The Luberon area in Provence is yet another one of those places that I visited when I was very small, but don’t have much memory of, so really starting from scratch.
One reason to go there was to see in “real life” some of the places described by Peter Mayle in his books A YEAR IN PROVENCE and A GOOD YEAR (possibly go to some of the film set locations – be a proper tourist !).
After a bit of research, I found what looked like an excellent campsite in Cucuron (in the south of the region) called Le Moulin A Vent, so booked up 9 nights (including the use of a fridge). After all this travel/driving, this was to be the proper “holiday” part of the trip.
But first, the drive down south, only 260 km – doesn’t sound very much, does it ? Since it was a Saturday, I started off as early as possible, to try and avoid the traffic. Another stonking hot day, indeed, approaching 30 Deg C again – I must buy a brimmed straw hat………
Again, it was a trip across part of the Massif Central down the normal roads, rather than the autoroute. Fairly uneventful, just had to do the kilometres.
Lunch stop was near Manosque, where I raided the local Auchan Supermarket for provisions, consumed in a rest area created by Electricite de France adjacent to (yet another…) hydroelectric plant on the Durance river.
The last few kilometres seemed to drag on a bit, but having made good time in the morning, I arrived at the campsite at a sensible time in the afternoon. Pitched up on one of the terraced places IN THE SHADE !!!!
After the proverbial cup of Twinings Strong Morning tea ( yes really) it was a quick orientation drive to Cucuron itself, to find out where all the shops were, etc.
Some sort of football match on the TV in the evening, ignored by me. And so to bed…. Rest day tomorrow.