In Pernes: the Villes-sur-Auzon loop

October 9, 2024

The sun is back, but it’s quite a windy day. It will blow in at a steady 18-20 mph with higher gusts from the SSE all day, with stronger gusts later in the afternoon that will leave me wrestling for control of my bike at times. It won’t bother Rachael much on her walk up to La-Roque-sur-Pernes because she’ll be sheltered by climbing up the lee side of her ridge, but it will be a factor for better or worse throughout the day for me.

With longer outings planned we decide to skip the lunch thing and have dinner tonight in order to leave a large time window for ourselves. We slug around the hotel this morning until around noon and then each set out. My goal today is a 28 mile loop north toward the villages near the base of The Nesque Gorge, one of our favorite descents from recent years: we rode it as an out and back from Carpentras two springs ago.

My ride begins by retracing my route to Venasque from two days ago, passing through Saint-Didier again and then pointing me toward a poor view of Venasque through the trees high up ahead before I turn north this time instead. I mostly just ride through this stretch this time but stop for a few photos anyway because today is a different day.

On the road to Saint-Didier. The great majority of today’s ride will be on quiet lanes like this.

Looking north, we see that Mont Ventoux is hiding its summit behind a grey veil again today. We’ll wait and see if I ever get a clearer view.

My first real reason to stop comes when I approach Malamort-du-Comtat, the first new-to-me village of the day. It’s a small place with a circular core that suggests it was once a walled town. Today I slow down long enough to check out its main gate and the fountain next to it and then move on. I leave town on a long, straight, narrow road lined with plane tress on both sides, a road I love looking at but that makes me glad I’m here when there’s no traffic to squeeze me up against that long collonade of white trunks.

The next seven or eight miles are an outstanding ride as I gradually gain some elevation and get high enough for impressive views, I’m biking through the vineyards now, and I’d have the place totally to myself if it weren’t for the bikers that frequently pass by. This area feels like a cyclist’s paradise with its network of small empty roads, fantastic scenery, and the premier cycling trophy rides of the Nesque Gorge and Mont Ventoux in the vicinity. For most of the day I’ll share the road with many more bikers than drivers.

Ventoux again. It’s really not that far off now.

A common sight today. There are aggressive riders like these, but plenty of leisurely riders too - the trend is uphill, but it’s really a pretty tame terrain with a large payoff for a modest effort.

Looking up at Methamis. It’s about a mile off route and my date card is full enough already so I content myself with a glance from below.

I think that must be Blauvac up there, another perched village that would be worth a look on a different day.

My route is marked to turn back south again a mile or two before coming to Villes-sur-Auzon; but when I come to my junction I’m tempted by the road ahead and continue on. I’m feeling good, the best in weeks, and I’m not quite ready to turn back yet. In the back of my mind is the Nesque Gorge, which begins right above this village. I haven’t checked out the distance but I’m thinking I might climb a ways up into it as long as I’m here - I’ve got the time if it’s not too much further. I feel like I’d be fine with as much as a forty miler.

When I come to the turnoff to the gorge I stop and pull out the phone to check the distance. It’s just too far though - it’s nearly ten miles up to the grand tunnel where the best of the descent begins. As good as I’m feeling, fifty miles for a recovering pneumoniac doesn’t feel like a wise move. Plus there’s the extra thousand feet of climbing, and the fact that today’s strong wind feels like it’s coming straight down the gorge. Then too, I didn’t bring any calories or enough water with me, and my brakes are losing their grip and don’t feel quite safe even on pretty gentle terrain. I make a note to adjust them when I get home and then turn back. Its a pretty easy call, really.

The work and the rewards of the day aren’t quite done with me though. First there’s a bit more climbing until I reach the high point of the day, on a rough road through the woods that I hadn’t scoped out in advance and am starting to feel unsure about as I’m climbing through the trees at about 12% before I come into the clear and return to a better surface again.

From there it’s a quick descent to Mormoiron, and a short climb into it to enjoy the impressive views from its balcony. It’s a reminder that when we first started planning our route through Provence when we bailed out on wet, chilly Normandy a month ago Monmoiron was on the plan - we might have even booked a place here, but I don’t remember now. The idea was that we’d bike from Apt to Sault and then drop down to Monmoiron through the Nesque Gorge until we concluded that it was more climbing than we were ready for.

An uncertain small road, one I hadn’t researched in advance. The high point of the day is just ahead at the top of that next ridge.

Monmoiron is right on course. Even if I didn’t want the climb up there, there’s not much alternative.

In Monmoiron. It’s always a surprise when the ivy starts turning in the fall, because it happens so fast. Walls are getting redder by the day.

Looking across the tile rooftops of Monmoiron at a very windy-looking Mont Ventoux,

I’ve still got twelve miles in the ride, and by the time I make it back to town I’ll break thirty - the first time I’ve done that since leaving England I think, and it feels like a milestone of sorts. It’s a pretty fast ride the rest of the way, largely downhill - but it’s definitely a challenge fighting the wind in places. And the ride is stunning, with clear visibility but a wild, dramatic sky that changes as I watch it.

This is the last ride from Pernes - we leave town tomorrow and head south toward Arles and the Camargue. I leave feeling really impressed with and taken with the place though. There are still rides and hikes to be done and I’d have been fine with staying a little longer.

I never do see the top of Ventoux all day.

This place has been almost swallowed by vegetation. I wonder how soon it will disappear completely.

A reminder that it’s fall and I should start looking down more often.

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I’m partly into my ride - somewhere around Saint Didier I think - when a text from Rachael pops up on the Garmin. The trail I’ve mapped out for her feels too dangerous so she’s changing her route. I feel badly for her that another of her walks isn’t working to plan again. I had high hopes for this one too, a hike up to that nearby village I biked through two days ago, La-Roque-sur-Pernes.

Later though I’ll be happy to hear that it was only a short detour and she basically completed the whole hike as mapped - 12.5 miles. She was suitably impressed by the Roque and found her way up to the top of the village for the best views, by a route I never found myself.

The pines are beautiful once you get above the valley.

There’s a bit of mud. Her shoes will be a cleaning project when she returns.

Sound track: Come Back Home, by John Hiatt

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At seven we head right next door to Cafe de la Place, the restaurant we booked ourselves for this evening. It’s a warm if windy night and we’re looking forward to eating at one of the sheltered tables outdoors, but when we give our names when we arrive we’re turned away because he doesn’t see our name on the list. He suggests maybe we booked at the Bistro de la Gare instead (the place we ate two nights earlier); but no, we’re sure it was here. So he looks again, still can’t find us, and offers his regrets that they’re unfortunately complet.

So that’s bad news, and puzzling (and later, we’ll realize we just made the reservation for the wrong day). We decide to walk back to l’Estanquet, the Occitan cafe we ate lunch at yesterday; but its windows are dark when we get there so we just keep walking and land again at the train station. And fortunately they’ve got plenty of room tonight so we don’t have to settle for the take-away pizza place we just passed. The old station a large venue and they’re out a way from the center of town so they probably don’t fill as quickly - they have a more complete menu today (there was no fish last time) including the fish of the day, sea bass, so we both order one.

The mains are fine, but we’ve both gotten good workouts and find we can squeeze just a few more calories in and decide to split a desert. We choose one I’ve never heard of before: almond and pistachio financiers. I’ve never heard of financiers as a dessert so I look them up before ordering and it sounds interesting. They’re little cake-like blocks, with their name coming from the suggestion that they look like gold bars.

Pistachio and almond financiers. Great, a dessert I’ll look for in the future.

Today's ride: 31 miles (50 km)
Total: 4,094 miles (6,589 km)

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