Paris

Provence-Mont Ventoux via Malaucene

Mont Ventoux

Bedoin-Beaumes de Venise

Carpentras

Isle-sur-Sorgue

Fontaine de Vaucluse

Tarascon

Pont du Gard

Montmajour
abbey

From Vaison we join MALAUCENE via the D 938 and here we are at the begin of the northern climb to the MONT VENTOUX . Malaucene is one of the countless small cities, forgotten by time, where history loses itself in endless local battles. We will not be surprised by finding ruinous city walls, a fortified and mighty church and a magnificent plane trees alley with shops from grandmother’s time and a series of economically unjustified sleeping café terraces.
The D 974 leads us up the mountain. The landscape changes completely and takes on other colours. This is the pays de SAULT where lavender is highly cultivated. """First, struck by the unaccustomed puff of the air and the vast outspread of the spectacle, I was motionless of stupor, dumbfounded.""" Petrarch once wrote, discovering the mont Ventoux. Before the 19th century the trees on the slopes were transformed into charcoal. The entomologist Henri Fabre described the mountain at the end of the 19th century as “”” A big mass of stones, like used to build road…a gigantic lime deposit, where the stones turn into several pieces when you walk over them””
Dominating the region by his 1909 meters, the mont Ventoux offers a unique post card. A majestic bastion, its peak is ever white, whether it be from snow or limestone, and is recognizable from very far thanks to its bold, pyramid silhouette. Starting to drive up from the lower area, it is ferny and forested and full of beautiful spots where you can stop to enjoy a packed lunch. But when you get nearer the summit, it turns into a very harsh, limestone area where the sun reflects of the white of this higher part and the glare can be so great it can leave you momentarily blinded. In this desert even experienced sheep couldn’t survive.
The mont Ventoux (Mont des Vents, mount of winds) is called “lou Ventou” in Provencal language. Winds blow sometimes over 200 km an hour. She is the all-seeing mother of all mountains and visible everywhere you stand (or almost). If I want to exaggerate I would say that any spot from where you cannot see the Mont Ventoux doesn’t belong to Provence ;-) The climate is harsh and it's not exceptional that the mountain pass is closed until late Easter.
When the same poet Petrarca climbed in 1336 with his brother to the top of the mont Ventoux, he makes a report in a letter of what we can consider as the first modern route description in travelogue history. Petrarca and his brother were as stunned at the top as we are today. The view is so wide that you don’t know where to look first. When the weather is clear the view goes from the Puy-du-Dome in the west to the Mont Blanc in the east. And when clouds do not surround the mountain you have a great outlook on the summits of the Devoluy and the Ecrins. Hold yourself on any nailed object when the mistral blows. It’s around the top that it is the wildest!
On the top you have also the Chalet Reynard and the Chalet du Mont Serein. A TV tower, radar station, radio and telephone transmitters for civil and military purposes stand on the spot where there used to be a small chapel. A very large parking lot can keep your car while you enjoy the views.
But at night, a sea of small light sparkles in the deep and with a little bit of luck you could see the glow of the lighthouses on the Mediterranean.

Bibliography

"La Provence devient francaise", by Roger Duchène (Fayard, Paris 1986) "Guide de la Provence mysterieuse" and "Provence Antique"by Jean-Paul Clebert (Ed.Sand, 1986),"The Roman remains of Southern France", by James Bromwich (Routledge London 1993), “Aspects of Provence, by Pope-Henessy James (Penguin Travel 1988), “Voyages de Petrarque”, by J.Delannoé ( ed. Pampelune , Arles 1989), “Le Vaucluse, pas une sinecure””by Roger de la Borge (ed. Climats, Avignon, 1999)

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