Pedalare in Provenza, nel cuore della fioritura della lavanda, è un’esperienza che ti entra dentro.
Tre giorni intensi, tra caldo a dismisura, il canto incessante delle cicale 🦗 e panorami che sembrano dipinti: borghi medievali, distese viola infinite, strade immerse nella natura.
Ecco il racconto del mio viaggio:
🚴 Giorno 1 – Brignoles → Apt (145 km | 1.848 m D+)
Partenza da Brignoles, cittadina provenzale con piazzette ombreggiate e fontane fresche. La strada si snoda tra vigneti e campi dorati, fino ad arrivare nel cuore del Luberon.
📍 Tips locali: non perderti i mercati contadini con olio d’oliva e vini locali.
🔑 Pernotto: The Originals City, Hôtel La Belle Étape – Chemin De La Viguière, 83170 Brignoles – €100
🚴 Giorno 2 – Apt → Lauris (150 km | 1.540 m D+)
Apt, capitale della lavanda, profuma già al mattino. Da qui si pedala verso villaggi spettacolari: Bonnieux, Lacoste, Roussillon con le sue famose ocra, e Ménerbes, tra i “Plus Beaux Villages de France”.
📍 Tips locali: fermati a Roussillon per ammirare le falesie rosse che contrastano con il viola della lavanda.
🔑 Pernotto: Vacances Bleues Hôtel Castel Luberon – 1526, Avenue de Viton, 84400 Apt – €122
🚴 Giorno 3 – Lauris → Brignoles (94 km | 781 m D+)
Da Lauris, arroccato sulla valle della Durance, il percorso porta attraverso paesaggi più dolci, tra vigneti e oliveti, fino a rientrare a Brignoles. Una tappa più breve, ma perfetta per godersi gli ultimi scorci di Provenza.
📍 Tips locali: assaggia il vino rosé della zona, fresco e minerale, ideale dopo una lunga pedalata sotto il sole.
🔑 Pernotto: Mamimonik – Bt D 501 Route de Roquefraiche, 84360 Lauris – €80
🔥 Tre giorni che restano impressi: lavanda a perdita d’occhio, borghi che sembrano cartoline e un caldo che mette alla prova… ma che rende il viaggio ancora più vero.
📌 Info utili & Link
👉 Seguimi su Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/venturelli_simone_
👉 Scopri il mio libro su Amazon KDP:
https://www.amazon.it/shop/venturelli_simone_
00:00 Inizia il viaggio
02:20 Giorno 1 – Da Brignoles ad Apt
18:57 Giorno 2 – Apt e i borghi del Luberon
40:32 Giorno 3 – Da Lauris a Brignoles
44:44 Conclusioni e tips finali
I’m in Provence, specifically in Brignoles, something like that. Excuse me, but I’m really fluent in French. So during this trip, forgive me, forgive me, because I’m really terrible at pronunciation. So the day before, tonight we’re having a quiet dinner here and tomorrow morning we’re off on the first leg. As usual, I’ll show you where I sleep. It’s a compact room, let’s say, not a lot of space, but it has everything you need. A comfortable double bed, as you can see, bike in the room. Then, of course, I’ll leave you downstairs where he sleeps. A color TV is all you need if you want to make tea, basically, the usual stuff. I’m always here, and basically, there’s a window overlooking the pool, but obviously it’s being serviced today. We have fantastic air conditioning because it’s July and it’s incredibly hot outside, 37-38°C, and as usual, I’ll show you the bathroom. So, dad’s area. Back here is the shower, very large, very spacious. Okay, the service is very original, with these faucets everywhere, even upstairs. Well, we have some pretty basic technology here, and that’s fine. So, dinner tonight, and tomorrow we’re off on this adventure in Provence in the first week of July, chasing the lavender in bloom. Things always have to start off on the right foot, right? So, the location outside the hotel where I’m staying is definitely interesting. This will be the preferred area for dinner tonight. Come on, let’s get started. Alright, off we went, left Brigoles. Now I’m already passing through the first little village, Le Valle, and the direction is to head north towards, let’s say, the heart of Provence. I’ll pass Valen today, and here the situation is already becoming very Provençal, let’s say. The setting is n’t bad at all, in fact, we’re about 10 km in. Now I’m on an internal road, you can also see it on the satnav. The black road is here on my right, the main one. I ‘m on this internal road, and yep, this is the setting, beautiful. For now, 10 km of Vallonato, vineyards. Here they have very low vineyards compared to the Pansaacta, so it’s definitely a different environment, very pleasant. Look how wonderful. Very, very safe, I’d say. Oh, we’re still in the process of moving, we’ve just arrived in the clu, eh? This is a little hilltop