Last random road stop: Les Gorges du Verdon

After our three weeks in Tillac, where we did ALOT of eating and drinking, we decided it would be nice to go somewhere and do a little exercising. You know, hiking or something. So that's just what we set out to do. We rented another car (we justified this luxury with the fact that we'd been working for room and board these past three weeks) and headed for Europe's largest gorges in the alps' foothills: Les Gorges du Verdon.  Dan joined us for half the ride, up until Marseilles.  Marseilles is France's second largest city and the French port city.  We only spent one night there.  We partied late and woke up feeling like a big box of meh. We said our goodbyes to Dan, our last workaway family member, and headed off towards the alps.  We noticed that the closer we were getting to the gorge, the scarier the roads got . It took us one hour to drive 50 kms because the roads were so winding!  And no guard rails! These roads would most certainly not pass Canadian standards.  We stayed in a very small town called Castellane.  Being that this area is a summer getaway for Europeans and that we are traveling during winter, the town was empty.  Half the shops and restaurants were closed.  It was like we were in an abandoned town.   Chatting with a local, I learnt that the winter population of the town during winter is 1500. During summer, it goes up to 16 000 ! This being said, the hiking trails were virtually empty.

 

From then on, the roads got scary.

 

Our goal: to hike there.
 

Posing before starting the hike.  

  

 The hike was pretty hardcore. A GOOD workout.

   

...and beautiful sights too !

 Waterfalls!

 TEAM !!!

 We stopped at the stream for lunch.

Oh, and did I mention?  Chris saved me again ! I was walking through the trail (and not really paying attention), when I slipped on a bunch of rocks and started slipping down the gorge....destined to be swallowed by the cliffs' depths.  Chris, once again, reacted quickly, got the camera out and snapped this shot of me, panicking for my life. Afterwards, he threw the camera down (thank goodness we bought the Olympus Tough) and dove to my rescue. He hooked his foot unto the root of a tree that was not far away and reached over and grabbed my hand right before it was too late.  Phew, what a hero! 

 Happy to be alive !

 Oh, and another neat thing we figured out: in France there are different European nationalties' hotspots. For example, the Brits like hanging out and retiring in the southwest French Pyrenees area (where we worked)  whereas the Dutch and Flemish retirees are often found in the southeast Provence area.  And who told us we most certainly have to go see the Gorge du Verdon in southeast Provence? Our Dutch cousins of course!

 

Look guys! We made it there!

Enjoying the view from a lookout point.

Rabbit also enjoyed the views from lookout points. 

Vultures. They are scary, intimidating and creatures that awars your death. They ate one of the many animals that live in the gorge.  However, vultures image what we saw of the most. These birds are huge! I'm talking 1.5 metre wing span. While we were enjoying lookout points they would drift over in packs (without flapping their wings, they thrive off the air currents coming up from the gorge) and circle around as if waiting for one of us to take the plunge and be the means to satiating their hunger.  They really are miraculous intriguing creatures though.  Their sheer size and strength could easily make you their prey. Instead, they prefer waiting, letting fate come into play and profit from your misfortune. Another popular hang-out place for vultures: above rock climbers.













Before living, Chris suggested one more challenge:

You wanna climb up where?

We made it ! An old chapel sits up there.  Remember; the higher up it's built, the closer it is to God !