Another reason to like Manosque is their extensive Saturday morning market! After our hotel breakfast we loaded up our bikes and began moving along the perimeter of the large car parking area in front of our hotel when we noticed some stands set up at far end. Perfect, we bought some lunch items and returned to the square where we had dinner the night before. It had been completely transformed with pop up stalls filling the square selling all the usual local local food items. After a quick look around we left the old centre to find the nearby ring road also full of stalls.
The road leaving Manosque was quite busy but this was to be expected in such a large city and on a Saturday market day, too. Before leaving town, Scott was on a mission to buy a 15mm wrench that he forgot to pack in his tool kit. This wrench size is quite important as Pat`s rear internal hub wheel uses a 15mm nut to secure it. Fortunately, we have not had a need to remove the rear wheel! After stops at a bike store, a motorcycle shop and finally a big ¨home depot¨ type store he found one. But DIY stores on Saturday mornings the world around are not the place you want to be!
A must have to remove a wheel with a Sram dual drive hub.
Back on the narrow road, we were getting a bit concerned about the large volume of car traffic as we seemed to be on a fairly major artery. Magically, a fully separated bike lane appeared in front of us that took us over the Durance river and A51 freeway! But when that wonderful bike lane ended we were on the D4 (also noted as a cyclist route EV8) which is a busy two lane road with little to no shoulder. As we got further from Manosque, the traffic became lighter but not nearly as nice as the country roads that we have been riding for the last two weeks.
Manosque is just above the Durance River`s alluvial plain which is 5 kms wide near Manosque.
In fact, the whole ride from Manosque to Saint Maximin was pretty much in traffic on two lane roads, sometimes with wide shoulders and at others without. The day really became an exercise of getting from A to B and had little to add to the cycle touring experience. Scott reviewed the route selection later and there did not seem to have been many other options. We made it to Saint Maximin unscathed but road weary. It was just not a pretty ride, so few pictures of our day.
Crossing the Verdon River. It has a separate channel with a neat kayak course.
Some routes are just not that much fun. On the plus side, there was a decent shoulder on this section and the wind turbines on top of the hill were barely spinning.
Our hotel was right across the street from the main square which appeared to have been rebuilt in recent years. Just down the way is the Basilica of Saint Maximim. The building of the church and the adjacent convent began in 1295. It is now the only large Gothic church in Provence. The magnificent basilica was built in honour of Mary Magdalene and now houses some of her relics.
The organ in Sainte-Marie-Madeleine.Built in the late 1700`s it is one of the very few large instruments in Europe to have preserved all of its original 2,960 pipes.
We enjoyed a simple dinner near the main plaza in a restaurant that was recommended in a chance encounter with a man who lives not far from us at home. We had another early night as we seem to be still recovering from our recent rides. Tomorrow completes our ride to Toulon.
