Below from left to right is my small group for the week: Barry and Pat from New England, and Bob and Bev from Sydney, Australia. The photo is taken in front of the 17th-century-goat-farm-now-hotel Auberge des Seguins, from the middle of the week.
But it all began on Sunday in the village of Gigondas, set above the Rhône valley. Though there is no walk planned on the first day we did one anyhow, a short stroll from the village to our hotel. Above the church we had a great view of the old rooftops...
...and beyond those rooftops the vines of the Côtes du Rhône, sprawled out like a giant blanket into the horizon.
My love of Gigondas is all the stronger when we stay at Les Florets hotel, whose fine cuisine has me salivating for weeks before the start of the tour.
Here we are at breakfast the following morning, filling up for our walk in the Dentelles de Montmirail mountain range.
As we reach the Col du Cayron pass above the hotel we have great views of the vineyards of Gigondas, with meticulous terraces carved into the steep hills, using every possible square inch of cultivatable grounds to produce the region's famous reds.
The week's group started strong, and so I took them on a detour to walk along the Dentelles ridgeline. Below Pat admires the view from the top, looking out towards the vines.
After a walk a game of Pétanque was in order, and below Pat and Bev show us how it's done:
Our second walk took us from Gigondas and to the village of Beaumes de Venise, via the 12th century Notre Dame d'Aubune chapel seen in the photo below.
But most stunning of all on that day was our approach into our next place of stay -- the Auberge des Seguins -- set at the base of a cliff. After joking that we'd have to rappel down, we found a centuries-old cobbled mule track that gently zigzags to the bottom.
At the Auberge des Seguins, a woman from Germany adorning her shutters with flowers she had picked during the day:
Speaking of flowers: some companula growing out of a massive limestone boulder at the base of the gorge, seen at the outset of our third walk:
In the Aiguebrun Gorge, following the only permanent river of the Luberon mountains: a micro-climate of lush vegetation in an otherwise stony and arid mountain:
Reaching the forgotten hamlet of Sivergues, with wildflowers growing at the base of the walls:
And above the hamlet -- now about 700m in altitude -- wild lavender growing on the slopes:
Reaching the rounded summit, some 500m above our hotel, in a mix of playful rains and cloud, always welcome in the June heat. We would eat our picnic here and have a Provençal sieste:
Drying my clothes back at the Auberge, looking out towards the 17th century buildings that now house the hotel rooms:
Leaving the Auberge for our fourth walk, heading up a short but steep path towards the crest...
...passing more companula along the way.
Now on the southern face of the Luberon, we're in a countryside of isolated and prestigious villas, adorned with lavender fields (and butterflies!!):
Walk 5: we have moved to the town of Saint Rémy de Provence, at the base of the Alpilles mountains. There's been a slight setback this week: due to the combination of Mistral and hot weather, the trails have been shut down (to protect the forest from fires). The rules are as follows: we must leave the mountain range by 11:00am. The risk of trail closures is more prominent in July and August, fairly rare in June.
But we're all game to leave the hotel early in the morning, and complete a breathtaking walk before lunch...
And in the morning the light is at its best for views and pictures, and of course we can avoid the afternoon heat!
Bob finds himself a cave where he seems all too comfortable:
But we're able to coax him out and back onto the trails to finish our walk back into St. Rémy:
...where we indulge in the following: a cheeseburger smothered in Roquefort cheese, bun and all.
... on top of which we all had a café gourmand.
And this is why after 7 years as a professional guide not any one of my guests has ever lost a single pound during the week, despite 6 straight days of hiking.
Back in the centre of St. Rémy, with Nostradamus' fountain in the foreground:
Our last day of walking presented the same obstacle: needing to leave the mountain by 11:00am. And so in the morning light the views from the ridge of the Alpilles were far-reaching: beyond the olive groves nestled at the base, and beyond the flatlands that extend toward the sea, and even a glimpse of the Mediterranean...
Finishing our walk in the medieval village of Les Baux de Provence, at a café owned by the same family for 400 years:
To avoid the crowds of the village I took the group to my secluded picnic spot for our last lunch, and where I took this (slightly-contrived-but-still-good) photo:
Leaving Les Baux via its medieval gates, under the shade of fig trees:
A last evening in the Roman city of Arles:
