To the Back of the Back of Beyond and Back

Glenn and I were very excited last year to pick up a real estate brochure and find an entire hamlet near Sault for sale for under a million dollars. Then Pat told us that Sault isregarded as the “back of beyond”. I think Rosanna might agree as she certainly did not enjoy her one trip there last year over the mountain in the Picasso, dodging cyclists and RVs and negotiating hairpin turns for a total of 50km (some up, some down).

Anyway, we came close to Sault on our ride yesterday, and I had already been through once last week. Today I decided to do a ride inspired by Glenn’s studying of what Rosanna refers to as the “cartoon map” – really just a tourist brochure showing popular routes between towns and roughly where some recreational trails are. I decided to do a loop incorporating the northernmost route tracking the Toulerenc. After much hemming and hawing and consulting of maps this morning (none topographical) I determined to cast my fate with the counter-clockwise route.

I went across the fields and up the Veau road to the end, and then along the usual lower Toulerenc route past St. Leger du Ventoux, Brantes, and Savoillan to Montbrun les Bains.

At this point, I took a wee road in a northerly direction. It was devoid of habitation and sparse of vegetation. (And no eateries, alas, and I was forced to subsist on hammer gel and a fruit bar and the last bag of sharkies for the first 75 hilly km). Also, I only saw three cars, unfortunately one of them was a fire truck. The road follows the gorge of the Toulerenc, and threatens in many places, to subside into the Toulerenc. The rocky outcroppings on either side loom over it . This goes on for about 7 km in an uphillish fashion, and then the pavement improves and there is another 3 or so km of distinctly uphill (but not unbearably so) and then, to my tremendous delight, a sign noting I had reached the Col d’Aulan (elevation 852 m). I knew it was 23 km to Buis les Baronnies, and I knew that town was not much elevated from Malaucene. I tried to keep my expectations low, but, What JOY! Another 20km plus downhill!

I arrived in Buis and went to the first Brasserie I came to and had a croque monsieur with salad and a Jupiter beer (in honour of my having explored beyond my known horizons). Fr

om there to home the route was one I have already written about too often. I arrived just behind Rosanna who had taken an afternoon trip to Villedieu (after visiting the Carpentras market this morning).

Now I am posting (but not this post – confusing eh? – all this post-modernist time shifting) and Rosanna is toasting – it is another “clean out the fridge” evening. We are starting with a course of bruschetta with tapenade and bits of cheese.

Later on – June and Paul came by for a drink and assisted in the fridge cleaning. It was our first visit with them and it was very nice to chat. They are both so lovely and interesting. We got a bit caught up on goings on in the hamlet (the contretemps over the purchase of the traditional threshing ground where no one has threshed anything for several generations – the historical to-ing and fro-ing over the relocation of the fountain and how that affected some property convenants about distance from the fountain etc.). They also talked about the culture shock they experienced in the US and the scale of everything. And we talked about Johanna, and what a gentle bookish one she was.

After June and Paul left Rosanna and I had a bit of a tasting menu of leftover quiche, caprese salad, roasted potatoes, and fresh-picked figs. We even polished off the dregs of the cheap bottle of red wine Glenn bought and opened, and which I did not entirely manage to use in cooking and has been schlepped about since he left.

Rosanna is very pleased to leave unused only the following: 2 ratte potatoes (on in the shape of a peace sign which I declined to cook); 2 lemons; 6 cornichons; a half jar of mustard; 2 half jars of jam; some cheese (with which she is going to make sandwiches for tomorrow’s train ride to Calabria); and some granola (which she is taking to Italy as it is apparently unavailable and unknown there); one box of pasta integrale; one Whaou!