My lavender week in France part #7 : ...No fear in Gorges du Verdon!...

Some people have no fear. My little brother is one of them. In a few occasions, this nearly killed him. This drive was around an area where he (age 6 or so) was a bit too fearless and where he happened to do something that scared the hell out of my parents. Whenever you follow this beautiful route in the Gorges du Verdon, make sure your children don't climb over the fence, okay?

Fasten your seatbelts, because this route is one that you have to do at least once in your life!

^{To the right of Les Salles-sur-Verdon is the Gorge du Verdon route, the left is my midnight drive}

So what is underwater?

My last blog I finished with a photo of an amazing blue lake, the gorgeous Lac of Sainte-Croix. The colour of this lake is so spectacular that you just HAVE TO go into it. I stayed in a hotel in Les Salles-sur-Verdon and walked down to the shore to check it out. Discovering pebbles instead of sand made this lake lose it's position as "favourite lake ever".

I looked at the water and questioned if you could see it if you went snorkelling. "It" being the town underwater. This wasn't just an ordinary lake, you know. It was manmade by building a dam. The town that my hotel was in, was brand new. It was created for the people that used to live in the houses that were now underwater.

But why, if this whole lake is artificial. Why put pebbles on the beach?!?!

Plenty of people didn't mind though. The lake and the river Verdon work as a magnet on people with tiny boats. When you reach the start of the canyon, you cross a bridge over the Verdon. And now this bridge became a tourist hotspot too! There is a parking lot right next to it so that you can easily take a photo of the people in their water bikes, tiny boats or canoes. It just looks like so much fun! I wanted to join but didn't have the time. But I promised myself to return to this place and kayak around the canyon!

^{That bridge}

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Ravines and views!

The drive around the Gorges du Verdon starts. Easiest is to drive left of the river all the way to the end (25 km) where you can cross a bridge to the other side. From there you can drive back to your starting point. By driving left of the river, your car is closest to the ravine and you'll have the best views. But if you are afraid of heights, just drive counterclockwise instead.

If you ever come here, I'd recommend (even insist) that you also include the Route des crêtes. This would be the highlight of this trip. The additional (one direction) route takes approximately 1 extra hour but adds so many amazing viewpoints! If you hate hairpin curves, you will have to brace yourself! I spend almost 4 hours on my complete trip around the canyon. No canoe time. Just driving and stopping for photos!

There isn't much to say about this drive. You just have to experience it yourself. And don't worry, it isn't a scary drive, even if the cliffs are sometimes hundreds of meters high. The roads are such good quality that you don't even feel that you're close to the edge. If you love spotting birds, you should check it out too. There are plenty of vultures and eagles to be seen. Sadly they are really hard to photograph 😉.

I hope I will be able to edit the video taken by my GoPro on my car windshield so you can experience it a little digitally

The night of the stars

Back in my hotel, I realised that I was going to leave the next morning and if I wanted to get that kick ass galaxy shot, I had to do some more driving in the middle of the night. I gave up on the lavender & stars idea. There wasn't much lavender in this area. But the lake had the potential for some great astrophotography. And so, hours later, I drove around while everything was pitch black. I found the angle that I wanted to shoot at and knew that I had to get my ass to the other side of the lake to get some water in the picture. And so I drove... and drove... I won't go into details, but if you click the below photos you'll get some background information about them...

It was almost time to leave that hotel too. That night I dreamed of the stars. And of home. Just a few more days left in the south of France before I returned home. So far it was pretty amazing!