After a rather lovely last 5 days, pedalling across the South of France, we are in the stunning medieval town of Pezenas.
It’s an atmospheric little town, with elegant buildings, narrow cobbled streets, and we never tire of visiting. For the third time, we’ve arranged our visit around the Grand Deballage, where around 200 traders set up their stands in the streets that are already home to a wonderful range of Brocante shops.
The Deballage takes place twice a year, and we have always been to the one held in October, so we will look forward to exploring the stalls tomorrow.
We’re staying in a lovely apartment, in the old town and this morning, woke to the sound of the stalls arriving for market day.
We had decided to have a day off the bikes, opting to spend an hour or so pottering around the stalls, filling our basket with local produce, before heading out on a walk to a pretty village, we had cycled through yesterday.
The market in Pezenas is a delight. The road that skirts the historic centre is filled with stalls; the cafe terraces along one side, already busy with customers, as we ambled around.
Markets in France have so many similarities, but subtle differences too, depending on the area. I love the focus on local producers, with one end of the street home to fruit and veg sellers, stalls packed with new-season tomatoes, strawberries and asparagus.
In the small park at the other end of the street is a local organic market too, and here we filled our bag with salad leaves, tiny mange-tout peas and some incredible breads from a baker, who used to live in Aix-en-Provence. (We ended up chatting about rugby – of course)
It was a rather gentle morning, and we enjoyed strolling, pleased that we had managed to get everything we needed, before it got too busy.
After making a sandwich and popping it in a bag, we set off on the walk I’d found, which would take us through the back lanes, on a circular walk from Pezenas to Caux, and back. You can follow our full 17km route from Pézenas to Caux on Komoot
It’s an easy, peaceful route and perfect if you want to explore the area beyond the town.
Caux was the last village we had cycled through yesterday, and it had seemed rather charming, so we decided to take a closer look.
Heading back through the market, we appreciated having been out early, as the street was now packed, and we had to ease our way through the crowd of people still arriving.
We crossed the main bridge, and immediately turned away from the town, following quiet lanes that quickly led us into open countryside.
It didn’t take long for us to lose the sounds of the town, and as the sounds of voices and cars melted away, they were replaced with increasingly loud birdsong. We stopped several times, just to identify what we were listening to, using the Merlin App to help. At one point, we stopped as there were songs that we didn’t readily recognise, and found that we had a Corn Bunting, Woodlark and Zitting Cisticolas too (possibly the greatest name for a bird ever).
The fields changed too, from grass and poppies, to vast vineyards that stretched as far as the eye could see, in every direction.
The expansive vineyards have surprised us, as we really hadn’t understood what a big wine-producing area, this is. We have lots of Wine Domaines around us, in The Luberon, but they seem incredibly tiny and far-apart, in comparison to the ones we have seen here.
As we strolled along the peaceful lane, we passed huge Domaines, with stunning buildings and well maintained grounds. It was hard to see where one ended, and the next one started.
We chatted about how challenging it would be to even start pruning the vines. You would have to just stay in the moment, and not even try to comprehend the magnitude of the task ahead.
It would either be an incredible opportunity to listen to a complex series of books, or a dramatic introduction to exercising mindfulness. I’m not sure that I would be able to focus on a task that huge, without getting easily distracted by something else that caught my attention.
We passed stunning buildings, including the Chateau de Loubatières that (from the wide range of trees we could see) seemed to have its own Arboretum too.
Here, the road surface had broken away in places and we could see what appeared to be an original cobbled track below, giving us a real sense of the history of this place.
It was a delightful walk, and we approached Caux, along an old track, which evidently was the old road to Nizas. It offered lovely views across to the village, with the pretty church tower that had caught our attention, as we cycled towards it, yesterday.
We walked into the centre, and found a bench under the Plane Trees, where we munched our sandwich, watching the starlings bringing nesting material to holes in the trees. A very gentle way to pass a lunch-stop..
Then it was time to make our way back. The clouds were getting heavier, and the wind was starting to pick up, ahead of a change in the weather that will see rain and storms, over the next few days.
We had chosen a circular route, and walked back along the other side of the main road, we had cycled down, yesterday. It was a nice walk, along a little back lane, which is also marked as a cycle route to Pezenas.
We passed a reconstructed Lime Kiln, at the side of the road. The sign explained that mention had first been made of Lime Kilns on this spot in the Napoleonic ‘Cadastre’, and it was clearly a considerable industry here.
There were lovely views across the vines back to Caux and the distant hills.
And we just enjoyed the peace of the walk.
It turned out to be slightly further than I had imagined, and as we walked back into Pezenas, our stomachs were rumbling, clearly feeling that a lunchtime sandwich hadn’t been enough for the walk we had done.
It turned out that we had walked just over 17km, but it had passed by in a flash. Our feet though were feeling a little sore, and we felt we had the pefect opportunity to head straight to the ice-cream shop for something to perk us up, for the last 100m walk back to the flat.
The gentle day we had planned has been rather lovely, although our legs probably haven’t had the rest that we imagined they would have today. But we wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Tomorrow, we will spend the day wandering through the vast Brocante, using the excuse that we are here on the bikes, to restrict our enthusiasm to buy little bits that would look great at home.
That said, I have already looked at delivery options …. just in case! ….. You never know what may catch our eye.
It would be easy to think the cycle ride is over, but we head on again to Capestang on Monday, so still lots more pedalling ahead.
For now though, a quiet evening, enjoying supper made with the bits we bought at today’s market, and allowing our feet to ease a little too.
Postcards from Provence and beyond 