France to Bulgaria – The Verdon Gorge (Part 1)
With the ski season over and the garden under control and veggies all planted, it was time to set off on our trip across Europe back to Bulgaria. We took the seats out of our minibus, used for airport transfers to Courchevel in the winter, put in a sofa bed, blackout blinds at the windows and set off the with 3 dogs for our first stop in Provence, South of France, to see the Verdon Gorge.
The Verdon Gorge is also known as the Grand Canyon du Verdon and it didn’t disappoint.
We had pre-booked two nights camping at ‘Le Bois de Sibourg‘ and did have a little trouble finding the place, as it was much further from the Gorge than expected. However, the site was lovely and perfect for us and the dogs. Set on the edge of a farm and surrounded by fields and woods, it was lovely and quiet and we had a large pitch and at only 28 Euros for 2 nights it was a good
price.
The site was around an hour away from the western edge of the Verdon Gorge where the crystal blue Lac de Ste-Croix is located. We then followed the twisting road along the northern rim for around 30km, stopping at various places en-route to look down the 700 metre drop to the river running along the bottom of the gorge. There are various villages along the route such as La Palud-sur-Verdon, a tiny sleepy place out of season, where there is also a small caravan site in a field on the edge of the road through and Rougon, situated high above the road, almost hidden by a huge pinnacle of rock. There is an excellent viewing point on the road under the village. We continued all the way along to the east edge of the Gorge, winding down until you are level with and following the river out of the valley.
Unfortunately there is no circuit as such around the Gorge, as the southern ridge is a protracted and a very narrow road, adding a further 100km to the journey. So we stopped for an ice-cream in Castellane, where there is a chapel on top of a massive rock and then turned round and followed the same route all the way back.
With hindsight, it would have been better to stay a night at Bois de Sibourg and then go along the north rim of the Gorge and stop at a campsite somewhere at the other end of the Gorge to prevent backtracking and the additional milage. However, we were there around the first week in May and a number of the campsites along the Gorge were not open yet.
