Mushrooms on toast started the day and we were off again. First stop was in the very centre of the hilltop village of Moustiers Sainte Marie, where Rodney managed to pull over long enough to enable me to dash in to the boulangerie to buy today’s baguette. Unfortunately, a tour bus then offloaded a huge crowd around him and I got stuck in a queue for the bread. Luckily we managed to move off just before the gendarmerie came around the corner.
After leaving the village, the road started winding and bending and heading uphill. We passed the Lac de Sainte Croix where it exits the Gorges Du Verdon and it would have been lovely to have had the time to take some sort of boat up the Verdon River, but we knew it would take us most of the day to drive through the gorge, so a watery experience will have to wait until the next time; it’s on the bucket list.
For a thrill, the D71 is a most amazing drive (definitely not a cycle route!!!) with the most wonderful views of the canyon. In places you drive through arches, over bridges and in other places larger vehicles have to cautiously creep past each other to avoid going over the edge. We were grateful for every lay-by which enabled us to pull over and take in the marvellous views. I ran out of superlatives; incredible, magnificent, awesome and after continually saying “wow” at every bend, I tried “crikey” for a while, but it didn’t seem to have enough oomph.
Eileen certainly had her first real workout on the steep climbs and hairpin bends and we’re proud to say, she has come up trumps. By the time we came past more lavender fields and through Trigance and Castellane, I was wondering how many hairpin bends there are in the South of France, because today alone seemed to involve an awful lot of them. And by the time we got to Digne les Bains Rodney needed a break from crazy driving, so we pulled into Camping Notre Dame du Bourg and settled in for the night.
We took loads of pictures, but none of them can truly show how awe inspiring the views are, so I’m aiming to go to sleep with the visions in my head before I forget today’s experience.
Thank you Sue and Crow, keep the inspiration in mind and you’ll do it. I’m still pinching myself when realising we are actually living the long planned dream….
Happy Canada Day from Sue and Crow in Nova Scotia. We are Julia and Kevin’s friends and I met you many years ago at Julia’s place. She mentioned your blog and I have had a wonderful 2 hours catching up and reading about your adventures and enjoying the photos. You are currently in the area where Crow and I walked the GR6,
(long distance foothpath, I think it’s 6), from Iles sur la Sorgue to Sisteron. Beautiful ! Your trip is inspiring and is what we have talked and dreamed about for ages…..Step 1. We have just sold the house and moving back to UK !.
Thanks so much for this .