Vaucluse Dreamer

It may sound strange, but both Andy and I are at our most relaxed when we’re active. Neither of us is any good at just sitting, or even driving from A to B, just to go and visit a site. We quickly get ants in our pants, and wish we were doing something else.

So, our relaxing holidays tend to involve a considerable amount of cycling and walking, both resulting in us being only actually capable of sitting down and doing very little, once we get home (but even then, we like to take a little evening walk too). I simply can’t imagine going away and doing nothing, which probably makes us a bit odd, but at our age, we’re unlikely to change our spots now!

So this last week (is it really only a week that we’ve been away), we have either walked or cycled every day (most days both), and are having the most wonderful time.

I mentioned in The Last Post the simple joy of visiting a different area of France, which is such a beautiful country, with amazing contrasts between regions.  In the Dordogne, we have stumbled across some very special places, and discovered areas of absolute peace too.

For the last couple of days, we have walked rather than cycled, covering nearly 29 kilometres along peaceful roads and ancient tracks, exploring this area in a little more detail.

It’s always good to step away from the well-trodden path of recognised tourist spots, just to get under the skin of an area and appreciate it, a little bit more.

We love the walks around home in Provence, with the open views and lavender fields, which are just coming into flower, and although here it may not be the same , it is equally as beautiful in a different way.

Yesterday, we took a loop out from our new favourite place of Saint Jean De Cole, following a trail we had spotted on Komoot, which is our go-to App for finding possible walks when we visit somewhere new. It was superb for our trips to Italy and Menton, earlier this year, when we followed some lovely routes that had been previously marked on the App, and yesterday’s route was delightful too.

It led us out of the village and into the hills beyond, following ancient forest paths, and tracks that took us through beautiful rolling countryside, and fields sprigged with wildflowers.

The hillsides were dotted with small hamlets, and pretty, isolated houses. Their rose-covered, golden stone walls and steeply-pitched roofs, are so typical of what we have seen here, and so different to The Luberon.

Here, the woodlands too, have a different feel to them. The moister climate ( although still in the southern half of France) enables the trees to thrive, so different from the scrub oaks and pines, on the hillsides above home. Here the tree canopies are so dense in places that the woodland floor hardly sees the sun, and the ground is covered with emerald green bracken, with a few dog-roses, fighting for space and light.

We have found peace too. The sort of peace that is only occasionally interrupted by the sound of a distant chainsaw, or tractor working in a field. The calming peace of birdsong has accompanied every step, and it has been like a balm to our minds.

If I’m honest, we’re not great at recognising individual birds but are improving thanks to the Merlin App, which listens to the song and identifies which bird is calling. In fact, Merlin & Komoot are now the apps we use most and we would be lost without them. You can follow our walks and cycles in Komoot here

The songs seem to carry for miles in the peace, birds calling to each other from the tree-tops and chattering in alarm when we disturb them. You can’t help but simply stop and listen from time to time, just absorbed by the tunes, and the background chirping of insects too. In many ways, this is timeless and people who worked the landscape hundreds of years ago would have probably taken a moment to listen too. It’s a simple joy and one that I will never tire of … A little video here

Today’s walk came about after waking to the sound of rain on the roof of the cottage we’re staying in, near Milhac d’Auberoche. We call it the ‘Hagrid House’, as it reminds us so much of the description of the house in the Harry Potter books. It’s very pretty, and sleeping in the converted attic space, you certainly know what is happening with the weather.

The sky was a leaden grey and the rain had soaked everything. It certainly wasn’t a cycling day, but we had our raincoats and walking shoes, so after doing a few chores, we decided we would rather walk and get wet, than anything else. There were no walks here recorded on Komoot, so I chose a circular route and we set off (not actually knowing how far it would be)

Within minutes, we were off on trails through woodland, passing 2 very happy pigs, who had clearly had a very wonderful time rootling over a fenced-off paddock in the forest. Once they smelt us, they came running over to the fence to say hello, probably in the hope that we may have food, only to be disappointed when we showed up empty-handed. But we still had a nice chat with them, before moving on.

Off the beaten track, little things stand out like the little sculptures in a hedge of a family of wild boar. It was hard to see why they would have been put there as there were no obvious houses around, but they looked at home.

We followed the route I’d chosen, along a mixture of peaceful back-lanes, forest and field tracks and the kilometres slipped quickly past.

In some places, we found ourselves amongst beautiful wild-flower meadows, with long grasses filled with colour, and bright butterflies dapping from flower to flower. I love that weedkillers are no longer used here, as the colour and insect life in the fields of crops too is beautiful and just adds to our enjoyment of the walk.

We trekked along muddy woodland paths, and waded through waist-deep grass too, where the path (unusually) hadn’t been trimmed, and then with almost perfect timing spotted a carpet of wild strawberries at the side of the path. I say perfect timing, as it was just before 2pm, we had walked over 13 kilometres and the growls from our stomachs were starting to drown out the birdsong.

We each picked little handfuls of the sweet, jewel-red fruits, which tasted utterly divine, filling a tiny hole in our stomachs, and giving us the pick-me-up we needed for the final few kilometres back.

Arriving back, after 4 hours of walking, we realised that we hadn’t got wet and had really made the most of the day, feeling relaxed and well-exercised after, what had been, a beautiful walk around.

It’s very easy today, to feel that you have to do certain things and visit certain places when you are away on holiday. Everyone has busy lives and it’s always difficult to switch off, and step off the hamster wheel. But we find that we have the best of times when we revert to doing the simplest of things.

Walking, cycling, having a basic picnic of bread and cheese, whilst sitting by a river and even just standing for a while and listening to the birds are the simplest of pleasures and are the easiest to enjoy.

Take a moment to step off the treadmill and breathe