Forcalquier to Roussillon

May 25, 2019

The Up and Down Poppy Trail

Another great day. We enjoyed our stay in the Grand Hotel and headed out the door for Roussillon. It was, as my mother would say, cloudy bright, and a perfect day to be on the bikes. By mid morning we were blessed with sunshine for the rest of the day. We stopped at the bakery for sandwiches and a tarte citron and we were on our way. We decided early on to call today’s ride the poppy trail.

I call the bottom right picture poppy with lavender.

Today was another undulating day, resulting in almost 700 m of elevation. For much of the day we were following Eurovelo 8 and it was a fantastic, well signed route.

Today’s ride was all paved...this is looking through a farmer’s field.

We came upon the perfect picnic spot. It had old ruins, picnic tables, and two other bike tourers, from just outside Annecy. We had a good visit, conducted in Frenglish and then went to explore the ruins of an abbey that dates from the 11 century.

It was pretty amazing and the information signs were in French and English, which is always appreciated.

It was so much fun to explore. We had the place to ourselves.

After lunch there were lots of elevation changes and then suddenly we were on a converted rail trail. Like the one to Carpentras, this was totally unexpected to us and totally awesome. We sped along at rail trail grades and loved every moment of it.

We zipped through Apt, and up to Roussillon. An amazing place. We checked into our hotel, had a wander, wine on one terrace and dinner on another. We are staying here for at least two nights, so will have much more to say about Roussillon tomorrow. We are in a great spot. A short blog today. French dining hours are wreaking havoc with my blogging time!

Today's ride: 67 km (42 miles)
Total: 1,287 km (799 miles)

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