North trip: Part 1

It was an early afternoon and we agreed that we would travel north but without deciding exactly where our little journey would take us. Sometimes those are the best trips where you just follow the winding roads and make a turn where the landscape looks the most inviting.

France is split up into 27 regions which in turn are divided into 101 departments. We live in the Vaucluse department and our trip took us into the Drome department which was unchartered territory for me. After making a northeast swing around the Vaucluse mountain range we continued north through the towns of St Christol and Sault.

Soon after Sault I noticed the roads getting a little more curvy and the valleys a little more narrow. The valley in Vaucluse that we live in is very wide...in some areas many miles wide. In this particular area of the Drome department the valleys were rarely a mile or so wide and the hills or mountains (take your pick) dropped off quickly into the valleys below. From photos I have seen in the past the Drome reminded me more of areas in certain parts of Switzerland and Austria.

We stopped briefly in the village of Montbrun-les-Bains which of course is another picturesque village situated on the side of a hill with the ruins of a 16th century castle above. The area also boasts some thermal springs in which people still come take their hot baths. :-)

After our brief stop we headed due east out of town on an even more narrow road that was loaded with curves and higher elevations. From the distance I could see what looked like a small village or hameau that was perched high on a hill with a deep valley below. When we arrived at this very little village called Barret-de-Lioure the views looking back west were very impressive. In the far distance we could see the outlines of Mont Ventoux and the valley below was almost an immediate drop straight down from this tiny village. No restaurants or shops in Barret-de-Lioure....just a snack and refreshment kind of store that was guarded by 2 very lazy looking goats by the door.

It was then time to head back west and continue towards a very narrow valley on the north side of Mont Ventoux. I'll write more about that leg of our journey later as well as post some photos of that part of our trip.

Above the tiny village of Barret-de-Lioure

Church - Barret-de-Lioure 

Hairpin turn ahead on the way to that tiny village in the distance

Almost a straight drop down to the valley below  

You can see a couple of places where the top of this hill has collapsed sending tons of earth and rock towards the valley. Not sure if it would be a good idea to build your dream home in this area.

The small village of  Reilhanette we passed through on this picture perfect day.