Tour des Baronnies - Days 1 to 3

We walked in a counter clock-wise direction from Buis-les-Baronnies (near 19 on map)

We got underway on our 13-day, 220 km, hiking tour of the Baronnies, just after 8.30 am on Tuesday 23 May.  Our fellow hikers were our friends Jocelyne and Daniel and their friends Regine and Fabian, who live in the nearby town of Sainte Jalle, where they run a farm and gite. 

L to R: Jocelyne, Regine, Fabien, Daniel, Dale and David

Regine’s family have been in Ste. Jalle for generations and they took over the farm from her parents.  Fabian was born and grew up in Buis.  As we went along, they were constantly meeting people they know. Initially Dale suggested that I try to keep a list of everyone they met, but the encounters were so numerous that I gave up. They were delightful company so we understood why they were so popular.

Day 1. Buis les Baronnies to Brantes

A hard day.  Only 15 kms but with very steep ascents and descents, and we were all adjusting to our bigger, heavier backpacks.  

The day started out sunny but became dark and thundery as the day wore on.  This was a portent of what was to happen many days. The South-East of France has been experiencing a much more mild and much more wet spring this year.  The joke is that you’d be better off in the normally cold and wet north than here. 

Annoyingly it only rained for about 10 minutes, so we all stopped to get our wet weather gear on and then had to stop to take it all off again because it got way too hot and humid.

The views were great.  We climbed up to a mountain called La Nible and walked along the south western flank.  We got awesome views down to the back side of the Rocher St.Julien and beyond to the houses above Buis-les-Baronnies.

In 13 days I only saw one conifer with these pink cones

We occasionally passed flocks of sheep and goats guarded by patrol dogs ('Patrouille')

Brantes is a picturesque village that sits on a hillside opposite Mt.Ventoux, which dominates Brantes because it is so enormous and imposing.  It’s called the Queen of Provence for a reason.

When we arrived in Brantes, Jocelyne and Daniel led us straight to a microbrewery operated by a charming Englishman, Rory.  We had a refreshing beer and bought more to have with dinner. Rory knows Fabian’s sister. Fabian guesses that it’s because she is a potter (and boulanger we later learn) and sells her pottery in a local collective shop where Rory also sells his beer.

Then Regine and Fabian know our Gite host.  It turns out that there are a lot of formal and informal interactions between all the gite owners in the region. The gite was clean and well presented. We shared a small dormitory with Jocelyne and Daniel but were able to spread out a bit.

Brante is very small and the Gite we are staying at didn’t provide dinner but a local woman cooks dinner for guests and delivers it to the Gite.  The food was lovely except that she managed to include both goat’s cheese (entrée) and coriander (main), neither of which Dale can eat.  She is very passionate about using local wild herbs and vegetables.  She used petit-epautre in the main course, which is an ancient local grain, and which Fabian has been influential in reviving in the region.  She is also passionate about learning local crafts and proudly displayed a wicker basket made by a lady, who she did a basket making course with.  Regine immediately recognises the basket as having been made by her cousin.

On Jocelyn's recommendation I signed up to an app that allowed me to track our walks each day

 

Day 2.  Brantes to Gite de Vergol.

A short day and not too much climbing.  It was good to have a slightly easier day at this point because we were all still adjusting to the aches and pains caused by the heavier backpacks.

Spring and wet weather is a powerful combo for an explosion of wild flowers everywhere

In the middle of the walk, we encountered a charming man preparing to take a bunch of school kids canyoning.  He was also a good friend of Regine and Fabian’s – kisses and ‘what are you doing here?’.  He told us that we’d meet our gite host (Eric) further up the road, because he’s helping out with canyoning.  Of course, Eric is also a long-time friend of Regine and Fabian.

We loved the terrace at the Gite du Vergol and all had our own rooms.  The rain started only after our arrival :)

We had a convivial dinner by an open fire.  There were two other people as well as the 6 of us.  They were from Valence, and Francoise, who was sitting next to us, was very chatty.  Another encounter with goats cheese and coriandar prompted Dale to discuss the issue with Jocelyne, who promptly contacted all the accommodation still to come and this solved the problem for the rest of the trip.

 

Day 3.  Gite du Vergol to St.Auban sur Ouveze.

It was rained heavily for most of the day, but we got bright sunshine for the last hour or so.  Daniel was feeling quite sore and musing about quitting, so Eric’s wife (Marie) offered to transfer some of our stuff to St. Auban in order to lighten our back packs.  As a result, it felt like a walk in the park even though it was a long day and it was raining.

This friendly fella came over to say hi as we traversed his paddock.  Regine explained that the stripe running down above his front leg and along the ridge of his back indicated he was a specific breed of the region.

Did we mention that it rained?

The highlight of the day was reaching the beautiful village of Poet-en-Precip in time for lunch and deciding that the driest place to eat was in the little church. A local woman agreed that it made perfect sense for us to eat in the church and eventually we got the approval of the mayor.

We all enjoyed this stage because it passed through forests that opened onto views of beautiful hillside meadows.  Flowers were blooming everywhere.

Wild thyme is everywhere as you climb higher, and it releases a beautiful scent as you brush past

We got beautiful views of St. Auban as the skies cleared. 

We stayed at a luxurious gite owned by Jocelyne and Daniel’s friend Bruna.  Bruna is incredibly impressive as she also runs the farm by herself.  Her husband died some years ago and her sons have other careers.  The decoration and general attention to detail in the gite was very impressive.  On top of all her other responsibilities, she cooked dinner for 10 people.

 

Dinner was a lot of fun.  There were also 4 English cyclists who didn’t speak much French so Dale and I sit in the middle to try to help everyone to mix.  We ended up playing a range of old and new French and English pop songs together, and Jocelyne provided the accompanying dancing at one end of the table.