Le Verdon Canyon

What a relief, the weather forecast was wrong and it only reached -8, after we thawed out, the van started no problem and off we motored into Sisteron. Using a self cleaning public toilet for the first time was quite frightening for Cointha as she was closing the door we accidentally flushed it on her and she came out very fast and very white faced.Waiting till the siesta was over at 2pm, (good life here everything closes at 12.00 and opens again at 2pm) the tourist office opened and we were assured that no camping was open so after a coffee and posting some mail we headed to a smaller town where we got directions to a campground.The bikes were removed and well used over the next 2 days while we relaxed in the sunshine before and wandered the skinny streets of Sisteron before heading towards Castellane.Castellane is a beautiful village filled with narrow streets, crooked buildings and a wonderful campground with 800 places, we were the only gusts there at the time, I can’t believe that the French do not take advantage of these places in winter.We hiked to the church at the top of the cliff some 240 meters straight up over the town where the views of the town and Le Verdon (the Verdon river) are spectacular at the top we had a picnic before venturing down to skim stones across Le Verdon’s crystal clear waters, if you want to go white water rafting Castellane is the place to go and the scenery along Le Verdon would be well worth the trip.We hope to return here time permitting when the rafting tours are open.3 days were not enough time to spend in this area as we drive through Le Verdon Gorge which is the largest canyon in Europe. The drive is absolutely spectacular, the scenery overawes you and the water as it rushes through the canyon and enters into Lac (lake) De Saint Croix is a beautiful Aqua marine. A few miles from Lac De Saint Croix is a beautiful town set into the side of a cliff named Moustiers-Saint Marie, 2nd gear is all I could achieve to reach the town but it was well worth the trip as we were mesmerized by its beauty strolling through the streets admiring the Artists stores. It is renowned as an artists hideaway and houses many writers, Painters and fine china is the specialty of the town.The motor home is aimed for Canne so we travel the other side of the canyon for a while before turning south and heading back to civilization.