Time flies, the first 2 weeks back in Europe we do wonderfully anti-social and are just always in places in nature away from any other traveler, holidaymaker or locals. We especially enjoy all the goodies that Provence has to offer, the tranquility and the cleanliness. Waste was a common thread in Morocco, you saw it always and everywhere, here it is really clean. We sleep on flowing rivers, vast lavender fields or a lonely forest
After 2 weeks we can say that we are corona free and look for the more inhabited direction. We arrive at the beginning of August in Mazan at our friend Filip. What would be a short visit of 2 days quickly extends to 6 days, wonderful to spend time with good people Every day we take a nice walk between 12 and 20 km through the vines and olive groves, which makes time fly by. In the meantime we have arranged with my niece and her family to meet in France in mid-August.
After a pleasant and social break in Mazan with Filip, we move a little further towards Savoie where we will be meeting with niece and co in a week. And yes, it wouldn’t be corona times if corona wasn’t going to be difficult. Savoie has become an orange zone for Belgium, so we are looking at where we can meet. After a few Whatsapps we know our new destination. They come to Mazan. Kim reserves a spot on the campsite where Filip is located. We will stay in the region for a few more days, with a wonderful walk in Gorge de la Nesque near Monieux as the highlight.
As agreed, we will return to Mazan in mid-August. The day after, my niece, husband and especially my mega-super-cousin arrived well after a nightly ride of enough kilometers. How wonderful is that to be able to give family a hug, blissful, just blissful. They will only stay 4 days to explore the immediate area.
Day 1: Hike to Mazan
Day 2: Walk to Le Barroux
Day 3: yes, up the Mont Ventoux, how great is this. FANTASTIC.
Day 4: Flat rest because of the birthday of nieces’ other half and because unfortunately they have to go back to Belgium. They must fulfill their obligations to the employer. Saying goodbye is again quite difficult, bwhaa i hate it. But it is so, a hug, a tear and they are gone again, and we are left alone ……
After 2 more days of all the good things from the camping in Mazan and enjoying the good company of Filip, we leave again. Now we know for sure that we will not see Filip again in the coming months. This farewell also grabs us, but as already written, it is so. We head into the French Alps where we make some great hikes above 3000m, so blissful. Fantastic, we quickly regain our taste and enjoy the walks. From the French Alps we enter the Italian Aosta valley trough Col Petit Saint Bernard. You can read what we will do and experience there in our next blog post.