village. It wasn’t included in the tour, but I saw it from below and up a 1.5m climb, and it’s worth it. The village I just left was called Cotak. I already said that the pronunciation doesn’t apply because I don’t know French. Now we’ve risen a bit. The temperature is also nice, this is the environment. And off we go with a nice descent. Come on, this fantastic canyon, so wonderful. How beautiful! How did you enter the Haute-Provence department, if I’m right. It’s all rocky here. I’d already seen this on Google. I can kind of see an area all like this, I say it below and we’re getting close to the mica bala in sol. Well, here we are, finally immersed in purple. A truly out-of-this-world scent for those who love lavender and its scent. Cycling here is something special with purple behind it. Beautiful, truly beautiful. Especially the scent, it’s absurd. It’s absurd. It’s a hot day, eh, it’s getting really hot, but basically you’re pedaling and not—I mean, you see green or yellow from the dryness and then suddenly in the distance you start to see these purple spots, these purple carpets that are truly out of this world. I’m about to reach Valençol, I should still have about fifteen kilometers to go and I think that’s where I’ll stop. Riez, a small village. Outside everywhere, carts, souvenir shops, bars. So, it’s 1 pm, it’s about 35° and there’s a constant climb from 300-600 m with a 100 m elevation gain. I’ve already done 67, so I’m officially 5 km from Valençol. I had planned to arrive at 1:00, it’s 1:15, so come on, everything’s fine according to the timetable. I’m starting to feel the heat a bit and the lack of water, which back here, as you can hear, after the experience in Sicily in July last year, I have a bottle, but that’s finished too, so we have to stick it out these kilometers, get to Valenol and take a break. Drink, recharge for a moment, and eat. Anyway, the situation is, I left at 8:00, it’s 1:00 PM, 1100 meters of elevation gain and almost 80 km, so come on, and all in all, this last half hour is a bit tough, but let’s go. There it is back there. Val. Here we are. It should be that one. In fact, here’s the sign. Sol. Good, come on, here we are. It was really close. Here it is. It was so hard to get in. I kept circling it. I made it. Here it is. Vale the sun. Here it is. All strictly lavender. Beautiful. Let’s open Venturelli’s travel advice column. When you travel, always bring lots of coins with you. In this case, I’m talking about euros in France because if you arrive at a destination and you’re thirsty, you’re hungry, but the bars aren’t full, or it’s a very touristy place, so obviously the prices are a bit high. With your coins, you can get some refreshments at these nice little machines that for €2 and so on, you can recharge. Report this. Didn’t you know this one? Oh my god, the vending machine is fine. Since France is known for its pizza, there’s also a pizza vending machine. I’d say 3 minutes 3 minutes 3 minutes for that, I won’t try it. And let’s leave it at that. A very important lavender field. I hope the drone worked because it’s so sunny and I can’t see anything on the displays. The phone went into protection mode due to the heat. A mess, huh. Well, I hope the drone was effective. Nothing, you have to pedal because Valenol is here. Valeol takes a long time to find the historic center, which was a bit difficult anyway. Going around it. We’ve basically had a break here, the camp is all planned, but now we have to pedal a bit and I need another fluid break because it’s really hot. I read 47° before. Oh, actually, 46°. It hurts now. Now it hurts. Look at this, it’s amazing. Not many, but there aren’t any. The influencers, the ones of a certain level. Oh, the heat is making itself felt, there are fountains, so I took refuge in a Mac. More than the sandwich, which I’m having a hard time eating in this heat, I’m trying to recharge with fluids. Hot, too hot, too hot. And I still have 35 km to go and a 6 km climb ahead of me. No, I have to rest. This heat is seriously testing me. I drank! But crisis, a real crisis. So when there’s this real crisis, you have to stop in the shade and recover and then set off again very slowly, very slowly, because the heat can play nasty tricks if you’re not prepared. Deadly climb almost over. Just under 2 km and 80 m of descent. Totally finished, totally finished. A small, hilltop village of four souls. Excuse my