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Sunday, Oct 21st, 2007
Dave and his brother arrived Saturday evening, not exactly as planned -- due to a railway strike in France -- but in time for dinner nevertheless. Sunday morning we set off bright and, well, late, after 10, much to the disgust of Dave who demanded to know what had happened to the Spartan days of leaving before 8AM that he had experienced at the beginning of the H2H.
But these are the gravy days, we told him. The hikes are short, the weather is perfect, we aren't in the mountains so if something goes wrong we don't need the extra daylight time to recover... there just isn't any reason to get up early. He was, I think, only partially mollified. Having not suffered through the entirety of the H2H, he has the typical guest-hiker's eager initial desire for exercise and effort. Whereas we grizzled and experienced hikers value every short and flat stage as a gift.
Lots of road walking today, as expected and as typical for these last days: the Luberon and the Alpilles are densely populated, at least in comparison with where we have been, and so there are fewer trails. As compensation there are many beautiful villages -- we had a two hour lunch in one, Saint-Saturnin-les-Apt -- and spent the night in another -- Roussillon.
The newer parts of Saint-Saturnin didn't seem to be particularly special, but it is overlooked by remarkable ruins that cry out for exploration, both physical and online (i.e., I don't know their history). Roussillon, perched on its ochre cliffs, is one of the most beautiful villages in France, for which we forgive it its tourists, of whom there were still many around when we arrived shortly before 5PM.
Our hotel, the Clos de la Glycine, is excellent, and after watching Hamilton choke his way out of the Formula One drivers championship, and then some Sumo, the meal last night in the Bistrot was also very good. Unusually, for me, I ate relatively little -- it seems as if the couple of hours hiking in the afternoon were not enough to rebuild hunger after eating an entire pizza, a fair-sized salad, and a dessert at lunch. Grin.
Another short day today, with lunch in Gordes and dinner promised tonight at Nicole's in Cabrieres-d'Avignon. Sigh. It's a rough life :-).
