Provence Lavender and Luberon

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Avignon

   Planning note

   Avignon sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Gordes.

2. 2. Gordes

   Gordes clings to the edge of a limestone cliff on the western side of the Luberon, its tiers of pale stone houses stacked beneath a castle like a nativity scene, and it has the kind of looks that make strangers stop their cars in the middle of the road. The view across the valley toward the Vaucluse mountains is wide and golden, and in the late afternoon the stone takes on a warm honey colour. It is a village of around two thousand, and for much of the year, it is overrun with visitors, so the experience improves dramatically if you arrive early or stay late.

   Read the complete Gordes write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Gordes comes up 32 km in. Next is Sault.

3. 3. Sault

   On a hot July afternoon, Sault is the best place in Provence to understand why people write poems about lavender. The village sits on a rocky spur at about 750 metres, on the edge of the great plateau that runs between Mont Ventoux and the Luberon hills, and in the weeks of the bloom, from late June to late July, the fields around it turn violet in long, curved lines up to the horizon. The smell is overwhelming on warm days, sweet, resinous and slightly medicinal, and bees fill the air. The villagers hold a lavender festival every year on 15 August, with processions, markets and music.

   Read the complete Sault write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   64 km in you reach Sault. Next is Valensole.

4. 4. Valensole

   The Valensole plateau is the Provence of the posters, and in the right fortnight it lives up to them. Rows of lavender, planted in precise lines that follow the curves of the land, stretch across a high, wind-scoured tableland at around six hundred metres, between the Verdon gorge to the north and the valley of the Durance to the south, with the village of Valensole in the middle. In the second half of June and through July, the fields turn a deep violet, the air is loud with bees and the scent is so strong it seems to settle on your jacket.

   Read the complete Valensole write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Valensole, late in the day. Next is Manosque.

5. 5. Manosque

   Manosque is the gateway to the high country of Provence, a lively market town on the Durance river with old walls, two surviving medieval gates and a hilltop of tiled roofs. The writer Jean Giono was born here in 1895 and lived in the area nearly all his life, and his novels, in which hills, shepherds and wind take the leading roles, brought the landscape of Haute-Provence to a wide readership. The town is also the home of L'Occitane, the cosmetics company that grew out of a small workshop distilling lavender and rosemary in the 1970s, and you will see its fragrance in many shop windows.

   Read the complete Manosque write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Manosque sits at 177 km, late in the day.

Recorded source links

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