Today is the second of two days/nights at Auberge des Seguins. We had options:
1. Loop 1: bike from Apt to Cereste and back (50 k)
2. Loop 2: along the Montagne du Luberon (70 k)
3. Loop 3: hike up to a goat farm in Sivergues for lunch (? K – 2.5 hours x 2)
4. Eat, drink, read, sleep (0 k)
We chose option #3. It sounded interesting as Lyn told us about a goat farm 2.5 hours away with a 25-25 Euro prix fixe lunch…and they took reservations. After borrowing a supplemental 20 Euros from him (they don’t take credit cards and there wasn’t an ATM to be found) we headed off.
The walk was beautiful. It took us along a rushing stream, through rock formations and up…up…up…all the way to the top of the hill adjacent to our hotel. It seemed quite an accomplishment—at least until we came across the group of 25-30 elementary school students on a field trip along the same route. Funny, none of them looked winded in the least. We picked up our pace and passed them and their teachers/guides. "Excuse-em-wah...mare-see..." we said, trying not to show any signs of elder fatigue.
The hike took us up through some very small towns (a couple of buildings each) and along the ridges of the hills surrounding Auberge. We occasionally ran into some other hikers—there was a German hiking group at the hotel with us—but for the most part is was exceptionally quiet.
At 2.5 hours we were ready for our goat farm lunch…funny, for a place that took reservations there weren’t very many people around (actually just us)….nor were there any buildings. After another hour of backtracking and walking back up previously covered trails we figured we might have taken a wrong turn.
A short time later we came across an old vine covered sign for our hotel—pointing in the direction we were walking: “Auberge des Seguins – 1,3km →” We had circled around and were heading home. No goat for us. We decided to just have lunch at the hotel since dinner the night before was so delicious.
The food in France is something that neither of us did well with last time we were here. We don’t speak the language and have never had a ‘Lyn’ with us to translate the menu. Somehow we would usually end up with sandwiches from a patisserie…or worse. I remember years ago having lunch at the Micky-D’s right around the corner from the Château de Versailles (and yes, Lyn, we're sufficiently ashamed now(!). This time we’re doing it right.
We returned to Auberge in time to have lunch in the restaurant. The food was on a metal TV dinner looking tray, but that's here the similarity to freezer food ended. Everything was fresh, unique (hard boiled eggs with tapenade), and delicious.
At dinner with Lyn and John we found out that they had chosen option #2 (over 70 k). Suddenly, John had (rightfully so) earned the nickname “The ‘J’ Machine” or J-man for short. Hmmm, we 'just' walked all day...what does that make us? Hikelists?
I hate repeating, but again the food was delicious....we also tried the house--literally, as it was named for the hotel--red wine, which was pretty tasty.
Day 6 Stats:
- Ride Sheet - Loop Day (Variable k)
- Actual
RideHike - ? a few k's...in a great big circle - Lunch - Auberge des Seguins
- To Remember - The peacefulness, Hiking, No connectivity, Lunch, Stars at night
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