voice, but I’m really exhausted. He can’t see me now. You say he’ll have found the fountain too. Ah, this is behind me , and it’s ending here. It will be remembered as the village of the fountain that saved us, just as I already have 900 bars, right? But it doesn’t matter. Now, as it’s getting dark, let’s try to pick up the pace. Since I also had to take a shower, let’s say, at the fountain. I’ve recovered a bit, and my voice is a little better, so let’s go. I must be about twenty minutes away. I’ve already written to Lost that I’m a little late because there’s no light now, but it’s 6:30 PM. I think I still have another hour of pedaling left. About 10 km out. This devastating day is finally coming to an end. All downhill for now, so great for recovery, hoping there are no surprises in the very last kilometers. Come on, go, never give up. Never give up, guys. Today I had a serious crisis, but never give up. Never. Concentration, concentration. Perfect. When you’re as tired as if you’ve run dry, finding a bike path of this caliber gives you a lot of peace of mind, and anyway, concentration is lacking, and having a safe route isn’t bad at all, good. The last few kilometers are peaceful. Now there are some crossings, but very easy secondary ones, come on. It was needed. Uh, tough, tough, tough. 2 km from PT, we’ll be there tomorrow. I’ve arrived, uh, Castel Luberon. I’m going in now, there’s a swimming pool, but don’t let me use it anyway, it’s too late. Uh, let’s start going I’ll show you a quick glimpse of the room I’m in. So, compared to yesterday, there’s a lot of action outside, while yesterday’s outside was very little, but the room inside was small, because it was small. This one is definitely bigger, but in my opinion we were a bit tidier, but we cyclists don’t care, I mean, basically, we sleep for one night, once we’ve had a shower and that’s it. A few small problems getting the bike to the room, but since it’s clean anyway, because I’ve barely done any dirt riding and it’s not in an obscene state, they didn’t cause any problems, especially since the room is much larger than yesterday, despite everything. So I have a small balcony where I’ll hang out my laundry soon. My shoes are already clearly out of sight. Keep in mind that we’re 2 km from PT there, so very, very top. A nice little balcony, not bad for the evening. The room has a double bed, they’re separated, but it’s not a single bed, but that’s not a problem either. Luckily, there wasn’t room for the bike, there’s room for three. And okay, there’s a small side table here. I had put all my things down. That’s always me, upset about something. Okay, there are closets here, but we’re not interested in the safe, in case you need it. My sink leaks, huh, that’s their problem, and the shower, as you can see, is very, very old-fashioned. I think it looks like a hotel, it’s a three-star, but I feel like it’s very dated, but again, it’s not a problem, I honestly don’t care. Now I’ll hurry because it’s really late, it’s 8:10 PM despite the sun and dinner until 9 PM. So I have to get going. I’m already dressed, I’m already washed, but anyway, I’d say it’s time to go eat. I’ll leave you the data on Strava or whatever, it’s about 140 km and a good 1008 km of elevation gain. So that’s all for today, I’m off to eat. Bye. And here we are again for day 2. Buffet breakfast done. Breakfast, let’s say, American. There was everything, from croissants, yogurt, cereals, everyone took a bit of what they wanted, so let’s say excellent. We’re ready to go. The bike is fixed up, everything is ready. Time to get dressed, finish getting dressed. And off we go. Look what awaits me. Another hot day. This is PT. Getting in is almost impossible because it’s Saturday and there’s a market, a very prestigious market that you can search for online, it’s very prestigious. We left PT on a very quiet internal road. We parked two cars crosswise in the middle of some vineyards. Bad. The view is a bit Tuscan, eh? This was Russillion. Russilon, something like that. This one’s perched high up too. It was n’t planned, but I went up here too, because when you do these trips it’s right to leave a bit of margin for possible unexpected events. Maybe you were thinking about stopping longer on the way home, but in reality you don’t stop because there’s a market, or maybe you arrive at a place—sorry, I was looking at the road—or maybe you arrive at a place like that