Secrets of St-Rémy #5: Favorite Hiking and Biking

Val and I live part of the year in St-Rèmy-de-Provence, a charming town between Marseille and Avignon. I’ve written a guidebook about the area, An Insider’s Guide to Provence, where I share some of our favorite things to see and do. Now I’ve put together a series of articles I call Secrets of St-Rémy, based on that book.

St-Rémy sits at the foot of a small mountain range called the Alpilles. They are criss-crossed with hiking trails and quiet country roads, perfect for hiking and biking. And the surrounding countryside is nice and flat, ideal for easier walks and rides. Val and I have favorite routes that we look forward to every year.

Want a cool, easy walk on a hot day? Or one with fabulous views that will get your blood pumping? Or how about a bike ride to an airport where you can watch gliders take off and land? I’ve got all these and more!

Read all about it in My French Life!

An Easy Biking Route in the Luberon Valley

Val and I love to bike in Provence, but we’re not fanatics or anything. Flat routes are just fine with us, and one of our favorites is in the Luberon Valley.

It’s what is known as a voie verte, or greenway, and is built where there used to be railroad tracks, so it is nice and flat.

There is a lot to see along the way, besides the stunning natural beauty. You pass a cute little train station (no longer in use), and just beyond it is a Neolithic burial chamber you can explore. Further on is a 2,000 year old Roman bridge that was still used by cars until a few years ago! It’s a great spot for a picnic.

If you are feeling ambitious, you can go off the voie verte and puff up a hill to one of our favorite cafés, with fabulous views across the valley.

Read all about it in Perfectly Provence!

Favorite Biking Routes in the Alpilles

Val and I live part of the year in St-Rémy-de-Provence, a charming town that sits at the foot of the Alpilles mountains. We love to bike in and around the Alpilles on routes that range from easy to moderately difficult.

If you stay off the busy main roads, biking in the Alpilles is easy and safe. The availability of electric bikes has exploded in the past few years, so even those who haven’t been on a bike in years can enjoy riding through the area. There are some new bikes-only routes being built that will make it even easier to ride without worrying about cars.

I’ve written an article with some of our favorite routes, from flat ones to others that go in and through the mountains. I even describe how to bike to hell and back! (ok, it’s the route to the Val d’Enfer, a beautiful, rocky area that translates as Hell Valley.)

If you might like to bike in the Alpilles, or just want to see some nice photos, check out this article in Perfectly Provence!

The Highest Road in Europe?

In the easternmost part of Provence, near the border with Italy, lies the wild and rugged Mercantour National Park. It is famous for its natural beauty, its Bronze Age stone carvings and its growing population of grey wolves. It is also home to the Route de la Bonette, a road that claims to be the highest in all of Europe. But is it?

The Swiss, Austrians, Spaniards and others would disagree, as they all believe they possess higher roads. But the proud French claim top honors and even have official road signs proclaiming their triumph.

What’s not in dispute is that the Route de la Bonette is a high road indeed and is famous among cyclists–it’s been part of the Tour de France a number of times. My article explores the history of the road, some interesting sights to see, and a link to a short video of this beautiful part of France.

Read all about it in Perfectly Provence!

Wild Kingdom

St-Rémy-de-Provence, where my wife Val and I live part of the year, is a beautiful Provençal town. It has long history, starting with the original Roman city of Glanum—you can still see its ruins on the edge of town. St-Rémy is the birthplace of the medieval sage Nostradamus and the place where Vincent Van Gogh spent his year in an asylum and painted masterpieces like Starry Night.

The old city center has terrific restaurants and our Wednesday morning market might be the best in Provence, drawing tourists from all over. The town’s population is just ten thousand but it seems larger, enough so that I sometimes forget that we’re out in the country. But if I walk just a few minutes in any direction, I’m reminded of where we are.

If we go left out of our front door and walk five minutes, we are right in the middle of town. But if we instead go to the right and walk five minutes, we’re in the country. Really in the country.

All around town are the farms that supply our great Wednesday market. When we go for walks we pass olive groves and vineyards and the rows of trees that protect crops from the fierce winds of the mistral. We walk by orchards of cherries and almonds and apricots, the trees covered with brilliant white and pink blossoms in the spring. Here and there we’ll spot a mas, a farmhouse hundreds of years old, with walls a foot and a half thick.

And then there are the animals—flocks of sheep tended by a shepherd and his dogs, a few bulls here and there, goats napping in the shade of a tree. And somewhere the escargot ranchers round up their herds, ever so slowly.

We see horses a lot, and have to be careful where we step when we go for a hike because the locals like to ride their horses on the trails. In fact, they like to ride them everywhere. I was walking our dog Mica last Sunday and she suddenly got low to the ground like she was tracking something. I couldn’t see anything but then heard the clop clop clop of a horse out for a ride, its owner in the saddle. And this was just minutes from our house.

Then yesterday we rode our bikes to the nearby town of St-Étienne-du-Grès. As we rolled along the quiet country road, a baby stroller popped out from a little path off to the side, followed by a mom and her dog. Out to get some fresh air, no doubt. But then I noticed that the mom had a leash in her hand but it wasn’t attached to the dog. Another dog, perhaps?

No, the next moment a horse appeared and the whole family started ambling down the road. Mom, baby, dog and…horse? I guess even horses need to stretch their legs.

Biking in Provence: Maussane-les-Alpilles to Eygalières

Val and I are back in France for the spring, in St-Rémy-de-Provence.

One of the things we enjoy most about this area is the biking. St-Rémy is right next to the Alpilles, a low mountain range with rocky outcroppings. Well, to call the Alpilles “mountains” is a bit of a stretch, they are more like big hills. But they rise up dramatically and look taller than they actually are, kind of like the Scottish Highlands.

There are lots of quiet roads over and through the Alpilles that are perfect for biking. One of our favorite routes is from Maussane-les-Alpilles to Eygalières and back, a 20-mile round trip that takes us over the Alpilles twice.

The ascents are gentle, nothing that low gears can’t handle. Or occasionally walking the bike. And there are always electric bikes for those who aren’t feeling too energetic.

It’s a beautiful ride that takes us past olive groves and vineyards and the occasional flock of sheep. We usually stop partway through the ride for a nice lunch because, well, why not? One has to restore one’s strength, after all.   And what is more delicious than lunch in Provence?

Directions: If you are starting in Maussane, take the D17 a short ways out of town towards Mouriès, and then take a left turn onto the D5. You’ll pass some stone barns (hard to miss the smell). If you continue straight, the D5 turns into the D78. You follow this until it intersects the D24, which is about the halfway point between Maussane and Eygalières. Turn left here, towards Eygalières, and follow the signs for Eygalières.

Yesterday we did half the ride, from Maussane out to the halfway point and back. This winter has been so rainy in California that we didn’t ride as much as usual and aren’t in good biking shape. Or at least that’s our excuse.

Here are some more pictures from the ride. We’ll go the rest of the way next time!