A trip to Provence

[Berin]

There's lots to explore, isn't there? And I've never really been.

That's what you get for focussing on horrible difficult dirt tracks in far-flung countries! Even my last bike trip to France I didn't see much in the way of sights as we were hauling 3 KTM 690's up impassable tracks far from civilisation!

 

[Berin]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

 

[er-minio]

There is definitely a lot to ride around there.
I think the triangle across between Grenoble/Gap, the maritime Alps/Imperia and the Calanques/Avignon on the French side is a very special slice of the planet.

 

[gerarddwatts]

There's lots to explore, isn't there? And I've never really been.

That's what you get for focussing on horrible difficult dirt tracks in far-flung countries! Even my last bike trip to France I didn't see much in the way of sights as we were hauling 3 KTM 690's up impassable tracks far from civilisation!

A couple of years ago I realised that we had been intent on hurtling through France to get to Pyrenees, French Alps, Provence etc etc for years and there was an awful lot we had missed, so we did exactly the same....a tour on 4 wheels around the middle. A worthwhile and enjoyable trip.

 

[ChasF]

Our son lives just north of Toulon and we spend quite a lot of time down there and travelling back and forth from here (Dordogne). Yourtrip coincides with the beginning of the French school holidays and I’m fairly sure that the 4/5th will be a ‘black’ weekend on the roads which may have an impact on your choice of route down to Provence. Keeping off the toll motorways is probably wise as it can take hours to get through the toll gates - although with the exorbitant tolls these days there will be a lot of traffic on the N roads as well. Coastal Provence (the area south of the A8 autoroute) will be very crowded as will Avignon, route Napoleon, gorges des Verdon area. We did a couple of short bike tours last year in May and June and, even then, anywhere vaguely touristy was packed out. That said there are still a lot of places worth exploring and plenty of lavendar. Book your accommodation in plenty of time.

 

[Wapping]

Hmm. When you put it like that, it's not as long as I'd thought, so I made some amendments!

Excellent.

We are starting to cook on gas.

It’s a common oversight.

 

[Wapping]

Four full days to fill in Provence.

At about 12,000 square miles, Provence is big! By simple comparison, East Anglia (Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire combined) is about 5,000 square miles.

You could pick a location, somewhere and drive out each day or, maybe chose two places and use them as a base. Either of these might be better than driving each day, from place, to place, to place, place and unpacking each night. But, that’s up to you. Do though remember that you need to get back to catch your ferry, miles away in northwest France (and you want to avoid motorways) so maybe don’t have your last night in Nice.

To give you a bit of inspiration, here is a one day route starting and ending in Apt. It is 110 miles. The route takes in a ‘must do’ of Mont Ventoux and the Nesque gorge. It also takes in the nice town of Sault. It also passes through Roussillon (of the red ochre rocks fame) mentioned in the thread.

More, based on Apt:

90 miles:

50 miles:

These of course take you nowhere near the sea! Or indeed, Grenoble!

There’s plenty more in the French section, too. But do keep an eye on the mileage. As I said, it’s a big place!

 

[wessie]

the other option for ferries is to do what we did in September. Out via St Malo overnight as we were heading to La Rochelle. We were heading back to the coast from the Volcanes region in central France. We got the overnight ferry from Le Havre back to Pompey. 9pm ish departure so plenty of time to get dinner in the Docks Vauban in Le H. Arrived in Pompey around 6am and was home for lunch. Saves a hotel in St Malo and sitting on a ferry for several hours in the daytime.

 

[Paul Young]

A must visit is the beautiful hilltop village of Gorde - the base for the film "A Good Year"

The restaurant featured in the film is there and the Chateau is in the vicinity.

You can buy a bottle of the CP (Coin Perdu) at the winery on the estate but the chateau itself (featured in the film) is private and behind a wall/hedge.

I agree… A real ‘feel good’ film and we decided to visit some of the film locations during a stay a few years ago. We stayed in a house about 200m from the village centre and enjoyed the 14th July festivities.



It’s a shame you’re missing the Carpentras Urban Trials competition on June 28th. There were 4 prior world champions competing last time I was there, including Toni Bou.

 

[Berin]

Our son lives just north of Toulon and we spend quite a lot of time down there and travelling back and forth from here (Dordogne). Yourtrip coincides with the beginning of the French school holidays and I’m fairly sure that the 4/5th will be a ‘black’ weekend on the roads which may have an impact on your choice of route down to Provence. Keeping off the toll motorways is probably wise as it can take hours to get through the toll gates - although with the exorbitant tolls these days there will be a lot of traffic on the N roads as well. Coastal Provence (the area south of the A8 autoroute) will be very crowded as will Avignon, route Napoleon, gorges des Verdon area. We did a couple of short bike tours last year in May and June and, even then, anywhere vaguely touristy was packed out. That said there are still a lot of places worth exploring and plenty of lavendar. Book your accommodation in plenty of time.

