We were orbiting chevalier-blanc for the next few days and pannier free, the freedom of unburdened daytrips felt good.
Our little hike up the tiny mountain nearby was a familiar landscape, there was similar looking rocky outcrops in Boulder, Yosemite and around Victoria. It made me realise that a lot of the world is mirrored, just with different dressing. Replace pine with eucalypts gripping the sandy soil, holly with acacia and well we don’t need to do anything about the blackberry and this could be home. The terracotta rooftops and olive and apple groves are man’s initiative.
It was nice to wander at my leisure, able to slow down to the speed of an insect tracking their progress from flower to flower. The cicadas were out in force reminding us it was another hot day.
As I rode and dylan ran home a roofer cheered us on, last night the work crew had lined the road and clapped Dylan on his evening run.
We visited cavaillon that afternoon and found that the industry surrounding it had left its mark, the old town was a shadow, but the dramatic backdrop of the mountain remained. There were some strange homeless types drifting around, one man kept hovering around a fruit display retreating to a corner hovering picking a fruit up putting it back, returning to his corner. We did have the best pain au chocolat and almandes in France there though, crunch and good quality chocolate.
Back at the house the Swiss guests were happily sharing melon by the pool. It was nice to speak to them in English, our brains could be lazy. Their dog played a game of fetch that involved finding a small stick and biting it in half every time she brought it to you until it was no more than a matchstick and lost amongst all the other twigs in the lawn. A bumble bee flew overhead completely laden with pollen, so strange it can fly, like a yellow powder puff. Tomorrow we will be on the hunt for some fields of lavender.
