Our main destination was Bagnols-en-Forêt, but as we had to drive through the smaller village of Saint-Paul-en-Forêt, we also stopped and had a look at some of its sites too.

Notice all the green shaded area on the Google Maps screen shot? Well, here’s what it looked like up a bit closer. A very large (4300 hectares), dense forest of oaks and pines perched on the edges of the mountain range known as the Esterel Massif.

As we left early, the roads were not too busy except for cyclists. Please don’t ask Mick about them. He gets very worried, for want of a better word, about their behaviour. Being a Saturday, there were lots of them out enjoying the challenges of the often steep and windy roads. They can certainly go very fast when they get the chance to go down a hill though. As the driver, they certainly keep me on my toes.

A “borrowed” image below of Saint-Paul-en-Forêt.

I can’t get these shots while driving, although I do get to glimpse the view.

There was evidence of a massive party last night in Saint-Paul-en-Forêt. Not many people out and about for one thing and lots of bubbles, where someone had hosed the town square. (No photo of that though.) The signs indicated it had a been a DJ party and meal for €19 / head which included one glass of wine. Good value!

The Boucherie – Charcuterie was hoping people would be out later to buy the poulet rotis, possibly as a cure for the previous night. Rotisserie chicken is very popular in Provence, we had some with our host family for lunch on the day they departed on their holiday. They came with free chips / crisps. We were told it’s a Provencial thing.

The sign on this fountain indicated the water was drinkable (potable) so Mick tested its quality and gave it the thumbs up. But, I could tell he was keen to go to the bigger village, about 5 Km away. After all, it was almost morning tea time and nothing much was opened here.

A “borrowed” photo again, this time of Bagnols-en-Forêt- same reason as before. Quite stunning.

I’ll explain in a future post what these two villages have in common with seven others from around here, including our own Seillans.

After we found a park beneath Bagnols-en-Forêt, we climbed almost 50 stairs to take us to the main street where there were loads of bars and restaurants for us to choose from. There is to be an entertainer in the town square here tonight.

So much is happening in all these little places every day – but it is “high season”.

Refreshed after our coffees we explored further and found lots to please our senses.

The village had certain historical locations marked to help along the walking trail.

This is a copy of a photo taken in 1929 of the old school. Very cute how they’d done this heritage walk.

This fountain is the village’s most famous.

It’s a copy of a work housed in one of the Vatican’s many galleries. It depicts an infant and a very unhappy-looking goose (l’oie). The original is dated at 3rd Century BC.

Mick keenly spotted a cave with the cute name which translated to “The Finds of Bacchus”.

We ventured inside a bought a local bottle of red (€9.80) and a bottle of organic craft beer (€3.18) which we’ll try this evening.

Oh yes, and we found the Boulangerie.

Dinner this evening was Mick’s homemade rabbit pie. He made the pastry case yesterday, using the fat from the duck breasts he’d cooked two days ago.

Next step – fill the casing with his rabbit mushroom casserole …

And voilà.

Delicious.

I rated Mick’s pie as Michelin 5 star 🌟!!