Back in France

We were back in France after crossing the border from Italy near Nice on our way to the Canyon du Verdon in the Haute-Provence region. We stayed in a lovely old stone B&B near the Canyon, where Pascal (using his excellent English) told us all about the area. The village of Chastueill (population 7) where we were staying was up a very windy dirt track, only one car wide and with many treacherous dropoffs and hairpins . We went back down to the nearby town of Castellane for dinner, and got our Tour de France fix by watching the Prologue stage over a beer at a pub called L'Etape. The photo is the outlook from the B&B's breakfast room the next morning, along with Pascal and the local cat, Pioup, who adopted us during our stay here.

That day, we drove to the Canyon and admired the amazing views from lookout points, as well as bungy jumpers taking off from Europe's highest bridge - the Pont D'Artuby at 180m above the river bed. We called in at a little bakery where Pascal gets his woodfired sourdough bread and bought some brioche and croissants - delicious! Then it was off to the Alpes; a relatively long drive through the Col de la Bonnette, the highest pass in Europe (2,802m). Although it was quite cloudy, the views were still great, and once again there were plenty of cyclists torturing themselves on the long climb to the top - even Adrian's not that silly!

That evening we arrived at our next B&B called Chalet La Maitreya near the mountain village of Vaujany in the western Alpes. Our room had a balcony overlooking the nearby valley and mountains surrounding us. You immediately got a sense of wellbeing and relaxation and a couple of beers definitely helped at the end of a long drive. We only had two nights here so we used this purely for rest and relaxation and thoroughly enjoyed many conversations with our lovely hosts Anne and Pascal and Anne's sister, Bregje, over breakfast and coffees. The photo is of Anne, Heather, Bregje and Anne's husband Pascal on the main balcony overlooking the valley. Unfortunately our stay was over too quickly but we will definitey return another time for a longer visit with our new friends. It was now time to head to our next destination - Lake Annecy.