village of Cucuron, south Luberon

 Yesterday I went to the village of Cucuron, nestled under the south face of the Luberon mountains. I even took part in a guided tour of the village (turning the tables for once), heading above the rooftops, and exploring the nooks and crannies of a village that remains authentic, and lives year-round.

Yesterday's hike at the foot of Mont Ventoux

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Mimosa: behind the French Riviera, in the village of Tanneron

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Hiking with the boss...

 Yann Delord, our company director, accompanied me on my last reconnaissance hike for our new self-guided holiday in the Calanques of Marseille and Cassis.

We began our walk in the centre of Cassis, climbing high above the coastline to Cap Canaille, which at 400m is the highest sea-cliff in France...

Once above the cliffs a magnificent cliff-edge path hovers above the coastline:

 Yann is ahead of me along the path, as always, and although he's blown out a few more candles than me he's difficult to keep up with:

The path remains high above the coastline before beginning a descent atop a rounded crest, to the village of La Ciotat, seen below:

Entering the outskirts of La Ciotat, with the fragrance of mimosa intense in a warm winter's sun.

A few specimens in the old port of La Ciotat:

Returning to Avignon's magnificent TGV station at the end of the day.

For more information about this new self-guided walking holiday: Calanques of Marseille and Cassis

Sainte Victoire Mountain

On Friday I went on a reconnaissance hike to the summit of the Sainte Victoire Mountain. While the Mistral winds were howling at close to 100km/h near Avignon -- at our home base -- the air was perfectly still near Aix en Provence, removed from the Rhône Valley corridor.

The cool winter air offers beautiful vistas while the lighting is perfect for picture taking...

On my way up the mountain I ran into these guys, without their shepherd:

 Turning around and looking at my starting point, a jagged dragon's spine of limestone in an otherwise flat Rhône Valley.  

The clear views extended all the way to the Alps: not a rare sight in the winter:

Above 700m in altitude and towards the summit (1000m) there was a light snow-cover, but not enough to stop my progression:

This is the second last of my reconnaissance hikes for our new self-guided walking holiday through the Calanques of Marseille/Cassis, and here, set beside the town of Aix-en-Provence, the Sainte Victoire Mountain:
Calanques of Marseille and the Sainte Victoire

A winter's walk behind Mont Ventoux.

 A reconnaissance walk took me behind Mont Ventoux, Provence's highest mountain. Below is Mont Ventoux seen from the north, at its steepest.

Beginning in the town of Savoillans: it was a cold one...

Charlotte came with for the reconnaissance: here she shows off her skills as a chamois.

Arriving at the perched village of Brantes, population 25...

the quintessential 2CV...

Yours truly...

The cobbled streets of Brantes...

Marjorie in Thailand

While the rest of us are plugging away at the office, our colleague Marjorie is in Thailand on a well-deserved vacation, and she's just sent us a picture of... what we believe is her... we're publishing it anyway (my apologies to whoever this is if it's not you, Marjorie!)