that you couldn’t find much information about on Google, but then it’s beautiful to see. And there’s the Russ Long sign. Beautiful. It’s a lovely little village. Lots of stuff. About 5 km, 250 m of elevation gain. The destination is Gordes, a very famous place, much Googled too, so go and see it. This is also a secondary road, it was also marked for cyclists. You return to see fields, patches of lavender added. From there, not far away there’s another notable point of interest that I’ll show you. At least I selected it, I’m very curious. Let’s go see it, discover it together. Now I’m going to do this little climb. The heat is already returning. Not devastating yet, but I can feel it raising the bar. The view isn’t bad. That central road over there, the one I took before. Notice, you can even see some lavender bushes. There are some purple spots here on the right, they can see pretty well. This is the center of Gordes. Look at that canyon. I’m above Gordes, a slightly hot climb. I’m going to see an abbey, see? Ah, there it is below. It’s right there. A little bit of road. And in fact, there are all the purple fields over there, and there’s a bazaar here. Oh, it was worth it. Look how wonderful. Look how wonderful with its beautiful field. It’s something like that. Senan Abbey, something like that. It’s over there in the background. It’s beautiful. These lavender fields contrasting with the brightness of the abbey are very beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Oh, now I have another climb because it’s half a kilometer down in this basin. Go, I’ll go back up, return to the village and continue. An alternative route down, suggested by Comut, not bad, cool, it’s a bit steep, in fact I’m braking hard to take the video, but it’s so cool, so cool. A bit of cool is needed. The temperature has risen a lot, eh? Let’s continue. Another quaint, beautiful village. Now I think I’ll stop here too. A stream, a few boats here and there. After two bars in a row, I go in and ask if it was possible to get water and Coca-Cola. The answer is no. Well, look where I am. Stop at Besiner. And there are never any problems here. Also, write this down, it’s a tip. And then you don’t pay €5 for a Coca-Cola, you pay €1.50 and a 1-liter bottle of water €99. Mark it down. A little climb of 1.50. I don’t know if you can read it at the top. The next one is in 55 km. After this climb, I’ll reach Avignon and then practically until the end, I shouldn’t encounter any more climbs and even if it’s hot, at least we can get away a little more calmly and quickly. I don’t want to claim victory now, but maybe an afternoon that’s a little less devastating than yesterday’s. It’s called a shower and after that… After the fountain shower. This park with a dedicated bike path. Hi. With a dedicated bike path and a bit of shade. Lots of stuff. We need to lower the temperature here a bit because it’s still hot today. Let’s see. 43… a bit of forecast. Let’s see if I can find the Popes’ Palace, which is their club. The Popes’ Palace is right there. There it is, exactly that one. Another atomic little square. There are tons of stalls here, so I’ll try to get a little closer. Oh, great that no one here says anything, you can go through, there are no restrictions. Definitely, definitely majestic. It was worth the climb. Obviously, the views are only for entering the lights , but you can’t do it. Wow, beautiful. Anyway, Vigone is definitely worth visiting. Do you like doing Jeite? I mean non-bike trips, eh, maybe with the family or something really well-deserved. Beautiful, amazing buildings, the whole structure of the popes behind it. Beautiful, I mean beautiful, tons of places to eat, drink, things like that. It’s beautiful, really beautiful even upstairs. Now I’ve passed right through the center and it’s a problem. Masks here, things are a big problem on bikes because it’s super crowded. Well, even getting out will be a bit long, but it was worth it, it was worth it. Beautiful. Look, it’s special. Very picturesque, extremely picturesque. Look at what’s straight over there. There must be some kind of party, some costume party. Look at these, these ones are worth it. Crazy, super picturesque, beautiful. Approved. This bridge is the best exit. So, I’ve been on the comfortable, fairly straight bike path for a few kilometers. Here’s the provincial road, as you can see. Pretty straight, come on. I can maintain a