To Lacoste and Ménerbes

October 5, 2024

We’ve got some climbing ahead today, and some options to choose from. We’ll be staying the night in Ménerbes, the westernmost of the string of three famous perched villages on the south side of the valley. One option, the hilliest, is to climb up to the highest and nearest one, Bonnieux, and roll along the face of the mountains through all three. We’ve done this before though, staying in Bonnieux each time - most memorably in the summer of 2003 in the middle of a historic heat wave when we pulled our mattress out onto the balcony of our hotel room to escape the heat.

Were looking for a less challenging experience this time though so I lay out some options for us to consider together. The shortest and the one involving the least climbing is to follow the EV8 back west until just below Ménerbes and then climb up to it at the end. It’s shorter, but that final climb is pretty steep from this direction and I lobby for the third alternative - climb up to Lacoste first and then drop down to Ménerbes from there. There’s more net climbing because Lacoste is higher up than Ménerbes, but the ascent looks easier.

That plan gains consensus, so we turn to food considerations. We can’t check into our B&B until four so we decide we’ll have lunch in Lacoste, explore the village while we digest, and then coast five miles down to Ménerbes.

We’re in luck with our weather again this morning as it’s a crystalline day with great visibility and light winds. We leave our room at ten, load the bikes, and coast toward market square on our way to the EV8. We don’t get far though, because as soon as we turn the corner from our apartment we encounter a traffic jam. It’s Saturday, and the market is on.

It takes several delightful minutes to walk with the crowds through the market, but soon we’re across the dry Calavon and climbing up to the bike route. We just came the other way three days ago and I rode part of it on both of my day rides also so I tell Rachael I won’t stop for photos until we get back to Pont Julien. And I keep my word, save for one surprise.

Blink and you’ll miss it. As far as I can see, this one brief gap in the hills is the only spot between Apt and Saint Julien where you can see the mountain. Its only visible for about fifty yards.

We come to Pont Julien and pull off on an overlook we hadn’t seen before, obviously here to give viewers a good look down on the famous two thousand year old Roman bridge. While I’m having my look Rachael focuses more on the little dog a pair of bikers is trying to urge back to its basket.

Pont Julien, still standing after all these years. The closer bridge was built about twenty years ago to divert the cars off the historic one for its protection.

Pont Julien is the spot at which we leave the EV8 and turn south into the hills for the climb to Lacoste. We can’t go yet though, because somehow we failed to load the right route to the Garmins. We have the one that skips Lacoste and goes to Ménerbes directly, but that doesn’t fit with our food plan. There’s some stress, a few Rockydarts®️ get parried, but fortunately Rachael manages to download the correct one and soon we’re on the way again and before long the climb begins.

We’ve biked through Lacoste before, back in 1993; and possibly also in 2003 although I’m not certain on that one. Climbing up to it today though I realize that we’ve never actually seen it at all. In 1993 we stayed on the ridge route that passes above the town and just looked down on it, taking a few shots of its prominent features.

Seeing it from below though and climbing up into it we get a splendid look at the town and can see how strikingly beautiful it really is. Having gotten really good looks at all three villages now, I’m convinced that Lacoste is really the best of the lot. If you ever come this way yourselves I’d consider approaching it from below as we did today.

Looking up at Lacoste. Its a ways up there alright, but not a daunting climb.

Lacoste is visually distinctive from its neighbors by its ruined 11th century chateau, made famous because the Marquis de Sade lived here for several years.

It’s a two part climb - a gradual one followed by an annoying dip that costs us part of our gain and then a steeper one at the end that continues right until we come to our restaurant. We lean our bikes against the wall out front and then claim a seat on the shaded patio which gives us nice views but is just on the edge of being too cool for comfort.

The view from our table. I’m not positive but I believe the notch in the range is Combe de Font Louvale I biked through yesterday.

While we wait for our meal to arrive we enjoy taking in the scene around us. At one edge of the patio sits a stocky man in a wide brimmed beret, taking an occasional puff on his cigarette and chatting with a few friends. Shortly a tall, charismatic man and his young son walk in, the energetic boy alternately skipping, holding his dad’s hand or affectionately hugging his leg.

