Our driver scoffs when we tell him we’ve arrived in northern Provence after taking a train up from the region's coast. “That’s not le vrai Provence,” he harrumphs. “This is the real Provence.”

Here, 30 kilometres east of Avignon in the rich, agricultural foothills of Mont Ventoux, there is none of the bling that characterises the touristy French Riviera. In fact, for the first three days of our four-day hike to come, my partner and I would encounter zero tourists. It was this promise of experiencing traditional, uncrowded France that had lured us to book this particular self-guided walking holiday. That, and the soothing blurb from the travel company that it caters for hikers “of more modest ability”.