Northward Bound

Saturday 20 September

It is only possible to drive in the centre of Collioure early in the morning when the bollards are temporarily down so we made a quick exit from our lovely townhouse and packed up the car at the front door.  It was a bit slow getting past Perpignan with all the traffic, but once on the A9 autoroute we were able to speed along towards our destination in Provence.   We planned a lunch stop in St Guilhem-le-Desert, a UNESCO world heritage site which meant a detour away from the Mediterranean coast towards the Central Massif on the A75.  Just before the highway begins its ascent into the high hills rise up to the Auvergne we took a bumpy country road for about 15 km, winding up a gorge beside a rushing river and into a mountain valley.  This is called the Route of the Vignes and Garrigues - firstly fields of vines and then the scrubby, limestone landscape that has a very distinctive Mediterranean look and feel.
We arrived at the lower part of St Guilhem, adjacent to the river, where we had to park and then walked up the gently sloping cobblestone streets admiring the wonderful old stone houses and checking out the many art galleries.

Street view - St Guilhem

 There is a huge and very attractive garden containing flowers, vegetable and vines behind the church of the Abbey of Gellone (founded in 804 by Guilhem of Orange - French born, his name is Occitan).  The village is on a route of the Chemin de St Jacques de Compostelle which leads from Arles, and is also one of the Plus Beaux Villages de France.

Abbey garden

This is certainly one village that truly deserves its inclusion in Beaux Villages.  It is not only stunning but has an air of total tranquility.  Everywhere is the sound of running water - little waterfalls in the Verdus River which cascades down beside the village, beautiful fountains and water spurting into drinking troughs (totally potable too).

River Verdus at the edge of the village

 The high limestone cliffs which tower above the village are dotted with ruins of former fortifications which are now home to sweetly chirping birds.  We continued on and up and finally arrived in the absolutely gorgeous village square.  Overlooked by the rugged hills, encircled by beautiful medieval stone buildings and location of the largest plane tree in France (a 6 metre girth), this Place de la Liberte was the perfect spot for a lovely lunch in the shade.

Place de la Liberte - lovely spot for lunch

Gerri ordered her favourite salad with roqueforte cheese and walnuts and I had a scrumptious tartiflette - my first one on this visit and my all time favourite French dish ( I know - I am a simpleton!).

Very large plane tree and fountain with drinking water

After lunch we visited the church which is large but quite simple in style and the remains of the cloisters of the abbey - very, very beautiful.  I was surprised to see a bright red bottlebrush flowering gaily in the courtyard along with the lavender and olives.  There is a real feeling of spirituality here in St Guilhem and to wander the streets is like being transported back in time.  It is one of the loveliest places imaginable.

Cloisters of the abbey

We spent ages in St Guilhem and finally had to resume our journey in order to meet our new landlords in Sablet.

Un petit coin - St Guilhem

  We drove east and then hooked back up with the A9 after a slow trip around the outskirts of Montpelier.  As we neared our turn-off point at the town of Orange, we crossed the Rhone River and this and the landscape of vines and olives and pale pale houses with terracotta tiles told us that we were well and truly in Provence.  Orange was a bit of a surprise - typical country town but there in the centre we came across a huge site of Roman ruins - something to explore during the week.  The GPS led us along a few rickety lanes but we finally reached the hilltop town of Sablet - surrounded by vines and looking across to a small but curious range of little mountains known as Les Dentelles (from the word meaning lace - referring to the jagged or lacy peaks).

Eveining view from my bedroom window in Sablet- Les Dentelles

Our three level house opens directly onto the main square and it is just steps away from the little supermarket, several restaurants and two boulangeries - what more could we want!  The house is beautifully restored and decorated and the living room on the top floor opens onto a terrace with fantastic views across to the next village, Seguret.  We settled in, made a quick trip to the supermarket and the wandered up to one of the restaurants and shared a pizza.  Tomorrow there is a vide grenier in the square which should be interesting - not too early I hope!