The Ochre Roads

Annie had suggested we spend some time exploring the ochre mines and gorges north of her base in la Roque as we had shown an interest in the geology of the area.

We weren't sure what to expect but set off on a beautiful morning to see what we could find. Our first port of call was Roussillon, the centre of the French ochre mining business up until the 1950's. The town is now completely dependant on the tourism industry to provide its income and was our first experience in France of a "tourist town" - full of souvenirs and very overpriced. The mines however were spectacular. They are open mines, i.e. no tunnels and shafts, and typically cut into cliff faces.  The extracted material was then washed and processed to remove the ochre and this was then shipped all over the world.  The red earth is a striking contrast to the usual white or sand coloured earth of the predominantly limestone region.

First glimpse of the ochre rich ground.

We couldn't resist this one....

The contrast with the green vegetation is fantastic.

Giant 'ant hills'

The colours of the excavated areas are truly amazing!

We then continued through the Luberon valley to Rustel where ochre mining has created a gorge of red rock named the French Colorado. We hiked through the area and made the most of the light and colours.

We had a lovely walk through vegetation very similar to the fynbos and dry forests we find at home.

Red and orange spires at the start of the mine.

An area of white and maroon earth mined for their colours.

Known as "the Sahara" area of the mine, you have to see it to believe it.

Climbing ochre rock is not recommended if you want to stay clean!!

The highlight of the day however was the driving. Most back roads in France seem to have been built to closely follow the tracts that were there before and thus are typically narrow and winding which makes for specatular driving, and Geoff suggested even better cycling!

Markets and winding roads

We headed in to Aix-en-Provence to explore the town and the Saturday Market. Aix, pronounced "ex", is the largest town near Annie and is regarded as a very beautiful Provence town.

Wheat fields with poppies on the way to Aix

We made a bee-line for the markets and explored all six of them one after the other. It is amazing how an ordinary open space - whether an otherwise public road, or a square can be transformed within a few hours to a pedestrian market place of vendors punting their wares, and then only a few hours later it has been cleared and is again a road, a boule court or the overflow from a nearby restaurant.

Geoff is not really a market person and as a general rule hates shopping (unless it is for outdoors kit) - but Lucy was in her element. We really enjoyed the food market and the flower market - so much colour and smells to take in.

Lucy in her element in the flower market

We spent the afternoon exploring the back roads of the "old" Aix. Paul Cezanne is arguably Aix's most famous son and his work and heritage is evident through much of the town. We visited the Granit Museum, which has nothing to do with igneous rock, but rather with modern and impressionist art. The modern stuff was too much for us, but the impressionist work was very impressive. Lucy really enjoyed the work of Orzek.

There are some beautiful doors in Aix

Little alleyways

The fountain in the centre of Aix

It had been a hot day and we made the most of taking the scenic roads back home. We drove via the impressive massive of Ste Victoire, a huge prow of limestone. Geoff ambled as high as he dared with the time we had available to take in the views.

The impressive Ste Victoire, often painted by Cezanne.

Geoff checking out the view

We headed home on little winding roads through indigenous pine forests home to wild boars and little passes through dry ravines.

Another poppy field on the way home

Our bucket list of things to do in France just keeps growing...

The long road to la Roque-d'Antheron

After an amazing time in Sestriere, we headed across the border into France and then south.  Not quite the highway, but the scenic route more-or-less along the highway.  It was beautiful to descend from high up in the mountains and end our day down almost at sea level!  We broke the 400km odd journey (on small windy roads) up with many cool things we found en route.

Along the way we stopped to see Les Demoiselles Coiffees (the ladies wearing hats) which were formed from glacial moraine that has been eroded, where the large rocks and boulders protect the lower substrate from being washed away.

And the beautiful Lac de Serre Poncon with her turquoise water and sandy beaches.

As we got lower, we found ourselves in wheat and lavender country,  really pretty!

The scenery in Provence is stunning- lots of low, dry forest of oak and a type of pine with little passes running through them; farmlands of vineyards, fruit, wheat, lavender and livestock; typical "Provence" farmhouses with their shutters painted pale blue or green and their walls either bare stone or painted cream.  Really picturesque!

We were relieved to arrive at Annie Tripoteau's house in la Roque d'Antheron by evening.  Annie's daughter and son-in-law (Laetitia and Pascal) are good friends of ours in Cape Town.  We're using Annie's house as a base for the next 10 days while we explore Provence.  She is also doing a sterling job at introducing us to the fantastic local cuisine and we find ourselves having to hold back at every meal to prevent the beach ball syndrome setting in!

An old cottage (cabanou) in a field in la Roque.

Geoff and Annie with our feat of roast rabbit and veggies! 

One of the pretty squares in la Roque

Le Borderline... and a magnificent campsite

When Geoff was attending the Alliance Frances in preparation of our time in France, he was subjected to a piece of French music called "Le Borderline". It had more to do with what is socially acceptable than any political boundary, but it seemed appropriate as we reflected on our latest adventure.

