Although Chambres d'Hôtes are mostly quite different as they are what we would call bed and breakfast some also offer an evening meal on request. So in practice there is a continuum from a countryside gîte d'étape with just large dormitories to a town centre Chambres d'Hôtes and in the middle you might find a place that calls itself a gîte and offers both private rooms and shared dormitories where breakfast and dinner are provided and sometimes the shared rooms maybe three single beds in a smart room. The home cooked food is always good and sometimes exceptional.
The smarter campsites also offer a spectrum so you can pitch your own tent, park your camper van, use one of their cabins or large cabin-like tents or as I saw today a small enclosed space with a picnic bench with a tent for two perched on the top, nice and dry.
I sit on a covered veranda waiting to set off. I can't check in until 5pm so I may as well wait in the dry for what promises to be a wet day. I chat to a New Zealand couple who are on a 3-month cycle tour with the occasional day and week off. There are fast and busy roads to start and at the first busy roundabout a small truck overtakes on the roundabout then cuts in front of me to take an exit. I'd been looking out for that manoeuvre so was able to slow down and keep clear.
After 2 hours on the bike I pause to get my bearings, rest aching shoulders and keep an eye on the angry clouds.
I have been climbing for a while so take time in the light intermittent rain to make some soup as I find cold water on a cold day depressing.
Another worrying road encounter occurred as a car was set to roll out of a side road into me but braked at the last minute just as I was swerving to avoid certain death. I think it's the rain that does it. Anyway, I have been looking for a lavender field to photo and this is the closest to postcard you can get when the lavender isn't actually flowering. Many fields are newly replanted and others are full of weeds. The scent is in the air and is just enough to cover the stench of my recent near death experience.
The freshly cultivated soil is a mix of sinky loam and sticky clay so I duly sink into it and the clay sticks. Lavender honey is a thing here and there was some at the breakfast table in Sault. I only tried it on the last day and on sticking my nose in the jar was taken aback at the strong menthol lavender aroma. The flavour reflected the smell though in a balanced and subtle way.
After my late start I pause in Riez as there is a pause in the rain and sample their bakery goods and take a look at the bike as it needs some grime wiped off the chainset and some fresh lubricant. Tomorrow is the Verdon Gorge which will be exciting and although today was about getting me to the Gorge it has been an interesting and pleasant ride rolling over the landscape with its lavender and holm oak. The gite is 10 km off my route and is a journey into the mountains with lots of climbing. After 57 km a 10 km climb up a mountain isn't quite what I had in mind. Once showered and fed I ask my phone the altitude.
Last night dinner was a packet of biscuits in the tent. Tonight it is venison pate (the cook shot the deer), and a mushroom salad made from local mushrooms (the housekeeper picked those). Chicken breast in a sticky soy sauce with roast potatoes followed by a baked apple. The only downside is that I'm the only diner as everyone has cancelled due the rain, thunder, lightning and the universal wrath of the gods.