Bugger! We accounted for UK school hols but not the French ones! I’ll get planning!

 

[Berin]

Four full days to fill in Provence.

At about 12,000 square miles, Provence is big! By simple comparison, East Anglia (Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire combined) is about 5,000 square miles.

You could pick a location, somewhere and drive out each day or, maybe chose two places and use them as a base. Either of these might be better than driving each day, from place, to place, to place, place and unpacking each night. But, that’s up to you. Do though remember that you need to get back to catch your ferry, miles away in northwest France (and you want to avoid motorways) so maybe don’t have your last night in Nice.

To give you a bit of inspiration, here is a one day route starting and ending in Apt. It is 110 miles. The route takes in a ‘must do’ of Mont Ventoux and the Nesque gorge. It also takes in the nice town of Sault. It also passes through Roussillon (of the red ochre rocks fame) mentioned in the thread.

More, based on Apt:

90 miles:

50 miles:

These of course take you nowhere near the sea! Or indeed, Grenoble!

There’s plenty more in the French section, too. But do keep an eye on the mileage. As I said, it’s a big place!

Tbh, we’re not that bothered about the seaside. We had a week in Nice not long since, masquerading as a work trip, and I ran a dive school in Port Grimaud for a while. More interested in the hinterland.

Maybe, 1 stop on the way down, 2-3 days each in 2 places, 1 stop on the way back

Thanks for the tips so far

 

[leadfarmer]

Yourtrip coincides with the beginning of the French school holidays and I’m fairly sure that the 4/5th will be a ‘black’ weekend on the roads

Very good point indeed !

If you can come the week before you’ll avoid all of the problems ChasF describes

These are the school holidays by region, in July the whole country is on holiday at the same time

Calendrier scolaire 2025-2026. Vacances, jours fériés, zones A, B ou C... Tout savoir pour planifier vos congés !

Vous allez pouvoir vous organiser ! Comme c'est en fonction des vacances scolaires que la majorité des Français posent leurs congés, voici les dates, zone par zone, du calendrier scolaire avec les ponts et jours fériés de...

france3-regions.franceinfo.fr

 

[er-minio]

Isn't this used in Ronin too?

 

[er-minio]

Nope: La Turbie.

 

[Berin]

Very good point indeed !

If you can come the week before you’ll avoid all of the problems ChasF describes

These are the school holidays by region, in July the whole country is on holiday at the same time

Calendrier scolaire 2025-2026. Vacances, jours fériés, zones A, B ou C... Tout savoir pour planifier vos congés !

Vous allez pouvoir vous organiser ! Comme c'est en fonction des vacances scolaires que la majorité des Français posent leurs congés, voici les dates, zone par zone, du calendrier scolaire avec les ponts et jours fériés de...

france3-regions.franceinfo.fr

Arse. I picked that week as Mrs. Berin said the lavender was better. I’ll see what the cost to change ferries is

 

[Berin]

Provence, Plan C.

Now departing Portsmouth on the 26th June, arriving St Malo 8.15 on the 27th, and departing St Malo 5th July, 10.30am back to Portsmouth, in order to avoid the pesky French school kids,

 

[Wapping]

You might find this thread useful.

If nothing else, it shows how large an area Provence is. It’s three days but doesn’t touch Mont Ventoux, get anywhere even vaguely close to Grenoble, bypasses Avignon and misses the sea entirely. What it does do though, is take in the Luberon which is, just about the heart of Provence.

Thread 'GPX - Provence, possible ‘three day’ jaunt'

Sep 16, 2024

Edition 20 (September 2024) of the German Motorrad magazine, has a suggested three-day jaunt in Provence. I have created it by hand in MyRoute.

My parents lived for 20 or more years near Apt / Roussillon, so I know the whole area pretty well. Is the route perfect? Well, few suggestions ever are, but it’s certainly pretty good. Use a decent map and alter it to suit your own needs, rather than following it blindly. Do you have to take its suggested three days? No, of course not. It’s 200 miles, though the author says it’s 600 km (375 miles). Unless I made a significant mistake, which I...

• Wapping
• Replies: 9
• Forum: France (other than Alps, Pyrenees)

• 

 

[Wapping]

By happy chance, the latest edition of Alpentourer magazine has an article of a tour of the northern side of Provence:





At 730 km (450 miles) it takes in lots of the ‘must do’ parts of the area. It also shows how large an area Provence is.

The route downloads well:

 

[leadfarmer]

A lot of that is my regular stomping ground

I have a couple of regular loops I do just to burn petrol, the Mont du Gerbier de Jonc is on one of them, although I then tend to follow the road down to Vals Les Bains near Aubenas as the road is superb

 

[ChasF]

When we take the long way home from Toulon to the north east Dordogne we’ve cut across from Sisteron to Nyons to Aubenas, even been to Die a couple of times but will have to make a point of going to Joyeuse on the next trip. Certainly a very scenic part of the world but never realised it was still Provence.