D17

Le Tholonet

The exciting thing about this day's journey was that we would be travelling alongside the imposing rocky crag of Mont Ste. Victoire on the D17, the minor road that passes close to its south flank. This is the very road that Cezanne had travelled by horse-and-cart on what was then an unpaved track, to reach the viewpoints for many of his famous paintings of the mountain. The road was steep in places, though a little less challenging than we had expected and the views did not disappoint, as we hope the photos below illustrate. On our previous visit we had taken the road to the north of the mountain and the footpath to the small chapel and refuge at its summit, looking down on the huge rocky escarpment that we now saw in front of us.

D17

Puyloubier

This village at the eastern end of the mountain offered a boulangerie and an epicerie which perfectly met our need for picnic supplies.

D57d

Pourrieres

We were forced to take the N7 for this stretch, but it was less daunting than we had expected, since there was a parallel autoroute and the route nationale had a wide hard shoulder. We detoured from it for our picnic lunch in a vineyard before rejoining it for ou entry to St. Maximin.

D23 - N7

St Maximin la Ste Baume

Var, 83

45 km

Our internet search had suggested that the only reasonably comfortable place to stay was the rather up-market Hotel Couvent Royal and a visual inspection as we entered the town confirmed this, since the town falls into two very distinct parts - a busy commercial and traffic heavy modern portion and the ancienne ville with huge cathedral (basilique) and the adjoining convent which has been turned into a smart hotel where our tandem was probably the first bicycle seen for a long time - in fact as we arrived the courtyard was occupied by a crowd surrounding a rather special BMW that had been brought there by the manufacturer for a press event.

Fortunately the room rates at the hotel were reduced at this time of year to 80 Euros and for this we got what was originally used as a cell for one of the convent's nuns, but had been turned into a quite luxurious room. We also ended up eating at the hotel's high-class restaurant housed in the cloisters, for lack of decent alternatives. Their set menu was just at our upper price bound. The food justified it, but the company was rather strange - very smartly dressed in contrast to our meagre wardrobe, they appeared to be a mixture of wealthy locals and business people dining at their employers' expense.

Despite all that, the visit to the basilique, the convent and its cloisters and the surrounding madieval streets fully justified the decision to stop at St Maximin.