Saturday 3 August
Driving down the side of the canal in the main road we spotted a family about to reach their car and James did his usual dive to the right and stop and flashed his hazard lights. That's ok, we're not in any rush. Well... neither were they, it took Papa a good 10 mins to get baby out of the pram and into the car, adjusting the straps, Mama coming out to check, thinking about how to fold the pram, folding the pram, putting the shopping bags in, rearranging the shopping bags, and at last closing the boot and getting into the car. He even started up the engine, for a minute there we were thinking they were going to have afternoon tea in the car before moving away. Then it can only happen in France, someone parked right up behind him parallel to the street and the passenger got out obviously to pop into the shop for something. So Papa couldn't get out!! Well he tried to reverse at a slight angle, then drove back in, tried reversing again, meanwhile the driver of the car parked behind him was sitting there watching. We were all going to get out and bodily move the car by this time, when Papa asked the guy to shift his car, then he reversed out and we got our park. Hooray!
The water adds a special beauty and character to a town. It has many large, lovely waterwheels which were used for milling and in the 13th century woollen cloth known as 'blanquets' made here were highly appreciated. There were 62 water wheels on the canals of the river Sorgue and in 1855 there were 17 silk and wool mills in daily business employing over 290 workers, and even if the mills are no longer working today, most of the waterwheels still turn naturally with the flow of the water.
Then took a little more time to explore some of the back streets where the houses back on to the smaller canals, and which also have water wheels still turning. So picturesque.
So I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that they only had David and I down for a room, the family room with two bedrooms and a full kitchenette that Rachel had booked, was off the map!! Trying to have a deep and meaningful conversation in another language comes in for a lot of shoulder shrugging and paper waving, and pointing at "here it is in writing"! However they were able to accommodate James and Rach, but only in one room with a double bed and two singles, plus they would bring another bed in. I have to admire those two, they are so stoic and I guess when the chips are down you have to make the best of what you have.
Off to Avignon
We packed the car, or at least we tried to keep everything to a minimum and James actually packed the car, luckily he left just enough room for two kids sitting in the back seats.
Heading out through Tournafeuille is always pretty, it was early morning so the roads, were quite busy, and then we made good progress on the motorway until we came close to the main centres, and then the traffic slowed to a crawl, sometimes for as long as 10 -20 minutes. We had hoped to arrive at L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue at around 1.30 pm. But the 4 hour journey took about 6 hours. Apparently the President of France told his politicians that they were only allowed 2 weeks holiday (usually 4 weeks, the whole of France goes on holiday in August) and it must be the first two weeks in August, so obviously everyone believed him and clogged up the motorways!
As we drove into L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue we were immediately on the alert for a park in the usual narrow medieval streets and compact buildings.
Sorgue is a compact medieval town built on the islands of five branches of the Sorgue river, 7 km downstream from its source at Fontaine-de-Vaucluse. The river flows through, past, in and around the town, in its many natural beds and several canals.
It was so lovely to have a rest stop here, we crossed over one of the canals and saw such a good ice cream shop that we just had to sit down and sample as many boules (scoops) as we could!
However time was pressing, our accommodation was booked and we wanted to fit in one more stop before we got there. James and Rachel had visited Provence during their OE, I guess about 12 or 13 years ago, and they were keen to re-trace their steps a little and show us some of these amazing places. So our next stop was a place called Gordes.
Gordes is a very beautiful old village, perched on the southern edge of the high Plateau de Vaucluse. The stone buildings built in tight against the base of the cliffs and those perched on the rocks above, including the 12th-century castle, are made of an beige stone that glows orange in the morning sun. The area is full of evidence of early Roman occupation especially the Roman road passing through Apt and Carpentras and crossing the valley. During World War II, Gordes was an active resistance village and was later awarded a medal, the Croix de guerre 1939–1945.
We arrived in the square and as usual were on 'park' alert. There were three 'Gendarmes' at one corner of the square deep in conversation who were standing right in the way of the only car park available. For all we knew that might have been the place of a foul murder and they were guarding the evidence, so the only way to find out was to drive straight into the park and speak loud English (foreigners-don't know what they are doing,etc), and nothing happened, so it pays to be bold and of course they were obviously talking about the weather!!
What an amazing place, so old, high up on a hill, how did they build such a quaint little village, and of course it's castle dominates the village. The houses and buildings of white stone seem to hang on to the edge of the mountain, and its labyrinth of "calades" (narrow cobblestone streets) are fascinating and to think people actually live and work there. Unfortunately we could only get a small taste of what it was like, but we did have time to have a drink at a restaurant in the square, so it was nice to sit and reflect on just how lucky we were to be there.
So an hour later we arrived at our hotel for the night, L'Auberge de Bonpas, and as it happened they were very busy with a wedding reception.
We did have a lovely dinner there and in spite of the wedding going on in the courtyard behind us, they looked after us very well. the French certainly know how to cook, which makes up for quite a lot! So the family 'camped', David and I had a perfect night compared to them. But breakfast at €18 each wasn't going to do it for us, we had brought our own food after all (kitchenette?), so after a very hot night - oh yes, their air conditioning wasn't working either, "so sorry, so sorry" - we had bread and butter, or cereal and warm milk for breakfast.
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