OK, I should be working, but on the other hand, a bit of exercise is excellent for freeing up the mind...so it wasn't much of a contest. The Luberon Véloroute is a cycle track that snakes along the length of the valley and beyond to Forcalquier, a transformation of the disused railway line. April seems the perfect time to get pedalling, before the summer heat and tourists.
We hired some bikes in Apt and set off in the direction of Avignon (not that we planned to get anywhere close). There are the usual scenes of an industrial estate on the way out of town, but even then the height of the path on a old embankment allowed us to see a reclamation yard that we didn't know was there, and spent a happy ten minutes pointing out interesting archways and pillars for the fantasy garden.
In the photo above, I've stopped on the Roman bridge, the Pont Julien. Behind me to the left is the perched village of Lacoste. It was easy cycling through pretty orchards and farms, always with the Luberon hills rising above us. We got to Lumières, near Goult, to buy a picnic lunch with ten minutes to spare before the village shop shut. (Now that would have been a disaster!)
A baguette sticking out of the panier, some simple ingredients and a cherry orchard in blossom - what could be better for a classic French pique-nique?
