June 3, 2025
Day 2 - Saint-Remy-de-Provence to Menerbes
A beautiful ride through “La Provence Profonde” to our first beau village
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The Mas des Tourterelles proved to be a calm, quiet refuge for the night. We slept well. Breakfast was served on our private patio (how chic!) at 0900h and was good by French standards - fruit, pastries, bread, and coffee. We took our time and rolled out about 1030h.
Today’s ride was on the shorter side and the heat was threatening to make a return. We spent some time browsing around in St Remy now that the shops were open, but managed to avoid buying anything. The idea that we had to carry an item up all the hills to come makes them look much less attractive.
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We dodged the traffic of St Remy and were quickly out on a quiet back road which took us past olive domaines, fruit trees, and seemingly expensive houses as we moved eastward. Finally a quick hitch down to the main road brought us to a beautiful roadside bike path that seemed to go on forever. When it ended, we turned away from the main road into the small town of Mollégès, which was pretty quiet at noon on a Tuesday morning.
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1 week ago
From there, we made our way toward Cavaillon on small back roads, some of the most beautiful cycling we can remember. Being in Provence in June is amazing - it’s much greener and cooler than we’re accustomed to. And the cycling infrastructure is tremendous. Great bike paths, signage, and farm roads.
Entering Cavaillon, we crossed the freeway on a bike-only bridge, and then the river Durance on a separated bike lane along with car traffic. We rode up into Cavaillon to find some protein to supplement our breakfast, and split an omelette/frites/salad at the welcoming restaurant “Le Cavaillonnais”.
It’s too early in the summer to sample the famous melons of Cavaillon, so we hit the road. Back on the route, we were treated to more awesome bike paths until we hit our turnoff to start climbing up to Menerbes. We climbed gently into Robion, then abruptly into Maubec. And then we had a long, somewhat challenging but shaded ascent as we passed by Oppède.
Finally we had views of Menerbes as we descended before an easier climb up to the village. We were early for our 1600h checkin so we had some Aperol Spritzes to kill some time. Finally we messaged the “Maison Joly” to see whether they were ready for us and they told us to come along. We were about an hour early, but no problem.
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Schnooks went into a cave at the back of the building, and everything else came up to a second floor room with sunny windows facing the hills behind Menerbes. A restful place to update the journal and anticipate dinner.
Before dinner we went for a short wander through Menerbes. It is, as you might imagine, a beautiful village!
Tonight we dined with some old friends who just happen to be traveling in France. By a happy accident we were able to arrange to meet tonight at Les Saveurs Gourmands, a restaurant that’s a few steps down the street from our B&B. A great meal, made even better by the chance to catch up with Rich and Megan. It was a lovely evening! So lovely that we forgot to take pictures!!
Today's ride: 43 km (27 miles)
Total: 94 km (58 miles)
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1 week ago