Italy to Santiago II Part 1: Via Domitia Day 31 Reillanne - Saint-Martin-de-Castillon

Dans nos ténèbres, il n'y a pas une place pour la Beauté.
Toute la place est pour la Beauté. 

(In our darkness, there is not a place for beauty. 

Every place is for beauty.)

- René Char (poet and Resistance fighter from Céreste, 1907 - 1988)

A beautiful day, in a beautiful part of the country! 

I left Reillanne walking slowly but steadily uphill on a paved road, then down again on a rocky track; after six kilometres I came to the ruins of the medieval priory of Carluc.

 

Another hour's walk brought me the Roman bridge just below Céreste: one of the few surviving vestiges of the original Roman Via Domitia. 

I crossed the bridge, passed the Chapel of the Penitents and climbed the hill into the pretty little town of Céreste, where there is a municipal pilgrim hostel; but it was only 11 in the morning, and I had walked only ten kilometres, so I wasn't ready to stop for the day! I continued through the town centre, forgetting to take pictures because I was so bewildered by the range of options for an early lunch! First, a market in the square on the way into the town, selling all sorts of goodies, both raw and ready to eat; then a small supermarket; and a row of restaurants and cafés along the main road. Seeing as it wasn't really lunchtime yet, I settled for something more like a second breakfast, at the crêperie. 

Market day in Céreste

A buckwheat crepe with salted caramel, chocolate sauce and black sesame ice cream: you've got to try it to believe it! Amazing!!

I charged my phone for a while in the crêperie, then continued on my way... though I kind of wished I had stayed in the municipal hostel, so I could spend the rest of the day checking out all the cafés and shops in Céreste! 

Instead, I spent the afternoon walking on little country roads at the foot of the Lubéron, the long, low mountain that rose to my left. The countryside reminded me of Tuscany, with its low hills, winding roads and vineyards - with the addition of an occasional field of lavender. 

Over breakfast in the morning, Pascaline had told me the land around Reillanne was so rocky and infertile that very little would grow on it, and there was a saying "all that grows here is rocks"; I certainly walked over plenty of those! But by afternoon I had come far enough that there was a considerable change of scene, with tilled fields of rich earth, fruit orchards and vineyards. 

And tonight I am staying in a vineyard! La Ferme du Gros Jas is a farm where Joana and her family grow table grapes, wine grapes, and cherries. Joana was out when I arrived, but her father showed me to my cosy room in the little building next to their farmhouse, where I have everything I could possibly need - including a healthy welcome snack, and a selection of soaps and body lotions made with lavender, olive oil, and asses' milk! 😯

Even the bathroom is done up in Provençal style 😄

View of the vineyards and the Lubéron 

View of the pigeons

Reillanne - Saint-Martin-de-Castillon 22 km

Italy to Santiago II Part 1: Via Domitia Day 30 Mane - Reillanne

Le Chemin est un alchimie du temps sur l'âme

(The Way is the alchemy of time on the soul)

- Jean-Christophe Rufin, Immortelle randonnée: Compostelle malgré moi (2013)

30 days on the road! 

There's a saying among walkers that it takes three days to get into your stride. That if you can get through the critical third day of walking, you'll be fine. But I find it takes me three weeks, not three days, to get used to life on the road. 

After three weeks my body finally thinks it's normal to walk all day, every day. To eat only bread and cheese for lunch; to sleep in a different bed every night. That's one reason I prefer longer walks: after all that effort getting into shape, getting used to walking, gaining momentum - I want to make use of it for a while!

Today is the 30th day since I set out from Vercelli, 550 kilometres away. The Alps are well and truly behind me, and today was an easier day of walking than I have had in a long time: no major changes in elevation, no cliffs, no sheepdogs. Well, only one! And one hunter. No serious challenges. The hills of Provence are gentle, the forests are tame, the villages are pretty and have no major highways or industrial districts to get across. 

Leaving Mane in the morning 

There are plenty of sights to see along the way. Less than a kilometre from Mane is the medieval priory of Salagon, now a museum of ethnography and botanical garden. Unfortunately it wouldn't be opening for another two hours, so I passed it by; an excellent reason to come back!

The next point of historical interest was a Romanesque bridge with three arches, the largest and oldest of which dates back to the 12th or 13th century; the bridge was repaired and extended in 1626, and is still in perfect condition. I passed over it and continued along a path among monumental oak trees. 

I passed by the Tour de Porchères, a medieval defensive tower dating back to the same time as the bridge and the priory. 

I was now approaching Saint-Michel-L'Observatoire, home to the Observatoire de Haute-Provence since 1936. There are two separate facilities, the observatory proper, which is normally open only to scientists, and a planetarium/observatory open to the general public for educational and entertainment purposes. I had heard all about it back in La Motte du Caire, as my hostess Marie had just spent a day there with her grandson Arthur. Located at an elevation of 600 metres, the observatory is supposed to be one of the best spots in Europe for star-gazing, as it is pretty dark all around it; there are no large towns creating light pollution. Another good reason to come back and investigate this area more closely! Today, I contented myself with looking around the village, its two churches and its many statues of Saint Michael the Archangel. 

Looking back at Saint-Michel-L'Observatoire

I abandoned the GR, which makes a long U-shaped bend, and walked two kilometres along a very small and quiet paved road to Lincel, where I stopped to eat my sandwich at a picnic table by the pétanque court next to the 12th-century church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine. It was unseasonably hot in the sunshine, and even in short sleeves I had to move into the shade! 

From here it was another six kilometres to Reillanne, my destination for the day. It's not easy to find a Servas host who lives right on your route, when you're walking a pilgrimage path; but I found one in Reillanne, and the accommodation she offered me was perfect for the occasion! Pascaline lives in a newly renovated house in which she has refurbished the ground floor as a separate guest suite. She was busy upstairs all afternoon with preparations for a festival of the spoken arts coming up in two weeks' time, while I was busy downstairs researching possible accommodations for the next few nights. Not easy, as Provence is expensive, and many accommodations don't allow one-night stays; of those that do, some are full up, and others are closed to take holidays of their own, now that the busy summer season is over. Add to that the fact that I will be walking through some very rural areas, and at first I could only come up with wildly unbalanced stages: ten kilometres one day and thirty the next... but eventually I came up with a plan that allows for more evenly spaced overnight stays.

Relieved at this outcome, I went back upstairs to find Pascaline preparing a vegetable crumble for dinner. We sat chatting while it was baking in the oven, and all through dinner, and Pascaline congratulated me on my French: now that's a real compliment, coming from a retired speech therapist with a passion for storytelling and the spoken arts!

Mane - Reillanne 17.5 km