Postcards from Provence and beyond

In the great scheme of things, Pezenas isn’t really very far from Provence, so we had always planned to have a day off, on the way across, and Sommières seemed to be the perfect place for it.

It’s a beautiful little town on the River Vidourle, with a castle, wonderful cobbled streets, and a fantastic Saturday market, with a huge Brocante attached too. If you only know Provence then Saturday in Sommières is like Sunday in L’Isle sur la Sorgue.

We are always happy to find an excuse to visit, and so we took the opportunity to book a couple of nights, so that we could leave the panniers behind, and ride around the area, to explore it in a little more detail.

Today started hideously early, when we were woken at 5.30 by the rubbish collection, in the narrow street below our window, followed by a thorough pressure-washing of the newly-empty bins.

Then just as we’d fallen asleep again, at 6.30 the street cleaners arrived with their vehicles that scrubbed the cobbles, before pressure-washing them too. The sounds of life in a historic walled town are rather different to the morning peace of our little home in Provence.

We did manage to doze again, after the cleansing had been completed, finally getting going and hopping on the bikes.

I’m sure some of you will think we are perhaps slightly deranged, having the opportunity for a day off the bikes mid-bike ride, yet choosing to hop straight on them again. But we really aren’t good at sitting still, and it was a great opportunity for us to take a closer look at the area, in a way that we really enjoy.

We left the panniers behind, in the apartment, carried the bikes downstairs and set off, following the cycle path that follows the route of the old railway line, above the town.

Like the Veloroute du Calavon, this is a fantastic amenity; a superb strip of well-maintained path that leads away from the town in both directions, and it was a perfect way for us to start our ride.

It even had a tunnel, which made me grin, as we pedalled into the darkness. It turned out to be the first of many things that made me smile, today.

We followed the path for several kilometres until its end, where we turned off onto quiet back-roads that wiggled us through vineyards, beautiful countrysde, and quiet villages.

All the villages here are on little hills, set as high above the rivers as they can be, as the area suffers quite dramatic flooding. Many of the bridges are open to the river on either side, so that in times of flood, the water can simply flow straight through, with nothing to obsstruct it.

It’s hard to imagine how dramatic such floods must be, as on days like today, the rivers are tranquil spots that made us want to stop, remove our shoes and socks & dangle our feet in the gentle flow.

It was a lovely ride through open countryside, with tantalising glimpses of the Herault hills and the dramatic Pic du Loup too, and the kilometres slipped past easily.

Approaching Quissac, we had to ride for a short distance along a more major road than we normally would choose to be on, but it was downhill, and after yesterday’s scare, the drivers gave us lots of space, as they passed, which was rather a relief.

Quissac is a pretty town on the river, and we arrived into the wonderful bustle of market day.

We pushed our bikes through the streets, taking a look at the stalls and enjoying the gentle burble of voices from the packed cafes in the central square. We bought pains au chocolat, but couldn’t find any spare tables, so wandered down towards the river.

Here, we found a few tables at a small bar, and sat with a coffee, munching our second-breakfast, watching the river flowing gently past. The air was filled with the chatter of frogs, fish were jumping, and a pair of ducks were proudly swimming past with a delightful duckling in tow too.

It was a beautiful place to sit and enjoy the river, whilst I took the opportunity to plan a route back to Sommières, which would keep us away from the main roads.

Route found, we pottered on, leaving Quissac behind and taking a quiet road that took us through vineyards and pretty countryside towards Brouzet-Les-Quissac. It was a wonderful route, passing through villages with a peace and sleepy feel that reminded us of places we had visited over 30years ago.

The houses were stunning, there were irises growing in the verges, and we pedalled along to a soundtrack of swifts screaming around the rooftops, accompanied by lilting birdsong, and whistles from a Golden Oriole.

This is why we love cycling. We may not go far, we really don’t go fast, but we gain so much from being on 2 wheels, rather than simply driving from A to B in a car.

Today it paid off in a way we never expected, when we started to notice wild orchids poking above the grasses in a ditch at the side of the road. We stopped to take a closer look, as it was an orchid we didn’t immediately recognise. Only then did we realise that there were an incredible number of them along the verge, with lots of different ones mixed in with them too.

We like seeing the orchids at home, and have got to know more about them thanks to friends, who are passionate about them. So, as we were clambering into the ditch to get a better look, we were sending photos to them, hoping that they would be able to identify them for us.

It was a truly amazing little spot, filled with colour, stunning and unusual flowers and a lot of laugher too, as we both struggled to climb out of the ditch that we had scrambled down into

It was worth it though, and we found ‘Military’

‘Woodcock’

and even a ‘Tongue’ Orchid,

amongst others.

If we had been in a car, we wouldn’t have spotted them at all.

From here, we pedalled on, along ribbon-smooth tarmac, playing hopscotch with the border between the Gard and the Herault, before taking an empty road with stunning, sweeping bends that took us back towards Sommières.

You can Watch a video from today’s ride here

Once back, we spent an hour wandering around the backstreets of the town…

Finding where Lawrence Durrell used to live,,

Walking up to the Chateau

and enjoying the views across the higgledy-piggledy rooftops too..

All in all, it really was a delightful way to spend a day. It was lovely to be able to pedal the bikes without the panniers, just enjoying cycling around a different area.

Where we live is beautiful and we love cycling there, but France is an incredibly diverse country and pedalling through it really helps us get to know it, on a totally different level.

Today (and the last couple too) have simply whet our appetites for more, so we’re now really looking forward to our ‘aller-retour à vélo’ from Provence to the UK and back, which will start in just over a month’s time.

It will be great to see even more of France … I suppose we really will have to start looking at routes, as it won’t be too long before we set off.

On again tomorrow, with the panniers, making our way to Montpeyroux