steady pace and there’s still a few games to play. It’s 3:20 and still a good 60 km. Let’s hope it’s all this nice and smooth. It’s true that I was leaving tonight, I already wrote that I couldn’t be there by 5 pm. Possible. I wanted to, but anyway. So, this bike path I just took, it must have been a good 20 or 30 km, no, but a good 20, yes, it allowed me to speed things up a bit. Well, it’s 4:15, I found a nice, cool spot with a bit of air, and I’m resting a bit. The bike’s there, okay? And I should have about 30km left, 40km left, and 40km left. I only had the Comut for another 10km, then a few little climbs start, and I’m back on a veloroute, so it’s cyclable. It’s a lot of riding like this when it’s hot and we’re a little tired, it’s great. So let’s keep going, let’s keep going. So let’s get ready to tackle these little climbs. I saw I have three in a row, Very short ones, and towards the end I have a slightly longer one, but we’ll think about that later, come on. Okay, the little climbs are here. So far they’ve already done two like this, already 7-800 meters with about fifty-seventy half elevation gain, and in 4 km there are two slightly longer ones coming. They’re Friday together, 7 km and 3,400 meters of elevation gain. These climbs are more or less challenging, because after a day like this they feel much more. Once these climbs are over, I should have a nice downhill stretch and basically reach the end. Now I have to double-check my calculations, but more or less the story is this. So now we’re doing this Vallonato, we should definitely pass there and then out of nowhere, a little village perched over there. And look at that purple carpet there is behind it. It’s exaggerated, it’s immense, it’s purple, super purple. How beautiful! There’s one down here too. I’m in Menerbes and practically down below there are these two super huge carpets of lavender, but there was a scent. I noticed because before the bend, before they appeared, an atomic blast of lavender arrived and that one was particularly purple, as I’ve seen in the past few days. In the past when they’re more in bloom, they have a scent that totally blows your mind. I ‘m at the coast. Look at this landscape. Not bad. Now I still have a 4km climb down there in front of us, still lavender. I should have the last 4km climb and then it’s all downhill to get to my destination. Spectacular. The surface is a bit killer, but beautiful. So, after checking carefully with UT, the last climb of barely 4km and 150m of elevation gain and a total of about twenty kilometers left, I reached the ost. So, after this climb I should have about fifteen kilometers all downhill or at least not too challenging. It’s 6:25. Let’s take it easy and by 7:30 we’ll be there. Let’s get through this climb. Enjoy. Anyway, since I’m climbing and going slowly, I have to say that this second day is better than the first, I wasn’t so sure. I was leaving Avignon, which, okay, is super famous, but I was a little scared, I said, “But everyone’s talking about Valenol, which I did yesterday.” Yes. Oh my God, Valenzola, aside from being on a flat plain, has lavender fields, yes, it has two very large ones, but today I saw better things, so I’d say today’s second section is really cool. Today’s final descent in the middle of this canyon. Beautiful, everything like this. Now it’s sunny here, but the first part was in the shade. You see, even on the map, it’s all green all around. Beautiful, beautiful. I had to show you this section. Look, look how beautiful. Come on, we’re almost there, huh. Only a few kilometers to go. Let’s go. As if to conclude with the botè, a meeting of the light, yes, but there’s a castle of this kind planted here if I can get the sun to shine on me. There it is. Here’s the Lauris. Where am I sleeping tonight? So I’ve arrived, about a kilometer to go. Then I’ll show you where I’m sleeping. Well, well, it’s here. I had a bit of trouble finding the location because Maps told me I’d arrived. Basically, I’m in a residential village, and the apartment belongs to two older people, you know, who don’t rent out their second apartment, so it was a struggle. Then, okay, through booking and everything else, everything was sorted out, and it’s great because there’s this lovely garden, a little table. There’s a pool behind here, but I’m not sure if it’s usable or not. Anyway, it’s a relaxation area. As usual, I’ll show you the little shed