Following our cycling and hiking
exploits over our 4 days in Guillames, we decamped on Wednesday
morning with the aim of heading from the Alpes-Maritime to the
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence just 35-40 miles further north. However, due
to the nature of the precipitous, winding roads connecting these
beautiful valleys, our more motorhome 'friendly' route would involve
at least a 4 hour round trip west out of the mountains before heading
back in again. Since our general plan for August is to move steadily
north through the Alps in the direction of Geneva, we are expecting a
fair few more of these circuitous detours.
However, feeling a little stiff from
our exertions on the hills of the Alpes-Maritimes and not relishing a
longish drive in the hot sunshine, we elected to break up our trip
and stop along the way instead to rest our legs and generally put our
feet up before we reached the hills again. So, passing a beautiful
mountain lake after around an hour of driving we recognised the name
of the town, St-Andre-les-Alpes from our CamperGids (which has by now
more than paid for itself) and decided to check out the aire in town.
It looked good, so after a quick stop in the supermarket for some
resupplies including some special treats like fresh figs and
watermelon, we pitched up for the rest of the afternoon.
From this
sleepy little town, we took a short hike to the 'Two Saints' on top
of nearby hill overlooking the beautiful, sparkling azure lake ringed
by dozens of high peaks we didn't know the names of and marveled at
just how easy it was to find magnificent views in this part of the
world.
Later that evening, strolling along the
lake shore as the sun set in search of an 'Argentinian music concert'
the very friendly lady at tourist information had told us about, we
watched dozens of paragliders swirling in the air above us. Reaching
the 'venue' we didn't find a concert in progress, but we did find a
beautiful pontoon floating on the shore of the lake which we sat on
to watch the clouds change colour, the fish jumping and just enjoy
the tranquillity of the evening. Later an energetic trio did start
playing flamenco guitar in a nearby restaurant which may have been
the 'concert', but which added to the peace we felt. We could have
sat their all.
Moving on further on Thursday we
decided to tick off a few practical things we'd been talking about
such as finding a mattress topper for our motorhome overcab bed (the
mattress is about as thick as a mattress topper which has been the
source of constant complaints from someone!), before stopping in the
medieval town of Sisteron on our route. Listed in our “100 most
beautiful detours of France 2014” Michellin guide given to us by
Graham and Freya in Martigny, we decided we couldn't pass up the
opportunity. The focus of the pretty town is the medieval Citadelle
which stands high above the tiny streets and alleyways of the old
town below. At night the Citadelle is lit up in oranges, blues and
reds giving a magical aura to the city.
As I was a little unwell on Thursday
and Friday, we were limited to taking a peaceful amble through the
narrow alleyways on Friday afternoon, following the old city trail
and soaking in the ambience of the historic centre before sitting
atop the rocky outcrop next to the Citadelle reflecting on our
journey so far. We'd already crammed so many things into the past 2
months on the road and with more mountains ahead of us in the weeks
to come we were getting excited again to get back into the hills the
following day.
Saturday morning in Sisteron is market
day, so before packing up the motorhome we paid one final trip into
the market place to find a dazzling array of colourful stalls selling
local produce, mostly fruit and vegetables (which we love) but
popular too was honey, lavender, artisan breads and cheese etc sold
directly from the producers themselves. As midday approached we were
ready to move and so finally completed our fun-packed 3 day detour
from the mountains, arriving at a small aire in the pine forest
between Barcelonnette and Uvernet-Fours at 1148m altitude and only 40
miles north of where we had started on Wednesday morning!
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