We spent today exploring some of the countryside described in Peter Mayle's Provence books. An early awakening (a market was establishing itself under our window) was followed by breakfast overlooking the old town of Apt.
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| Breakfast on the terrace |
We quickly left the town and followed our GR towards the Pont Julien. For a while the GR uses a cycle path, which tracks a disused railway line between Apt and Cavaillon.
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| The GR653D followed the cycle path for a while |
We stopped at the Pont Julien to eat our morning tarts as we admired the bridge. We were not alone. Unlike the other Roman bridges we have visited recently, this one has a car park and is clearly visible from the main road. There were other tourists cycling over the bridge, walking around it, and posing for photographs in front of it.
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| The Pont Julien - our fourth Roman bridge in four days |
From the Pont Julien we left the GR653D and took another long-distance path, the GR911, up to the hillside village of Bonnieux. It was a very scenic walk.
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| Striding out along the GR911 |
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| The path took us past cherry orchards |
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| We had good views of Bonnieux as we approached it |
After a wander through Bonnieux, we took to the streets for the short walk to the neighbouring hillside village of Lacoste. As in Bonnieux, there were many people exploring the historic old streets. After a pleasant lunch stop by the church we joined the other tourists in wandering around the village.
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| Lunch spot at Lacoste |
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| Tourists can admire the views of Bonnieux on a neighbouring hillside as they wander the streets of Lacoste |
From Lacoste it was another shortish walk to Ménerbes, another historic hillside village. This one features paid parking, paid public toilets, and lots of tourists. It is classified as a Most Beautiful Village, and featured in Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence. We walked through the streets for a bit, then paused for some refreshments at a terrace café.
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| Ménerbes - enjoying a day in Provence |
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| Terrace café in Ménerbes - healthy fruit (raspberry) and nut (pistachio) flavours in the ice cream |
It started to rain as we left Ménerbes for the short walk down to the Calavon valley, where the GR653D ran parallel to the cycle path and the main road for the final few kilometres into Coustellet.
Day: 63
Distance: 37.72 kmWalking time: 7hrs 16mins
Elevation gain: 620 metres
Cumulative distance: 1578.16 km
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