mesh waiting above the trees.

A big thrill (really) came when we passed an orchard, with trees that we could not immediately identified, but that were trellised in a wire. A farmer was checking out one of the trees, and Dodie encouraged me to go ask him what the variety was. I crossed the ditch and walked into the field with my question.

What happened was that the farmer was more than willing to answer, and by some quirk of accent or speaking speed, I understood every single word he said. We talked for about 20 minutes, and Dodie very patiently waited by the road. When I returned, I told her all that was said, because I did not want to forget any points. For the record, here are those points:

The trees are apple, and in this planting are two years old.

No pruning is yet being done, but training is. This involves twining such branches as possible along the horizontal wires. A branch that is bent to horizontal will quit elongating, and will put forth valuable fruiting spurs along its length.

Branches that do not easily reach the wires are tied down with string.

The variety is Pink Lady, one we know from back home. This variety brings a high price. One of its quirks is that it does not attain its pink colour until cold weather, such as in November. Until then it is green.

This orchard is about 4 hectares, but all orchards in the area are owned by just five owners. This occurred when in the 70's and 8o's low prices caused small farmers to sell, and a consolidation resulted.

Apples are big in this area, but further north cherries begin to dominate.

We wondered about these trellised trees, and found out!

The wire and the string. Under direction from my farmer/teacher, I trained one to the wire.

Here on my shoe is some genuine Provence terroir! Note the pebbles and quite gluey soil.

The farmer went and picked me one stray remaining apple. I commented that it did not seem to want to shine up a lot. But he said that when processed, the first coarse and then fine brushes would produce a shine. I put the prize apple in my bag, and we carried on.

After a bit we came to another orchard, not yet picked. But we now surmised they must be Pink Lady. I jumped off my bike to check this. The apples were bigger, but essentially the same shade. We had become Pink Lady collectors.

Orchard fun did not end with Pink Lady, for we came across, for example, a large planting of Quince. Quince, when made into jam or jelly goes bright pink.

We also noticed some orchards where crabapple had carefully been planted among the other apples. We assume that this has something to do with pollination, but it is the first time we have seen it.

The circuit around l'Isle that we had chosen took us by Le Thor, a small town with a couple of points of interest.

A remnant of the old wall. Illustrations mounted on the wall must have been describing what was here at one time.

The church bell tower is the same design as in Menerbes, and I think we saw it again later in the day. It must be a local thing.

I have been noticing in past days places touting themselves as "para" pharmacies. Here is one that gives a bit of explanation of what they include in that.

Here is as lovely a Southern France street as any.

The church in Le Thor really has a medieval air. It is called Notre Dame du Lac and was built in the 12th century, with Romanesque architecture.

There was a sign-in funeral book in front of the church, for a 96 year old lady that had passed away. The funeral was over, so I was able to take a peek inside. It looked medieval, all right.

We now reached the Sorgue, but not yet the famous bit within the town of l'Isle. I did, however, find an acrobatic duck!

We rolled then into l'Isle, which we had saved for last in our circuit around area. We wanted to arrive at lunch time, because we understood that the main thing to do in l'Isle was to eat out at a restaurant fronting on the river. Because we arrived from the northwest, it took a certain amount of noodling to arrive at restaurant central, in the southeast of the town.

There were a number of waterwheels like this in the river. They did not have a specific purpose that I could see, but they were scenic.

The restaurants are arrayed around the river, which here seems much like a canal.

We chose this riverside restaurant, mainly because it had some people. A lot of others were for some reason (the season?) closed.

The chalk boards were interesting, but we chose off the menu.

I went for another "cheeseburger" which here is not simple. There is always the question of how well it is cooked and what, specifically, the cheese is. Dodie's ham slice was much approved by her.

By any standards this is a great looking burger. It was "properly" cooked too. But now, the cheese. Technically is was just "raclette", but it was one of those that smell and taste just like old socks. The lady at the next table chose the same thing. So I asked her how she felt about the old socks. I think she said it's a matter of getting used to it. As a French lady, she was clearly inured to stinky cheeses.

Because this will be one of our last restaurant meals in France for this time, we went for dessert. This was the cafe gourmand, which was a miniature compendium of all the desserts that they offer, in larger size,

We had a brief further look at the town, which includes some luxurious houses built by "captains of industry" in the 19th century.

This poster says that l"Isle is a centre for antiques and presumably other old junk. It is said to be second only to Paris and London in this.

We rolled home easily, finding no hills or traffic at all on this route. We took a little bit more direct way, with the only excitement being a field of sheep protected by a goat and two dogs. There was a bit of barking at first, but I was unable to convince the guys that we were a real threat, and they wandered off.

Back at our hotel, we had a chat with the young man who is part of the couple managing the place. We learned that the lady's parents had bought it, but did not want to run it at some point. Our couple declined to take over, preferring to pursue some other careers. But they agreed to manage during a one year transition period. So they too were having a "Year in Provence". The man pointed out that Peter Mayle's version was sugar coated, and that in a few months here one would become aware of lots of underlying problems, like racism and unemployment. Fortunately, we are only here for a short time, and we will mostly stick with the fantasy, thank you!

Today's ride: 52 km (32 miles)
Total: 3,259 km (2,024 miles)

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