Gorges Du Verdon

Today it was time for the Gorge du Verdon. We had to get up early and pack up the van and after coffee and croissants we set off. We spent the whole day meandering along the gorge, stopping frequently to admire the views.

We took a detour by the Point Sublime and went up to the high village of Rougins, a small settlement perched on the side of a jagged tor with a ruined chateau on top of it. We had refreshements in  a local creperie with a garden view to die for – even the loo had a great view!

The whole area was beautiful and totally unspoilt (except for the hoardes of people and motorhomes!). We finished the day at the village of Moustiers St Marie, where we found a lovely small campsite with terrific views of the village perched on the hillside. We found a pitch, marked it with some stuff and with directions of the site owner, set off to find supper. We hadn’t planned on staying here more than one night but once we’d seen the village we decided to stop 2 nights, as we’d underestimated what was on offer here. We cooked supper and drank local wine admiring the view.

The next morning we headed up into the village on the bikes. It was raining and bikes would enable us to retreat fast if we really got drenched. We walked up to the Church perched high in a ravine above the village. My French is not yet good enough to translate the information points but it had apparently been built by prisoners and dated back to the 9th Century.

We meandered through the streets and alleyways before getting a baguette and heading back to Valerie for lunch. A few spots of rain as we laid the table but we persevered and eventually the sun came out and we had a glorious afternoon in the sunshine.