{"id":1975,"date":"2026-09-28T10:08:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T08:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesgitesdebelair.com\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T10:08:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T08:08:23","slug":"lecho-de-bel-air-no-54","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesgitesdebelair.com\/en\/lecho-de-bel-air-no-54\/","title":{"rendered":"L\u2019Echo de Bel-Air No. 54"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n

In Les Taillades<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It starts at the end of the path<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before we go any further, a quick word about what we can see here. In Les Taillades, the Saint-Pierre Mill<\/strong> was built in 1859. It was originally a madder mill \u2014 the root from which the red dye for the French army\u2019s trousers was extracted, and which made the Vaucluse\u2019s fortune in the 19the<\/sup> century \u2014 before becoming a flour mill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its wheel counts 24 blades<\/strong>, making it one of the largest water mills in the Vaucluse. It is not the River Sorgue that powers it, but the Carpentras Canal, which runs through the town and offers some very pretty walking paths leading towards the Badarel Gorges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Saint-Pierre Mill and its 24-bladed wheel, on the banks of the Carpentras Canal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Friday market<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On Friday evenings, the mill hosts its market: local producers and craftspeople set up their stalls in Place Saint-Pierre au Moulin, from 5 pm to 8 pm, from April to the end of October. Cheese, vegetables, bread, wine from the valley: it\u2019s the best place to stock up during your stay, and it\u2019s within walking distance of the holiday cottages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Fruit
The farmers\u2019 market, under the plane trees by the mill.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A favourite tourist spot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L\u2019Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, the town of seventy wheels<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To the south of the town, along the Moulin Vert Canal, the Gautier Castle<\/strong> is a town house built in 1885 on a square plan, set in the middle of a park that bears its name. Pierre Gautier, who stayed there, bequeathed it to the town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The water of the Sorgue provided the driving force for all the town\u2019s craft industries: as early as the 12the<\/sup> In the [century], mills are mentioned in historical records; in the following century, the cloth-making industry emerged; then came paper mills, silk mills and dye works. The town once had as many as seventy wheels<\/strong> along its canals. Today, there are still around fifteen of them, covered in moss, which continue to turn as the current flows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words: this city functioned for seven centuries on a 100 % renewable industry. It took us a while to get back to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A favourite tourist spot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fontaine-de-Vaucluse<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We continue upwards and reach the end: the chasm. The source of the Sorgue is the largest resurgence in Europe and the fifth largest in the world. It drains an underground catchment area stretching from the south of Mont Ventoux to the Vaucluse mountains and the Montagne de Lure: all the rain that falls across this region resurfaces here, at the foot of a cliff over 240 metres high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why come now?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Spectacular floods occur in the spring and<\/em> In autumn, the chasm can spout up to 90 cubic metres per second. In the height of summer, the pool is often calm and the water flows out from below. A word of advice: ring the tourist office the day before to find out what the water level is like \u2013 it\u2019s well worth a visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The village owes its name to its geographical location: Vallis Clausa<\/em>, the enclosed valley that gave rise to Vaucluse \u2014 the only department in France to owe its name to a geological feature. Petrarch wrote part of his work there, and Boccaccio, Chateaubriand, Mistral and Ren\u00e9 Char followed in his footsteps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Great History of the Number<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A hundred years to hit rock bottom<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This chasm has posed a challenge to mankind for over a century. We knew where the water was coming out; nobody knew where it was coming from. So we went down to have a look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • 1878<\/strong> Nello Ottonelli, a diver, descended to \u201323 m. The first serious attempt.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 1938<\/strong> The diver N\u00e9gri reached a depth of \u201328 m.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 1946<\/strong> Cousteau and Dumas descended to \u201346 metres using the scuba gear they had just invented. The air in their cylinders had gone off: they resurfaced on the verge of fainting.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 1967<\/strong> Albert Falco reached \u201390 m; that same year, the remote-controlled craft Internet user<\/em> reaches a depth of \u2013106 m.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 1981-83<\/strong> Jochen Hasenmayer, on a free dive, descended to \u2013143 m and then to \u2013205 m.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 2 August 1985<\/strong> Endgame: the robot Modexa<\/em> It was discovered after three hours of exploration on a sandy seabed, at a depth of \u2013315 m.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \"Geological
    The excavation of the chasm and the exploration stages, 1878 to 1985. *Revue Karst*, 1991.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    When you\u2019re standing at the edge of the basin, just imagine that beneath your feet lies a vertical shaft as tall as the Eiffel Tower, and that it took one hundred and seven years and a good ten expeditions to reach the bottom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At our place<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The move from the shops to the Bel-Air holiday cottages<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Since we\u2019re talking about things you don\u2019t see at first glance: here too, you have to look up. The shops painted on our walls are full of detail. There\u2019s a real art to \u00abdisguising\u00bb an unsightly patch of plaster with a swallow\u2019s nest. The shop owners\u2019 names were chosen around a table, following debates worthy of Pagnol\u2019s dialogue: not to name names, Serge, Pierre and Jean-Claude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Leather straps have been attached to the wall, and cans of solexine and petrol have been placed on the floor in the foreground to add depth to the trompe-l\u2019\u0153il. Five years on, the petrol pump, the shop selling new and second-hand tyres, and the \u00abGilbert Piston\u00bb motorbike shop haven\u2019t aged a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"A
    The petrol pump at Passage du Commerce.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"A
    The plaque that gives the passage its name.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
    \n
    \"A
    One of the fifteen wheels that still turn as the current flows.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \n

    The source in figures<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Annual flow rate 630\u2013700 million cubic metres<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Underground reservoir 1,240 km\u00b2<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Temperature 12.5\u201313 \u00b0C<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Autumn floods 90 m\u00b3\/s<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Cliff 240 m<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Target reached \u2013315 m<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
      \n

      The circuit, in practice<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • Itinerary No. 3 V\u00e9lo Loisir Provence<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Distance 43.9 km<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Elevation gain 345 m<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Duration 3 hours 40 minutes<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Entirely on tarmac, via Cavaillon, Les Taillades, Robion and Lagnes. Download the app Geovelo<\/strong> and make sure you have a power bank: the GPS uses a lot of power.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

        \n

        The late-season fixture list<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        • 19 and 20 September<\/strong> European Heritage Days \u2014 43e<\/sup> a publication on the theme of photographic heritage, to mark the bicentenary of Nic\u00e9phore Ni\u00e9pce\u2019s invention.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • 16\u201318 October<\/strong> Vignobles en Sc\u00e8ne: grape harvests, wine tastings and workshops at the Luberon vineyards.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Every Friday, 5 pm \u2013 8 pm<\/strong> Les Taillades farmers\u2019 market, Place Saint-Pierre au Moulin until the end of October, then Place de la Mairie.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
          \"The
          The River Sorgue as it flows through the town of Fontaine-de-Vaucluse.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          From the Taillades mill and the seventy waterwheels of L\u2019Isle-sur-la-Sorgue to the Fontaine-de-Vaucluse chasm: we cycle upstream against the current in the late season.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1984,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lesgitesdebelair.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lesgitesdebelair.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lesgitesdebelair.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lesgitesdebelair.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lesgitesdebelair.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1975"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lesgitesdebelair.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1983,"href":"https:\/\/lesgitesdebelair.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975\/revisions\/1983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lesgitesdebelair.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lesgitesdebelair.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lesgitesdebelair.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lesgitesdebelair.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}