Our trip back to France took us (once again) off the beaten track and we found ourselves winding up a beautiful pass, higher and higher into the mountains.  Time came to look for a campsite for the night, but everything was closed and we found ourselves in the ski-resort town of Sestriere where much of the 2006 Winter Olympics was held.  The town was like a ghost town and we stopped at the only open restaurant to get some dinner.  Luckily for us (and we figured this out halfway through our meal) they made the best crepes in the world!  After dinner we headed up a little pass that was closed as the top was still under snow and so we camped half way up.  The view from our tent the next morning was fantastic!!!  Big 2700 to 3300m snow covered peaks in both Italy and France.

Oh, and we were within 10km of the borderline!

Sunset in the mountains

The view from our tent in the morning.

The next morning we hiked up to Mt Fraiteve (2701m) for an amazing 360 view of the snowy peaks, forested slopes and little terracotta towns down below.

Sunny smiles at the top

Amazing view

Jet trail

Geoff's new sport: snow running. Considering he is in strops we're not sure its really going to take off - though he did take his shoes off as soon as he was off snow to try and get feeling back to them!

Varese - the Garden City of Italy

It was great to meet up with Lucy's cousin's Simon and Danny Clarke who are based in Varese.  Simon cycles for The Green Edge professional cycling team and Danny works on the Australian under-23 cycling team.  They are both Australian and welcomed us to Italy with a "shrimp on the barbie, Mate!".  Simon has a great place right in the centre of Varese and after dinner we were shown to "the Cadell Evans Suite" where we stayed while with Simon.

Danny, Geoff, Lucy and Simon

In the morning we headed up to a little town on the mountain above the city called Sante Maria del Monte where we walked "the 14 Churches path" leading past 14 chapels depicting the Christ story and with amazing views down over the city.  

One of the Arches on the beautiful 14 Churches walk

The Vareseans! Simon and his girlfriend Mara at chapel #3

Geoff and Simon jumping on command in front of a very stern looking Moses.

In the afternoon Simon had a meeting in Chiasso (Switzerland) and we amused ourselves walking over the border into Italy (it runs through the city!) and cooling off with some real gelatto...mmmm.  A drive to Lake Como was followed by a wander around town to find aperitif's.

To Como, or not to Como...!?!

Lake Como

After two wonderful days in Varese we needed to make progress towards Provence. Our last morning was spent in the Varese Garden - a beautiful green space in the middle of the city.  We really enjoyed the cool walk before getting into the car for the next leg... the sun was starting to beat down and we had a long way to drive.

Varese Gardens

The library forms the foundry of the gardens.  Through that arch you can view the main road through the city.

And finally: The Continent!

A 4am wake up to catch an international flight, misunderstandings with the car hire company (in French-English) and unsign-posted highways were not the best way to start the next leg of our trip (and on the wrong side of the road too) but we made it!

We had flown into France and managed, with surprising difficulty, to find our way out of Nice headed north-east. All was well, we were taking the scenic route through the mountains and near the sea, and then disaster struck!  Bumper to bumper traffic on a Sunday!?! and then we realised that Monaco is probably not the best place to be on the day of the Grand Prix! We made a hasty retreat involving a U-turn on the highway and headed up to the mountains and watched some of the F1 warm up from above.  It was incredible to see so many spectators in the city, so many impressive boats in the bay and so much noise!

Lucy spying out big yachts (and racing cars) above Monaco

We continued on and inland to a lovely town called Sospel where we pitched our tent in a nearby campsite that had been recommended to us by a local. Geoff was buggered so was slept the afternoon and then took a drive up the beautiful Gorges de la Bevera which forms part of the Marine Alps: lush forest, swift flowing clear river, little winding road cut into the dramatic limestone rock.  We found and walked up to a serene little Chapel on the top of a rocky outcrop to marvel at the gorge-ous late evening scenery. 

Gorges de la Bevera with the Chapelle de la Menour in the background

The next day we explored Sospel which we learnt is a medieval town. Geoff managed to decipher the tourist boards to learn about her clear fountains, amazing church, and some of the little alleyways and arches that seem to make up the town.

The inside of the Sospel Church

Sun and flowers -just what Lucy loves!

Sospel

Then we headed up Gorges de Berque towards Tende and the Italian border.  These little winding roads through stunning gorges are such treat to drive.  There are little villages perched precariously on mountain sides, the road cut into the cliff at points, waterfalls, hairpin bends, and lots and lots of wire netting to prevent rock falls.  We were interested to see how many hydro electric plants we saw along the way.

Just north of Tende the highway disappears through a tunnel a couple of kilometre's long, and as we were enjoying the scenery so much (the peaks were now all covered in snow), Geoff's navigator decided to take us up the old pass instead.  It started with a few hair-pin bends on a narrow road and Geoff asking whether we were on the correct road.  After about 10 hair-pins of which some were so tight that we had to do 3 point turns to get round them, we were still only about a quarter of the way up the mountain!!!   Most sections of road were also less than 200m long!

Some of the easier switch backs in the alpine area

Thanks Google Maps! And it was about that crazy too!!!

After 46 hair-pin bends we reached the Col de Tend at 1824m! The view was amazing - France to the south and Italy to the north with snowy peaks all around!

Lunch at the top on the border.

Keeping the theme alive...

Yvonne - this one's for you :)  Too good!

Then the race north to Varese (northern Italy) to get there before dark.....