November 16, 2022
Day 71: Cavaillon to Roussillon and back
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This was our last day for cycling about the Luberon, from what has become our base in Cavaillon. After this, we need to continue our roving ways, for that inevitable rendez-vous with the plane back to Canada. For today we targeted Roussillon. Roussillon is an amazing special place, something we discovered on one previous visit. Scott and Rachael were in Roussillon last weekend, and I have just skimmed their post. Scott waxes rather poetic about the place, and we entirely agree. After reading our story, read theirs, for a double dose of Roussillon goodness!
Things seemed a bit in doubt as Dodie was awakened in the night by a loud bang, signaling a violent thunder storm. She sat up for a while watching the rain pelt down, but fortunately by morning the sky had gotten this poor behaviour "out of its system". What we got instead was a perfect cycling day - a little cool, with a high of about 18C, but sunny. Our luck overall on this trip has been wonderful, but there has also been the success of our plan to head south, forming the "stick" part of this lollipop tour. The weather today in both London and Paris, for example, was 12 degrees and raining.
To get to Roussillon, we chose to head straight back out on the Calavon route, which really is the bicycle superhighway here. Then at a cleverly chosen, strategic point, we would jump north toward Roussillon. I chose that strategic point by clicking rather blindly on the map presented by my routing site: cycle.travel. But I was pleased to later find that I had clicked on Pont Julien. Pont Julien is not only a worthy destination or way point on its own, but it is absolutely and clearly the way to go to Roussillon from the Calavon. Good random clicking, Steve.
Pont Julien is already 25km down the Calavon, yet it seems an appropriate point to begin today's story, since we have already been up and down that Calavon several times this week. But wait, it turns out there were a few newish things to look at in that first 25 km.
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The Calavon is a rail trail, with the rail playing an important role in the extraction of the ochre that we will see in the Ochre Cliffs. Consequently there are former station buildings all along the line. One of these, at Taillades, has been expanded and redeveloped into a gite complex. What attracted our attention was how they decorated the buildings, painting them with trompe d'oeil storefronts.
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We also spotted a little bit of new construction, which is actually not a very common sight here. The construction is being done with clay blocks, of a type never seen back home. Unlike with the "stick frame" houses we build, this construction is going to last. Whatever they put up will still be here in two hundred years, I'd bet.
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2 years ago
2 years ago
Ok, so what is new about a beautiful vineyard, with the vines turned yellow for the season? It's the nicely trimmed green grass between the rows, very pretty, and so different from the rocks of Chateauneuf du Pape.
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Yesterday we talked to people at the olive oil press, learning that they use a "comb" to remove the olives. Today we spotted some people doing just that, although the "comb" looks more like a child's rake. The green mesh on the ground is catching the olives.
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Pont Julien is a stone bridge over the Calavon, that dates from 3 BC. It is the "new" bridge - all stone!, the previous one was stone and wood. Pont Julien was part of the Via Domitia, that route from Italy to Spain, that we have been mentioning. Amazingly, it still carried car traffic up to 2005, and today it is still open for bikes. That's 2000 years or so of use!
The riverside area near the bridge is popular with the public, such as for picnicking. But today the main use was for kids who were learning to mountain bike. In the first photo, they are going down a steep rut, spotted by two instructors. The second photo is a pep talk, including some exercises like neck rolls and arm stretches, that I did too. And finally the kids are following the instructor in circles, but are soon to try out some of those ruts.
From Pont Julien our route climbed, up to Roussillon. You can see this on the track map above, and though it looks steep it felt fine.
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As we began the climb, we noted that we were in an oak forest. That certainly jived with the name on the map "Chene", which means oak. These oaks are not the same as back home, though. They are variety Holm. Look at their rather unique leaves!
The oak forest was on our left side as we ascended. But on the right was a pine forest. The pines were rather more dramatic than the oaks.
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We soon spotted our first ochre outcroppings. Wow. We later learned that most ochre is yellowish, but when "baked" it turns red.
A visit to Roussillon has perhaps three main aspects. There are the huddled, earth toned, buildings; then there are the multi-coloured ochre cliffs, with fantastical shapes carved by erosion; and finally there is the story of the processing and use of the ochre itself.
Let's see those buildings first.
The ochre can be seen from just by the town, but the most stunning views come along the so called Ochre trail, which is a short walk either on a pleasant boardwalk or on the multicoloured sands themselves.
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2 years ago
2 years ago
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The Ochre region comprises an area only about 20 km by 10 km. There are about ten towns in the region, and each would be interesting to visit. At Gargas, for instance, there is a mine with a labyrinth of tunnels, while at Rustrel there are many colour variations and the sites of former industrial extraction.
The ochre earths found here are 90% sand and 10% ochre. Ochre itself is a complex mixture of minerals, clay, iron oxides, and whatnot. It's a complex field of science. Ochre is also related to sienna, and umber.
Despite the wonderfulness of ochre, it was supplanted by chemical dyes, and production here withered. The graph below shows the heyday, and the demise.
We thought about continuing to some of the other towns in this Ochre region, but realized we would end by returning in the dark. So we headed back to the Calavon. The fun was not quite over, though. By the river we came across what is called the Dolmen of Ubac. This is a burial chamber from around 3000 BC and is said to contain about 50 individuals. It was discovered in 1995 after a flood of the Calavon. Subsequently it was apparently moved to a safer spot to protect it from flood, though it is still close to the river. If truly it was completely disassembled and reassembled, than a lot more must be known about it than we find in the info panel on site or in Wikipedia. But we do know there is a chamber, and a corridor in there!
It was comforting to return to "our" hotel, and to put the bikes in their accustomed spots. We love the fact that we can come and go to the bikes any time. We already have some of our bags on the bikes, and some of our clothes draped over them, in the garage. We will bring along and install anything we can, before it is actually time to go, to make for the fastest getaway. With 5 p.m. being the time of darkness, there is not much time in the day to waste. Even so, we will enjoy our last breakfast at "our" table tomorrow, visiting the buffet resolutely although we will know we have to get going.
Today's ride: 67 km (42 miles)
Total: 3,326 km (2,065 miles)
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2 years ago
2 years ago
2 years ago
There might not be any journals for a while, but there will be Cycleblazers. We live here, too, and not just in North America!
Cheers,
Keith
2 years ago
2 years ago