Lake Orta, Gorges du Verdon

 Lazet-Ubaye, France - the camping car 'aire' had a fantastic view of the lake

The GPL story – it is the weekend and we couldn’t find anywhere (bar travelling on the autostrada in an undefined direction) that was open to supply the gas we use for cooking and heating water. We checked into a campsite and plugged into electric. The campsite we took was on the side of Lake Orta. We were so lakeside that we had our own set of swimming pool type stairs to descend into the lake. So, long story short, we spent two nights beside the fantastic Lake Orta . The truck we hired has the same gas system we had set up in our own truck before arriving in NZ. It is a refillable bottle so we can travel Europe without changing bottle type. Not only cheaper but more convenient- until you strike a weekend.

Lake Orta

Lake Orta was delightful, we visited Sacro Monte. It is a UNESCO world heritage site on a hillside overlooking the lake. Spiralling around the hillside are 20 chapels containing statues and frescoes portraying the life of St Francis of Assisi – he is following me on this trip.  The first chapel was built in 16^th century and the last 100 years later. The perfectly landscaped park surrounding the chapels contains scotch pines, broadleaf trees and an avenue of hornbeams.

Orta

The time to depart Italy had arrived – we headed to France crossing an alpine route. A different route than we took last time, shelling out toll after toll. We snaked down a steep descent from Italy into Briancon in the Hautes-Alpes region, the truck was running on engine braking and regular brakes but holding back to avoid over-heating. Hairpin bend after hairpin bend was negotiated before we arrived at upper Briancon – phew.

Briancon

We were greeted by ancient grim fortifications strung out across the hilltops, a reminder of times that were not peaceful. The main street of old Briancon has a channel in the middle that runs with water, its nickname is the grand gargoyle, and has existed since 1345. Lower Briancon was a congestion of children just released from school, roadworks and a whole circus occupying the area we intended to spend the night in, so we pressed on to a municipal campground about 20 km away.

Leaving Italy - Just Go

Our route planning is quite ad hoc and a day later we ended up in Digne les Bains. I was sure we stayed there before on a non-motorhome trip and I was right! Please erase this town from my memory banks – it has no saving grace then, and still hadn’t anything to offer this time around. The only thing I gleaned was that ordering ‘café crème’ meant I got a latte. In my best schoolgirl French I asked the waiter, who put aside his cigarette, what another customer had ordered.  “Noisette” was the answer.  Yeah right, it is a small coffee with a ‘nut’ of fluffy milk on top. Must remember that for next time.

The Hautes Alpes area of Provence is up in the mountains and we headed to St Andre Les Alpes for a quick look-see. Nice place, we had a stroll around and watched children and their parents visiting the patissier on their way home to collect some after dinner treats. We did like likewise, walking away from the shop with a beautiful little carry-box.

The Gorges du Verdon, described the Grand Canyon of France - but first a stop over at Castellane at the eastern end of the gorge.
It met my criteria of gorgeousness, and the dedicated camping-car place was about 200 metres from the town square. There was a towering cliff with shrine atop looming over us and once again we were beside a river.

Dancers at Castellane tramshumence fete

Castellane has a Citroen museum that we took a look through, and there was also a transhumance (moving of livestock) fete while we were there. 

Traditional dancers, geese being shepherded by a border collie (who took his job very seriously, his eyes never left those geese) and unusual sheep breeds were on display. 
All sheep that are not NZ sheep look unusual to me. 

Fixing them geese with his steely doggy gaze 

We drove along the gorges of Verdon - taking in the 'Route des Cretes' - a narrow road  with many view points overlooking the gorge, at a dizzy level way below. We also walked a recommended scenic track that involved several tunnels. Huge birds of prey circled above - some had been re-introduced. 
We forgot our head-torch  and ended up relying on the torch in my iphone in the tunnels, never mind, it did the trick. 

Can't say it was one of the best hikes we have ever done but it was popular. The whole gorge route route was popular with endless streams of motorcycle enthusiasts touring in groups.  Given the narrow width of their vehicles you would have thought staying on their side of the road would have been easy.


We are heading off to explore the lavender routes in the Hautes Alpes region of Provence.

Gorges du Verdon