Day 7 Final Leg Sunday 7 th September; + Day 8 Les Mées – Forcalquier 42 km

As said in the last blog, we planned to visit the Penitents of Mées. At first sight they are long row of stone monoliths standing 100 m high behind the town of Les Mées in Provence, Southern France.

These “rocks” form a 1 km long line of natural cliff that resemble a row of stooped, hooded monks, lining up to repent their sins; hence their unusual name!

We were slow to get going, as it was a Sunday and our rest day from cycling! When we finally did get going, it was warm already. The path, marked on my map, was little more than a goat track taking us 250 metres higher up to the tree line behind the Penitents.

The route down was well maintained and took us behind the rocks, although many of their tops were level with the path so we could get a good look.

From close up we could see that these giants were not solid rock but made up of billions of smooth pebbles stuck together by a natural cement.

It was a wonder to us how they have weathered so well over the millennia whilst the surrounding ground has been washed away!

Day 8

We’d been recommended to visit Forcalquier, which was only 40 km away. Therefore we set off on a short but very varied day of cycling.

The first half took us along the Durance valley, and the same canal. It sometimes was below us but often well above us; hugging the contours.

We were on small tracks and roads, so it was very peaceful and enjoyable passing through olive groves, almond and apple orchards.

Our route then took a sharp right across the river and the autoroute and we quickly left the Durance valley and climbed into the Provence hills and the Luberon, where we joined the EuroVelo Route 8. We’ll be following the EV8 for the next week.

A very different quiet route, through rolling hills.

Forcalquier is an interesting small town with very narrow streets and an artsy farty feel. Slightly hippyish, the odd busker and the smell of weed here and there; a bit like Stroud, only warmer!

We arrived early and our hotel was still closed until 5 pm for check in!

I had seen that there were more unusual rocks only 3 kms away, so we boarded our bikes and pedalled up the hill to visit them.

The rocks were like stone mushrooms! Also a fabulous view of Provence from on high.

An exhilarating fast ride back to the town and we parked our bikes in the dungeon of the hotel where there was power to charge them once more👍🏼😁.

The town has a citadel overlooking it so we had a pre supper walk to visit.

Back down into town and we enjoyed a delicious Chinese meal in the square, which ended another full day.