Day 2 - Aix to Manosque (May 4 2023)

We woke up to blue skies. 

In fact, we could see the blue sky from our sleeping bags 😳. Tiny holes in the tent, clustered on one side, about the size of a pin head. Embers from a fire? We are not sure, but it certainly started our day differently. 

Macgyver, step aside. 

From the kitchen stuff - the cutting board, 

From the stationery bag - the sharpee, 

From the toiletrie kit - the nail scissors, and the small mirror 

From the laundry kit - the tent repair tape (not sure why but that's where we carry it)  

And from the tool kit - the case cutter... 

We searched and circled and patched 26 small holes... 

Thankfully it was warm, not hot. It was dry, not raining, and we had eaten and had coffee. So conditions were good. 

An 11 am start as it turned out, but first stop, of course, the well-deserved croissant and pain au chocolat.

And then we left Aix on the beautiful tree lined streets, and climbed.

A surprise stop for lunch along a road, a pop up restaurant with chairs and tables under the pine trees. 

And 60 kms of hills, hills, hills, some hairpin turns, and some vineyards and but mostly hills. 

Not many little towns. And it was hot, and we needed more water. We came to a small town, Beaumont de Pertius, to find a store. Our first stop told us nothing was open in the town, and there was no water tap ☹️

But then we came across an older man sunning on his lawn chair and asked him for water. He got up slowly and disappeared into his house and came out with a 2 liter bottle of cold water and a lovely smile. We asked what we could pay him and he refused. Bon Voyage he said. A water angel. 

A serious climbing day today, 900+ meters. And some steep grades. But we finally arrived at Provence Vallee camping ground to find cold beer and a flat, grassy, shaded place to pitch our tent. 

We are in Manosque and tomorrow we will cycle the Luberon valley.

Cheers!

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