We got up fairly early the following morning and were heading out of camp by around 7:30 for a short, 2.5 hr hike through the Alpilles Mountains. The hike started from just outside the campsite so it was ideal not having to pack up the van. The mountains in the Luberon area, or at least the Alpilles, are strictly monitored for fire risk through the summer months between June and August. Each night, the National Parks department issues a code Red (absolutely no access to the mountains permitted), Orange (hiking permitted between 6am-11am) or Yellow (hiking allowed all day). The Mediterranean climate throughout all of Provence means that the forest fires are a very serious possibility and I can only imagine how quickly it would spread amongst the dry brush and trees. It was a code Yellow for the morning we set out but we decided it would be much more comfortable earlier in the day. We had a little pamphlet to guide us on our walk and although the walk wasn't marked or the directions too clear, we still managed to find our way. We walked on a small departmental road for about 1.5 km before turning off on a driveway that went onto someone’s property. If you didn’t have the directions, you would’ve surely thought you were trespassing and would have never guessed there was a public trail there. Within a few minutes, we were amid the Alpilles hills and there was more wild rosemary growing there than I’ve ever seen before. There was the occasional Provençal style farm house but for the most part, it was uncultivated. We went by an old quarry which had a great viewpoint from which we could see Les Baux (the village we had visited with Sheahan mid-June).

Megs spotted a cicada (or 'cigale’ in French) which is symbolic of Provence, along with olives and lavender. I don’t think they’re particularly attractive bugs but they do have quite a unique song. Each species of cicada has its own distinctive mating song (so that they attract a partner of the same species) and they’re usually quite loud. Some species produce sounds up to 120 dB, which is loud enough to cause deafness if close enough to a human ear. Cicadas seem to be everywhere in Provence because they’re suited to this climate and we’ve pretty much been hearing them since we came into Provence mid-June. You don’t have to go far to hear them and they’re usually present at every campsite we’ve been at. Despite being so loud, they usually go deathly quiet when they sense a predator around so it can be difficult to locate them by their sound.

From our viewpoint, we wound our way around the hill and into a small valley, where we came upon an olive grove. It was very picturesque seeing this grove in amongst the mountains, almost a bit out of place. It also looked like there had been a fruit orchard at one point because we could see the rows of dead trees now. As we continued on, we began to climb up out of the valley and onto a small hill, giving us great aerial views back over the grove. From up there, we were able to spot an apricot orchard and there were a few workers in there collecting fruit. The rest of the path was pretty much downhill back to the campsite and we joined up with the main road just a little past where we had turned off this morning to enter the hills. It had been a really enjoyable walk and we were glad to be getting back to camp just before 11 am and the peak heat of the day. That afternoon, we went for a dip in the nearby municipal pool as our campsite didn’t have its own pool but provided access to the municipal one. There weren’t lounge chairs so we just lay out our towels on the pool deck, which was quite wide. We were amazed at how many kids and teens (and some adults) were running all over the pool deck and jumping in with complete disregard for swimmers . It clearly did not occur to the several lifeguards or their parents that this shouldn’t be acceptable behaviour and so we made sure we stayed in the center of the pool and didn’t swim too close to the edge. When we got back from our swim, neither of us felt like cooking for dinner as the van was roasting – the thermostat inside read about 37 degrees. I walked into town to order pizza from a place we had spotted on one of our previous visits but they told me they were swamped and that my order would be ready at 10:45pm, three hours from now. Clearly pizza wasn’t on the menu tonight so I walked back to camp to relay the bad news and we had to settle for pasta with some pesto.