As soon as they enter our waitress comes out to greet them, squatting down to his eye level to chat with the boy - it’s obvious that they know each other well and possibly it’s even his mom, but watching the interactions of the three of them though I think it’s more likely that she’s his dad’s girlfriend. She leaves to go back to work and then the guy goes over to chat with Mr. Beret and his friends, the boy still clinging on and looking up like he’s taking lessons on how to be a proper French villager.

And then a young girl of about the boy’s age dances onto the stage, whisks him away, and the two of them prance around the patio and out into the alley before finally taking a table and staring intently at an electronic device together.

And then food comes, and we all get down to it.

Afterwards we leave to have a look at the village on our way out of it. Our restaurant sits right at its lower entrance, at the intersection of the two streets: the low street and the high one. I optimistically start down the low road, which appeals because of the two slender arches we’ll pass through.

I’m not even to the first arch though when Rachael calls me back: up here, dummy! Because the restaurant doesn’t sit at the top of our climb. We get to coast down to Ménerbes, but first we have to climb up to the top of the village. And it’s steep, and it’s stony, and it hurts Rachael’s feet to push her bike up walking in her bike shoes. Between the climb to the village and this grinder to the top she’ll be achy in more ways than she can count by the end of the day.

There are reasons to stop and take a break along the way.

She’s stopped for a break, so I grabbed a shot because I liked the wall.

Some angelic art to take heart from along the way.

Another fork in the road. Guess which one is ours?

But the views! Lacoste sits in an impressive spot. Looking back down the street we’ve pushed up we get a nicely framed view of Mont Ventoux. And off to the east we get a good look at Bonnieux; and from the spur we walk up to the top to the grassy apron below De Sade’s ruined castle we get more fine views across the Calavon and to the villages to the north.

Looking back down the high street toward the lower village.

Finally at the top. Rachael’s parked there while she walks up toward the castle. It’s not locked, but it’s secure enough. Who’d want to be on a bike here, after all?

Roussillon sits almost directly across the valley.

It’s an interesting space in the apron surrounding the chateau, with a few intriguing sculptures obviously inspired by the chateau’s notorious resident.

Another view of Bonnieux on the walk down from the chateau.

So finally we come to the top and reach the ridge road from Bonnieux to Ménerbes and finally come to the four mile descent I’ve been promising Rachael all morning. It’s an excellent descent - a smooth road, a relaxed gradient, virtually no car traffic, and occasional bikes passing in both directions. We breeze our way to the bottom until we don’t any more because Ménerbes is a bit of a hill village too and there’s a final climb up into it at the end, maybe the steepest of the day except for that stony trudge up through Lacoste.

We’re staying for one night here at La Maison Joly, a B&B we’re uncertain about at first but end up very pleased with. It’s on a pedestrianized alley in the oldest part of town and our bikes go in the cellar, a cave. Our host, who speaks fluent English, tells us this is one of the oldest houses in the village. He introduces us to his wife, shows us to our room, and then leaves us to it. There’s no key, the room and the house itself are always open.

Our apartment is quite stylish, the walls lined with artwork and shelves crammed with books in both French and English. I’m pretty sure at least some of the paintings are originals by one of the hosts. And we have a terrific view, looking out on the chapel on the opposite side of the lane.

We sit around for a few hours, and then toward sundown I leave to explore the village - by myself, because poor Rachael is too achy to want to stir. And I realize that even though we’ve passed through before, Ménerbes is another beautiful village we’re really seeing for the first time. The day as a whole has been a real win for slow travel. I still can’t believe all the places we zipped through in that one long day thirty years ago, barely glancing at any of them.

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Today's ride: 16 miles (26 km)
Total: 3,995 miles (6,429 km)

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Scott FenwickA very impressive day in the Luberon. It is such a great area to cycle. And just like you two -- it never seems to get old. One day we will likely find ourselves back there as well.
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1 month ago

Scott AndersonTo Scott FenwickThanks for the kind words, Scott. The old age truck comes for us all unfortunately, but we seem to be adapting OK. I’m not sure we’ve ever enjoyed a stay in Provence as much as this one.
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1 month ago