Walking And Eating

CLASSIC PROVENCE: THE LUBÉRON MOUNTAINS

1. LOURMARIN TO BONNIEUX
2. BONNIEUX TO SÉGUIN and SÉGUIN TO BONNIEUX
3. SÉGUIN – BUOUX RING WALK
4. SÉGUIN – SIVERGUES RING WALK
5. VAUGINES TWO-DAY RING WALK, via Fort de Buoux, Séguin, Sivergues and le Castelas
6. GORDES – ABBAYE DE SÉNANQUE RING WALK
7. OPPÈDE LE VIEUX RING WALK

WINE AND LACE: GIGONDAS AND THE DENTELLES

8. SUZETTE RING WALK
9. SÉGURET TO GIGONDAS
10. GIGONDAS RING WALK

We did have two minor comments that might help others on Walk Ten, the Gigondas Ring Walk. Between E and F you mention the Col de Cayron way mark. Right at this point, there is a well marked continuation of the path straight ahead, with plenty of visible blue. The downhill turn to the left is tempting, but there is no blue mark in sight. If you follow the blue straight ahead, you come back up to the top and over to the other side of the valley. We turned back and took the left-hand downhill at the waymark, and found the blue (and the carpark) before very long.

Also, between H and I, you mention a fork uphill right, just above a view over a vineyard. The fork is actually left, but as it is to be ignored, it didn’t matter.

We took the turnoff to Les Florets and had a beautiful lunch on the terrace, even though we arrived a little later than planned.

We hope this is helpful to other walkers.

Jane and Ian Morrison
Sydney, Australia

11. SUZETTE RING WALK

BANON AND THE LURE

12. BANON TO LIMANS
13. LIMANS TO LARDIERS
14. LARDIERS TO SAUMANE
15. SAUMANE RING WALK
16. SAUMANE TO BANON
17. BANON – VIEUX MONSALIER RING WALK
18. LES TINETTES RING WALK
19. GORGES D’OPPÈDETTE RING WALK
20. VACHÉRES – OPPÈDETTE RING WALK
21. VIENS RING WALK

A DIP INTO SOUTHWEST PROVENCE

22. CALANQUE DE MORGIOU RING WALK
23. CASSIS CALANQUES RING WALK via Port-Miou and Calanque d’En vau
24. CEZANNE RING WALK

MIDDLE PROVENCE: VAR AND VERDON

GENERAL COMMENTS

(11/09) - Congratulations on Walking and Eating in Provence. I have a house about 5 Kms from Seillans in the Var and I look forward to following in your footsteps.

I bought your book just before coming out here and my wife and I (plus Westie dog) have just completed the Mons walk in glorious November weather. I have been reading the text about other walks and have one or two comments, which are certainly intended to be constructive:

1. On page 197 you mention that Seillans, Bargeme and Cotignac are suburbanised. I don’t really agree about Seillans, but Bargeme is as unsuburban a place as you could find anywhere. It’s tiny and the highest village in the Var, with glorious walks around it and which you certainly ought to include in your next edition. There is a splendid mountain restaurant, La Gruppie in Chateauvieux too which you can walk from Bargeme. I think you have confused Bargeme with Bargemon, 16 Kms to the south and which could be described as suburbanised.

[author note] — We had a “coffee table” book called “The Most Beautiful Villages in Provence,” or something along those lines, that had all those villages in it. We used that book to plan out (to the loose degree we were able to plan before we actually got there) where we’d go. Most of the villages in that book were not really walkable, because they’d been too suburbanized (or suburbanised, for U.K. readers). The villages you mention are certainly not in the same category as those along the coast and going up the western edge of Provence, which are really ruined for walking. Your email makes me feel that we should’ve taken a closer look and not given up when we saw what appeared to be cascades of houses dropping down the hills from the villages. In any case, if we get a chance to go back, we will definitely take a closer look at these villages.

2. On page 200, you mention that the Sentier Martel in the Gorge de Verdon is 21 Kms. It is only 14 Kms and it is not too long or too arduous for inclusion. The scenery is fantastic. I have done it seven times, including once aller et retour on the same day to raise money for charity - I was 64 at the time.

[author note] — That’s very interesting indeed. We really wanted to do that walk, and we spent quite a bit of time in that area. But everything we read about it - and this was from several books and pamphlets - said it was the longer distance, and that it was challenging to complete in a day. Clearly we should’ve done it ourselves; we had a babysitter at the time, so we could’ve left the kids. But we made the best decision we could, with the info we had. There were so many places to go, walks to do. In the end we decided that there was enough info on the Martel for anyone who wanted to do it, and as our book is more for “walking” than “hiking” or “trekking,” we decided to focus our attention on other areas, perhaps less well known.

3. Why don’t you indicate before each walk what the distance is and how many metres you have to ascend?

[author note] — Because we didn’t have instruments to measure those things. As our walks came from many different sources, and some we improvised,  we wouldn’t have been able to provide that info for every walk, so for the sake of consistency, didn’t provide it for any of them.

4. You really ought to have a walk in the Esterel, with its spectacular coastal views.

[author note] — We tried to, but ran out of time. We only had four months, and we did the best we could. Again, we thought info was fairly plentiful for those who were interested, but we would definitely go there if we had the opportunity to do another volume.

But I don’t want to detract from a splendid concept admirably executed.

Best wishes

Seymour Fortescue

THE NARROW-GUAGE TRAIN DES PIGNES

31. THORAME-HAUTE GARE to MÉAILLES, via Colle St Michel
32. MÉAILLES RING WALK
33. LE FUGERET – MÉAILLES RING WALK
34. TWO RING WALKS FROM THORAME-BASSE

NORTHEAST KINGDOM: THE MERCANTOUR

35. SOSPEL RING WALK
36. SAORGE RING WALK
37. LA BRIGUE RING WALK via Notre Dame des Fontaines
38. CASTERINO “SACRED WAY” RING WALK