Lifestyle by ROSIER, the magazine - edition 2020

In his novel "Le Hussard sur le toit" (The Hussar on the Roof), the Provençal writer Jean Giono lends his character Giuseppe a description of a wild Vaucluse to Angelo Pardi (an Italian Hussar colonel) for his itinerary on horseback to Sainte-Colombe, in a Provence overcome by heat in the summer of 1832, ravaged by a cholera epidemic, surrounded by the army of the July Monarchy and on the hunt for fountain poisoners and other conspirators.

It is precisely in the hollow of a valley in the Vaucluse, in a house with a round tiled roof nestling in the foothills of the Petit Luberon massif and in immediate contact with the Calavon cycle route, that Chilkoot, a collective organiser of cycling trips and adventures, creates, offers and organises around ten major cycling events every year.

In August 2017, in sweltering heat, Chilkoot cycled the route of its adaptation of the novel 'Le Hussard sur le toit', from Banon to Théus via Pas de Redortiers, Les Omergues, the Jabron valley, Peyruis, Manosque, Reillane, Simiane-la-Rotonde, Montjay and Vaumeilh, following in the footsteps of Angelo Pardi's horse, in the words and landscapes of Giono... The following year saw the birth of "LA HUSSARDE", a cycle touring event organised by Chilkoot from Manosque (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) to Théus (Hautes-Alpes) via the eastern part of the Vaucluse.