And so to Provence

While we were away sailing the heat bomb had dispersed and it was now the middle of September so we didn’t mean to hang around in the Alps for much longer. We figured this was a good time to head down into Provence where the weather is still likely to be good but the crowds a little thinner than in July and August.

After a night in Digne les Bains, where it poured with rain and the rugby stadium car park where we spent the night sat under a couple of inches of water, we moved into the Northern part of Provence and the beautiful town of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie.

This is understandably a touristy town due to its stunning location, which is on the side of a cliff nestled under and between two peaks. Strung between the peaks is a star on a chain, floodlit at night. A steep 15 minute climb up the left cliff takes you to a precipitous church with vultures flying above and striking views below. According to legend the star was first hung in the 10th century by the Knight Bozon de Blacas, who, when captured in the crusades, vowed to hang a star if he ever returned home. The star of course has been replaced many times since then.

The town itself is built around a stream that rises from a spring at the base of the peaks. It is a very pretty town with lots of good restaurants and bars where, at one in particular, we enjoyed a well deserved rest in the afternoon sunshine while sampling their very tasty ‘cocktail of the moment’.

This is definitely one of the prettier towns we have visited and well worth a visit. Fortunately there is a Aire just outside the town where we stayed overnight.

It is then a short but quite steep walk up into the town or, for the weary or less mobile, there is a tourist bus.

Form Moustiers we moved onto the town of Quinson which is on the Lac du Quinson and at the entrance to the lower Gorges du Verdon.

A short walk from the Aire is a canyon with a canal built into the rock walls which was used to transport water from Verdon to Aix en Provence.

I hiked a few kilometres up the canyon along the side of the canal, sometimes along side it and sometimes walking on the walls of the canal.

We also hired a kayak from a canoe hire place next to the Aire. It was a very windy day so depending on where we were in the gorge there were some areas where it got pretty blowy and a little chilly, but still enjoyable as we were able to find sunny sheltered spots along many of the bends where we could linger a little longer to warm up. That is, until about 5km into the gorge, where we turned a corner and hit a hugely strong wind which whipped the water up into small waves, spraying up over the kayak straight into our faces (or more to the point, Sarah’s face – sitting up front didn’t seem like such a good choice after all!). The strong wind was making progress really hard work and had the potential of turning a fun afternoon into a bit of a chore so this seemed like a good place to turn around and let the wind take us back.

The canyon was at times sheer sided with high rock walls on either side but at other points it widened out a bit. We decided to drive around the whole of the Gorges du Verdon but first we stopped off on the banks of the Lac de Sainte-Croix for a day relaxing on the beach.

The water was a beautiful blue colour, lovely and warm and with only a few other people dotted around the shoreline we enjoyed a peaceful, relaxing afternoon in the sunshine.

The next day we got up early to make sure that we were driving the narrow road round the gorge before it got busier.

Our first stop off was the Pont du Galetas which is a bridge over the end of the gorge. This gets very busy with boats later in the day but we didn’t stay for long as there was a cold brisk wind blowing through the canyon making for a chilly start to the day.

We decided to drive out along the South side of the gorge and this road takes you high up to the top of the gorge and over 1000m. The views along the gorge are stunning but there are very few places to stop so it’s difficult to take many photos. The gorges du Verdon are up to 700m deep at its deepest and only 6m wide at its narrowest although the distance from the top of the walls is up to 1200m.

Eventually the road pulls away from side of the gorge and we headed to the pretty town of Castellane for the night. There is an Aire here alongside the river and a short walk to the main square of the town. At the time of our visit the payment terminal and barrier was broken so we had a free night.

The town is notable for the large granite pillar at one end of the town with a church at the top, locally know as the Roc. This used to be where the Lords of the area had their house but it has been a church for hundreds of years.

The town itself is very pretty with a maze of medieval streets, fountains and squares and a few old churches but much quieter than Moustiers.

The next morning we headed off to drive the North side of the gorge. This involves a loop drive called the Route des Cretes, from the town of La Palud-sur-Verdon. We had read some conflicting advice online as to whether this would be doable in a motorhome but after popping into the local Tourist office we were assured it would be fine.

The loop road is 23km and it took us around 3 hours to drive round, not because of any problems with the road but because we stopped at viewpoint after viewpoint to take in the stunning vistas. Unlike the drive along the south side, this loop alone packs in 14 viewpoints as well as many more unofficial ones.

Pack your binoculars for this short road trip. We spent a long time watching vultures gliding and swooping around the steep cliff walls. At one stage we saw around 10 of them perched on top of a rocky pinnacle but unfortunately they were just a bit too far away for a good photo.

The road itself was absolutely fine and was an easy drive in a camper – the only surprise being on the one way section when we met someone driving their car the wrong way! The good thing about this loop was that there was plenty of parking at all of the viewpoints even for bigger vehicles.

After completing the loop we drove back towards Lac de Sainte-Croix and had a great view from above of the Pont du Galetas where we had started the day before.

Our next stop was a leafy Aire at the foot of the medieval village of St Julien des Montagniers. The earliest buildings here date back to the 6th century. A tiny village on a hilltop with the remains of a defensive wall and an old windmill. Very pretty but a brief stop before heading on towards the more well-known parts of Provence.