Drive along the south side of Mt. Sainte Victoire

Thursday 9.21.06 We dropped Sarah at school around 8:15 this morning and then headed off on our Mt. Sainte Victoire adventure. We went north from the school and got on the A8 heading east then took a secondary road further north until we joined the Le Tholonet road(?D17) which hugs the southern edge of the Mt. St Victoire(MSV) range. We enjoyed gorgeous vistas looking up at the mountain from many different angles. We passed through the towns of St-Antonin-sur-Bayon, Polubier and then came into a rich wine growing region enroute to the town of Pourrrieres. This is where our "pool guy" Rob Softly, lives. From here we headed due north and the road became even twistier as it wound through sparsely inhabited densely forested countryside. Somehow we missed the turn to go west along the northern side of MSV so rather than backtrack over the car sickening road we cut our losses, went north to the town of Rians. Next we went west through Jouques, Peyrolles and Meyrargues until we finally joined up with the A51 came south and got home by about 11am. We will attempt to get back to the northern side of MSV sometime soon on a good weather day. We’re trying to figure out which starting point for climbing MSV would be best. Rob has shown us two spots on the map, one in Vauvenargues and one a bit farther to the east.