A lot of campsite in France offer bread and croissant delivery in the mornings so we arranged this. We sat munching on our pain-au-chocolat while admiring the town spread above us, getting ready for the biggest day of cycling so far.
Verdun Gorge
There is only one road along the north side of the Verdon gorge, heading east from the lake. There were a reasonable number of cars therefore, but drivers were good with their passing. We worked our way slowly up into the gorge, enjoying the morning shade as we were on the right side of the hill. The shade wouldn’t last for long.
Below us, as the Verdon river opens out into the lake, we could see numerous rafters and kayakers dotted across the water. These thinned out as we went deeper into the gorge, and there were some stretches where the river was almost dry. In fact, all of southern France and Italy are in the midst of a severe drought, so most places we travelled were very dry. The river here was still quite magnificent though, a brilliant turquoise snake cutting its way through the valley further and further beneath us.
Verdun Gorge
After about 16km of uphill riding, we got to the town of La-Palud-sur-Verdon. This marks the start and finish of a 23km one way loop of road called the Route des Crêtes which wraps around a mountain next to the gorge for panoramic views. There are a number of belvederes for viewing and it’s a must-see. We had croissants and espresso to fortify ourselves and then set out. It was hot and steep with hairpin bends but the views were definitely worth it. At one viewing point a group of abseilers had tied onto the railing and were going up and down the sheer rock face to the river 700m below.
Vicki & Rodney
The road wraps up around the mountain for the first half and then descends for the rest - some stretches of road have sharp cliff drop-offs with little or even no barrier. “If your brake cable snaps on the way down, don’t panic”, advises Rodney. “Just figure out which one still works and use that fast. No really, I’m serious. It could happen.” Thanks…
We made it back to our starting point in La-Palud-sur-Verdon without issues and stopped again for a very welcome ice-cream. After we cycled out in the direction of Castellane, which involved another descent before climbing again. The uphill ride was extremely hot - we were in full sun with no breeze and the heat bouncing around between the road and the wall of rock next to us. It wasn’t too long before the road turned downhill again though as we followed the Verdon river through the valley. We saw lots of people swimming and stopped off to paddle a little in the wonderfully cold water and eat a late lunch.
River
It wasn’t far into Castellane, another town well set up for tourists with its restaurants and rafting adventure companies. There is another church set on a mountain above the town but it was a bit too much of a hike to visit. We found a map for our next stretch of the route, and camped at the municipal camping. Rodney got a bottle of rosé from the camping reception to enjoy with dinner and, like every other night, we were asleep by sunset.