where we’re going to park our bikes tonight. There’s a gate they lock over there, so no problems. And I have a spacious apartment, too , with a kitchen and everything else. The lady had some food already in the fridge. Nothing special, but excellent. And over here there’s a very generous area, very cool, but there’s a nice air conditioner and it’s basically what they rent out. Let’s see. I want to see the bathroom too. Okay, I couldn’t figure it out. And you start with a huge shower, so tonight we’re going to be super, super relaxing. Now I’ll recover for a moment and for today, guys, 150, even today 155 elevation gain. Pretty important, less cooked than yesterday. I just struggled to get here tonight, But enjoy. I’m recovering now, and see you tomorrow. Bye. Good, good, good. Day 3 in Provence. I slept there, it’s basically a residence there, and the people who hosted us had an apartment. So we’re off again, day 3 and the last day. Today should be a slightly lighter day, we’ll see at the end of the day. So, come on, let’s go. As you can see, I forgot to charge the Garmin last night, and it’s on a power bank, but we’re off. Excellent start, right away on this cycle/pedestrian path indicated right back at the beginning. A little place, a 4km climb. What beautiful vineyards. Beautiful, beautiful. A 4km climb about halfway up. Saints like this, set in the middle of the greenery. Then we descend on the other side. Destination: Axan Provence, also the nerve center of Provence. Let’s say that today the point of interest is more famous, and after the climb in the woods, there’s also a nice descent, pretty fast, now slowed down a bit to avoid the noise of the wind. But it’s beautiful, in the middle of this pine forest, it’s fine, come on. Reward yourself for the pain of climbing with all sorts of fruit. Fruit, lots of fruit, eh?! Here, they have, eh, lots of melons. A bit in the beautiful, super-busy center on Sunday morning, imagine that. 15 km to go. More fields, fields, vineyards, orchards. It’s a continuous ride like this. Unfortunately, on this third day, I knew there was a risk of not bringing much content, so I can’t go on too long and maybe we’ll get to the final conclusions of this route, which, I must say, does great things, but let me finish these last few kilometers and then I’ll do a nice recap. A very nice stretch close to the main road I was on before. This one is a secondary road, let’s say, a bit cooler. Here we are, in the background, the flags of the Brigoles bridge, the town where the start and finish are. Well, unfortunately, I started right here because in my planning I hadn’t found, let’s say, places to sleep and, above all, places to keep my car for three days because I had found others a little further north. If you look at the itineraries, they’re a little too far south. I had found some a little further north, but they have problems with the car. No, no parking, basically, a mess. And basically the only one I found, obviously at an affordable price, was in this town, so to go up, let’s say, Friday, in the first area of Valeno, I had to do a good stretch, I won’t say boring, but a bit ordinary. And the same thing today, leaving Xan Provence to come down, let’s say, from below, eh, the last 50 km was basically a bit like cycling in any other area. Yes, vineyards, orchards, but nothing special. So much so that I didn’t bring you any great images today. Basically, the best day was the day of the stage I’m leaving you below because in my opinion stage two, the one I did yesterday, is really worth it, and it’s also worth it for the idea of the lavender in bloom. If you want to do this tour and enjoy the lavender in bloom, be prepared for inhuman heat , so plan your trip and your stops carefully. Alternatively, if you do it in September, I think it’s a godsend here. It’s a godsend, and sure, you won’t see the purple carpets, but all the villages, the little hamlets. Yesterday I saw out of this world things. I mean, ironically, I wasn’t expecting something like that while editing the track, but instead, it was so much, so much. I ‘ll point out yesterday’s day and go watch it again. For the rest, now it’s a good 6 hours in the car, good wind, and a good 6 hours back home. I hope I’ve brought you interesting content, the storm is coming this time too. Goodbye, subscribe to the channel, and see you next time, guys. What?
1 Comment
Stasera so cosa guardare ! 😍