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The Verdon gorge trip         Sept 2008

Excitement mounted as the four of us (Alan, Gordie, Laurie and Derek) drove north in our chunky Renault Kangoo towards the pretty mountain village of Moustier at the western end of the Verdon gorge. We had arrived the night before on a late Ryanair flight to Marseilles and enjoyed a late-evening stroll and beers in the beautiful and crowded centre of Aix-en-Provence before driving to a local Formule-1.

 After lunch in Moustier we decided on a short afternoon exploratory run down into the western end of the Verdon gorge – just enough to whet our appetites for the spectacular scenery further in. That night we camped in the village of La Palud sur Verdon which was strategically placed a few km north of the gorge.

 The next morning, after lengthy and heated debate (expertly stirred by Derek!) we drove along to the east end of the gorge at Point Sublime. You park well above the gorge, take in the spectacular views then descend to the river to embark on the spectacular sentier Martel which traverses the north side of the river. We soon entered the first of several tunnels which bypass some of the impassible sections but which we later learned had been condemned. The scenery is spectacular and varied with huge vertical crags, ledges, scree slopes, vegetation and small pebbly beaches. Eventually we arrived at a section with massive ladders which surmount the neck of a great loop in the river. A diversion took us out to the end of the loop where we lunched on rocky ledges overlooking the confluence between the Verdon and Artuby river. A further interesting section along the north side took us past some interesting caves and a useful footbridge until a steep climb of 300m took us out of the gorge to an inn where Gordy immediately fell asleep while Laurie, Derek and I enjoyed a beer. Rather than a long slog along the road back to the village we had spotted a path cutting directly over the hill. It was very pretty but just at the summit we discovered a badly injured deer leaping about in a very distressed way. Derek stepped up to the mark and put the creature out of it’s misery with a couple of well aimed boulders. We later joked that it wouldn’t be wise for any of the Lomies to sustain an injury with Derek around. Gordon kindly agreed to jog back to collect the car.

  The next day we opted for a change of scenery and headed into the hills north of the village. After parking a short jog took us up to a fascinating deserted village. We then followed a good track along the line of a Roman road which brought us to a wee village and then onto pathless slopes of scrub full of the scents of ‘herbs de provence’. Further up the slope steepened and tricky scree runs led though a break in the lines of limestone crags. We had arrived in a different world – an open plateaux with rolling grassy hills – very Scottish! It was good to get running again and a pleasant jog took us to the highest top in the area, Grand Mure at 1930m. We ran back to a second top for lunch and then returned via another short ridge which led us through a vast flock of very sturdy sheep. An interesting route through some interesting limestone rock formations, down another slope of scrub and herbs and then a forest road led us eventually to the car.

Our evenings passed very pleasantly with a post run beer followed by wine and beers to wash down our supper and then another visit to the local hostelry.

 The following day we met late arrival Brian back in Moustier and after lunch we drove round the spectacular south rim of the canyon.  We parked near the hotel on the south rim and an improbable path wriggled its way down the vertical cliff. The path headed east along the gorge with interest at every turn, big caves, ledges cut out of the rock perched above the river, little beaches until we reached a big chaos of boulders blocking the gorge. We all agreed it had been one of our best days ever. That night we enjoyed a few local bands playing in the village - they were so good that Laurie and Gordon suddenly sprang to life and showed us some fancy dance moves.

The next morning we decamped and set off in the cars north to Allos and then up the steep road towards Lac d’Allos in the Parc de Mercantour. The small round lake is situated perfectly amongst scattered pines and surrounded by a steep craggy peaks. A delectable path led us  into the fresh snows and then up into the clouds to the 3000m summit of Mont Pelat. We were slightly anxious at the sight of 7 giant griffon vultures circling the path but Laurie stripped off and ran about in the snow to confuse them. It seemed to work!  That evening we enjoyed a fine meal in the old fortified town of Colmar. Later there was much hilarity when Laurie and Gordon both leapt up from one side of the bench and table set which immediately upended over Alan and buried him under a table full of beer and wine bottles.

 We didn’t really know what to do the next day but I think it was Gordon who spotted a path marked on our road map leading up the next valley. It turned out to be the superb Gorge de St Pierre where a narrow path hacked into the vertical crags took us up to the forest. Not having a proper map we took a wrong turning but it didn’t really matter and we eventually broke out of the trees. We found plenty of evidence of boars in the forest but no sign of the beasts.  A steep scramble up screes and broken rocks led us up to a minor summit on the ridge where we lunched and enjoyed the views.

 We decided to drive back towards Aix to camp that evening but ended up driving around in the dark looking for a campsite and getting lost before ending up back at the Formule-1. The next morning we had a few hours to spare before the flight which were spent very enjoyably having a dip in the Med (just Alan) and then a superb plate of mussels and frites washed down by a beer. A fine end to hopefully the first of many Lomond trips to foreign fields.