Roussillon - Poking Around Europe 6.0 - CycleBlaze

May 26, 2019

Roussillon

The Ochre Trail

We decided we would spend at least two nights in Roussillon and last night when we were walking up the hill from our hotel to the restaurant for dinner our legs were thanking us. What a great choice we made for a rest day. Roussillon is another of les plus beaux villages de France and our hotel is fantastic as well.  The breakfast was deemed a seven jammer by Keith, which is the best we have done in France. He feels they are typically a two to three jammer. 

Les Sables d’Ocres. Great room, beautiful setting and a very special young woman who should be working at Tourist Information to check us in and cater to our every whim. She is just wonderful.
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Olivia is a gem.
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The very inviting pool.
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This is the patio where I am sitting and writing, overlooking the pool.
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We started the day with the Ochre Walk. The cliffs reminded us of Sedona. The colours are very similar. The walk was gorgeous and we had beautiful weather for it. I am still stuck in a long sleeve shirt because my poor arms continue to recover from their sunburn, and I was cooking. The interpretive signs were in English as well as French and we really enjoyed the track. 

Roussillon from the start of the trail.
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Looking down at the trail.
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Learning about ochre.
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Brett Classenlooks kind of like Utah or something
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4 years ago
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After our explore of the ochre trail we headed into town for a really good look. It is an intriguing place with all the old alleys and arches and beauty we love. We poked our noses into shops, checked out the belvedere and just really enjoyed it. There were so many places to buy things we would have loved to bring home (mostly food) and so little room in the panniers. Sigh. 

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Soaps too, all made right here.
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Candles made in house.
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Beautiful streets.
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Looking down on where we ate dinner on the terrace last night.
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Tired tourists.
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Tired puppy.
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Oh that Provençal blue.
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Look what we spotted in the distance. This is zoomed way in.
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More poppies.
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Looking over towards the ochre trail from the belvedere.
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I am wanting that glass of wine.
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Excuse me Monsieur...
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Okay, this is turning into a photo dump. We decided we were hungry and found another sunny terrace where we shared a lasagne. Absolutely delicious. There was a combined birthday and anniversary celebration at the next table. They had two huge cakes complete with candles. There were only four people. Yup, they ate it all. We were hoping they would share. It seemed to us they had enough for the whole terrace!

The other one was equally large and chocolate. It was a tough job but they powered through.
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Then we walked down the hill a bit to the Ochre museum. We really enjoyed it and learned a great deal. It was a fascinating place. A whole industry that has been replaced by synthetic colours for paints. 

Natural pigments.
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Very old wagon.
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Sheesh. They didn’t even bother to lock it up!
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It was a fascinating place.
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Then it was back up the hill to Roussillon and our wonderful hotel. Look what was starting to happen in the late afternoon. 

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We sat on the terrace overlooking the pool, drank an entire bottle of wine and ate a picnic supper. Keith was dressed and ready to leap into the pool as it was warm, despite the cloudburst, but in the end he didn’t. He did some planning instead. I just drank wine, wrote the journal and relaxed. So here is a surprise to us, we are so happy where we are we are staying put and doing a day ride tomorrow. Bonnieux, Lacoste, Ménerbes and Gault we are looking forward to you!  We are loving the Luberon. 

You can see why another night is appealing. This is after the cloudburst. Keith went to see that the bikes were still warm and comfortable and snapped this on the way back.
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Scott AndersonI am so envious. We visited Roussillon on a day ride from Bonnieux back in 2003, in July, in the middle of a historic heatwave. We’ve always want d to go back and stay overnight - we had our photos from Roussillon on the walls of our condo for 15 years.
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4 years ago
Steve Miller/GrampiesBonnieux, Lacoste, Ménerbes are so famous to us from the Peter Mayle books. So much fun!
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4 years ago
Kathleen ClassenTo Scott AndersonAs we turned out the light last night Keith to me and said “Let’s just stay here for two weeks.” I burst into laughter. The weather is perfect right now and it is such a beautiful spot to explore the idea has appeal.
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4 years ago
Kathleen ClassenTo Steve Miller/GrampiesOh I loved those books and read them all. It is so amazing to be here. The info we read on Ménerbes mentions the town survived the Mayle invasion in the early 90s and things have settled down a bit. We just finished breakfast outside on the patio in the sunshine. Wish you both were here.
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4 years ago