Provence Blog by ProvenceBeyond

France Ski-Station Openings 2010-2011

We have the latest news of the France ski-station opening dates for the 2010-2011 season; all will be open by the end of December. 

The earliest, already opened towards the end of November, include Auron,  Isola 2000, Montgenèvre and the less-local Les Deux-Alpes.

With an early winter having arrived in France, our local (Alpes-Maritimes) ski stations of Gréolières and Valberg are opening this Saturday, 4 December.

 

Montgenèvre November Snow

The ski station at Montgenèvre, near Briançon and on the Italian border, had some really good snowfall during the last half of November, making it one of the first French ski stations to open. 

Other November snowfall in the South and other parts of France is said to be about a month early this year, indicating (possibly) a longer-than-normal ski season. It did snow chez nous in Grasse this week, but the snow didn't stick, or stick around.

 

Gap, in the Hautes-Alpes

The Haute-Alpes town of Gap has been added to Beyond. This ancient cross-roads town of Gap is on the Roman Domitienne Way and on the more recent (by a few centuries) Route Napoleon. Today it's a market town and the center of mountain and winter sports.

Cycling Tour de France 2011 in Provence

The route for the 2011 Tour de France cycling race has just been announced, and we have the information in Beyond's Sports-Cycling section. The route begins in the northwest of France (Vendée, Brittany), then runs southeast from Le Mans to the Massif Central, and then west-to-east across the Pyrénéess to the Alpes.

Tour de France 2010 Route

We've added our Beyond page Cycling Tour de France 2010, with the route information and a linked map of the route around France. The route this year begins in Rotterdam (Netherlands), with the first two stages in Brussels and Spa of Belgium.

The detailed maps of each stage should be available in early June (from La Tour).

Trout Fishing Season Starts Today

The 2008 trout fishing season in France starts today, 8 March, and continues until Sunday, 21 September. You can read more about fishing in France in Beyond's Sports section.

The annual trout fishing license this year costs 61 euros for adult males. To encourage younger people to take up trout fishing, the license fee was lowered last year to 16 euros for under-18s. This year an effort is being made to draw in the female of our species: women will pay only 30 euros for the annual fishing license.

Tour de France 2007 Route

We've added out Tour de France 2007 page, listing the stages and the mountain sections for the whole route.

Petanque in the Bouches-du-Rhone

•By Philippe Boets (Eyragues, near Avignon, Cavaillon, St Remy-de-Provence)

"For the past 5 years I have been organizing "apéro-boules" evenings
for American tourists in & around St Rémy-de-Provence.
A bit of history, anecdotes and rules, followed by an informal tournament.
It's been a blast. Folks who hardly knew each other at 6 PM are high-fiving
at 6:15 and bantering at 6:30. I've also met thousands of charming and
interesting folks from all 50 states and beyond.
During May/June and Sep/Oct I am at a different hotel almost every
night.

I am looking for other petanque aficionados in Provence who speak English fluently.
No need to be a champion. A social, jovial attitude is of course a must.

How could I find them ?

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can give.

Philippe Boets (in Eyragues, BdR)
Tél: 06 80 20 49 12 - email: PetanqueAmerica@Gmail.com
www.petanqueamericaopen.blogspot.com/

Tour de France 2006 Route

The route for the 2006 Tour de France was announced today. We have the 2006 Tour de France route plan and the schedule on Beyond's Sports Section. It may take us a few more days to create the route map.

Paris-Nice Cycling Race

Here's the route for the next week, in case you would like to go out and watch it go by. We put in more details for the "Beyond" part, in Provence and the Côte d'Azur, and we have a special affinity with the village of Menetou-Sur-Nahon.
Sun 6 Mar: Issy-les-Moulineaux [map]
Mon 7 Mar: Etampes - Chabris [map]
    via: Saclas, Lamotte-Beuvron, Selles-Saint-Denis, Saint-Julien-Sur-Cher, Chabris, Menetou-Sur-Nahon, Varennes-Sur-Fouzon, Chabris
Tue 8 Mar: La Châtre - Thiers [map, NW] [map, SE]
    via: Boussac, Evaux-Les-Bains, Chambonchard, La Crouzille, Chaptuzat, Thuret, Dorat
Wed 9 Mar: Thiers - Le Chambron-sur-Lignon [map] [map]
    via: Neronde, Olliergues, Ambert, Dore-L'eglise, Yssingeaux, Tence
Thur 10 Mar: Le Chambron-sur-Lignon - Montelimar
    via: Saint-Agreve, Grozon, Soyons, Crest, Charols, Aleyrac
Fri 11 Mar: Rognes - Toulon [map ] [map ]
    via: Rognes, Puyricard, Venelles, Meyragues, Peyrolles-en-Provence, Jouques, Rians, Esparron, Saint-Martin-de-Pallieres, Varages, Brue-Auriac, Font Taillade, Seillons-Source-D'argens (near), Saint-Maximin-La-Sainte-Baume, Mazaugues, La Roquebrussanne, Meounes-Les-Montrieux, Signes, Le Beausset (near), Sainte-Anne-d'Evenos (Evenos), Le Broussan (Evenos) , Toulon
Sat 12 Mar: La Crau - Cannes [map ] [map ]
    via: Pierrefeu du Var, Collobrieres, Capelude, La Garde-Freinet, Vidauban, Taradeau, Draguignan, Figanieres, Callas, Rav, Bargemon, Seillans, Tourrettes, Fayence, Montauroux, Saint-Cassien-des-Bois, Tanneron, Pegomas, La Roquette-sur-Siagne, Cannes
Sun 13 Mar: Nice - Nice [map ]
    via: Saint-Andre-de-la-Roche, Tourrette-Levens, Levens, Duranus, Saint-Jean-La-Rivière (Utelle), Le Suquet (Utelle), Lantosque (near), Luceram, L'Escarene, Drap, La Trinite, La Turbie, Le Col (Eze), Eze, Villefranche-Sur-Mer, Nice, Villefranche-Sur-Mer, Col D'eze, Eze, Villefranche-Sur-Mer, l'Escarenne, Col de Nice