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Verdon


Thanks to everyone for your feedback on the blog, through messages, texts, phone calls and WhatsApps. It’s great to hear that so many readers are out there and enjoying the descriptive writing and the accompanying photographs.

If you have kept up then you will know that on this trip there are these posts available so far, accessed on the right hand side of the page…





Even the lavender fields of Provence are not immune to rain and when we left, the forecast was still a bit wobbly. However we moved east to be in a prime spot to visit, for the third time, Gorges du Verdon. The town of La Palud-sur-Verdon is at the start and end of the loop on the northern side, called Route des Crêtes, one that must be driven clockwise because for a good part of it it, is one way.

On day #1 / attempt #1 we turned around before the high point as the mist was thick up there and it would have spoiled the views which further round are expansive rather than deep gorge dramatic.

The best of the vertical-drop-down-to-the-river-deep-in-the-gorge views are at the first few belvederes. It’s easy to stop, park and gaze because the place isn’t yet overrun with us tourists so early in the season.






The first view is quite stunning and the second is good because it comes quickly after the first and hardly anyone stops at it!



So we take our fill of the vertical-ness and the wide views.  Later we stop and watch Griffon Vultures catching thermals in front and above us. Their wingspans are up to 2.8m but in this vast landscape even they don’t look oversize.





This circuit is full of stopping opportunities and so we do just that, frequently. The view across to the south becomes expansive, as our side is much higher.



The tour buses use the road on the southern side and it’s just cars, smaller motorhomes and motor cycles over here, plus cyclists of course, although maybe not as many as might be expected.

Now we are back on the road, heading for Castellane. It isn’t far but it’s time for a lunch stop and then we are there, trying to remember the family holiday of about 30 years ago  I towed the caravan here and back in over just two weeks. That must have felt a little rushed!


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Tristan said…
Wow, that's a view!!!
12 June 2025 at 09:05
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