Category: Uncategorized
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Day 16: Sault to Mont Serein (30 km) The Ascent of Mont Ventoux and the Making of Modern Man.
My only motive was the wish to see what so great an elevation had to offer. Franchesco Petrarch – The Ascent of Mont Ventoux The first time I heard about Mont Ventoux was in a history lesson at school when I was fifteen. The teacher was a distinguished mediaevalist called…
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Day 15: Simiane-la-Rotonde to Sault (23km) A Right Royal Laugh
The Royal Family are not like you and me. They live in houses so big that you can walk round all day and never need to meet your spouse. The Queen and Prince Philip have never shared a bedroom in their lives. They don’t even have breakfast together. A.N.Wilson I…
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Day 14:Céreste to Simiane-la-Rotonde (23km) Heat and Dust.
Shortly before the monsoon, the heat becomes very intense. It is said that the more intense it becomes the more abundantly it will draw down the rains, so one wants it to be as hot as can be. And by that time one has accepted it — not got used…
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Day 13: Manosque to Cereste (21km) In Search of Pastures Greener
Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Everyday, I walk myself into a state of well-being & walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. But by sitting…
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Day 12: Saint Martin de Brômes to Manosque (21km) Douze Jours en Provence.
The French, it seems to me, strike a happy balance between intimacy and reserve. Peter Mayle – Encore Provence I’d be lying if I tried to claim that this was the most interesting day’s walk or that Manosque was a fitting finale to this section of my walk across France.…
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Day 11: Quinson to Saint Martin de Brômes (26 km) In praise of beer and burgers.
Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. There can’t be good living where there is not good drinking. Benjamin Franklin – US President The previous evening’s pizza must have hit the spot. I slept like a log for almost 12 hours and woke up refreshed,…
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Day 10: Vénascle to Quinson (45km) A long way for a pizza
Provence is a country to which I am always returning, next year, next week, any day now, as soon as I can get on a train. Elizabeth David – cook and writer Quinson is a quirky little place. The front doors of every house in the village had sprigs of…
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Day 9: La Palud sur Verdon to Vénascle (22km) The company of strangers.
I do desire we may become better strangers. William Shakespeare – As You Like It. It was a good thing I remembered to pack my earplugs. The chap in the bunk next to me who looked like a wild eyed 6th century Irish itinerant missionary, snored like a drain all…
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Day 8:Rougon to La Palud sur Verdon (19km)
It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live. Emperor Marcus Aurelius They say be careful for what you wish for. In Castellane I had wished for company in the gites. In Rougon I got that in spades! There were 20 staying…
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Day 7: Castellane to Rougon (18km) Entering the Canyon of Verdon.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. John Donne – No Man is an Island As I was eating a pizza yesterday evening in the centre of Castellane I contemplated the fact that in a week’s…
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Day 6: Soleilhas to Castellane (22 km). Gateway to the Gorges.
I rather would entreat thy company; To see the wonders of the world abroad, Than, living dully sluggardized at home, Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness. William Shakespeare – The Two Gentlemen of Verona I’m not sure I would recommend a large tin of cannelini beans unless you were…
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Day 5: Amirat to Soleilhas (30km) Good Samaritans
How far that little candle throws its beams. So shines a good deed in a naughty world. The Merchant of Venice – William Shakespeare Looking at my topoguide to thr GR4, it was going to be another long day crossing a number of 1,000m passes. If all went well, it…
Pilgrim's Progress - Long Distance Walks in Europe and the UK 