South of France Part 4

After breakfast in the hotel courtyard it was time to head back to Isle sur la Sorgue via a different route from yesterday. After a frustrating 10km detour until I found the correct route it was a fairly pleasant ride back to the hotel, about 56kms in total.

Just outside the old village of Eygaliers I stopped to photograph Chapelle St Sixte. This is a 12th century chapel said to be the most photographed chapel in Provence. Most of the landscape in this area of southern France is a rocky and dry with relief provided by the greenery of the vines, orchards and olive trees but very little in the way of grass. The fields and orchards tend to be on the overgrown side and the old houses in poor repair. All my riding in the south of France has been done in a valley that lies between the mountain ranges of the Luberon and while there is plenty of flatland it is the hilltop villages with there ancient towns that provide real interest and picturesque settings. At one point through the heat haze I spooted a large mountain in the distance with some type of observertory at its summit that I had not noticed on my previous rides. It was only later I reliased that it was Mt Ventoux, where the pnenultimate stage of this years Tour de France had only recently been completed.

This picture on the right really cracks me up as it looks like I'm in a foul mood, but it was just a combination of the glare and the temperature being around 35 degrees that is causing me to grimace. I arrived back at Isle sur la Sorgue mid-afternoon and grabbed some luch and dinner to take back to the hotel. Went to bed reasonably early as the train leaves at 07:04 tomorrow and I will say goodbye to Europe as I head to Ireland