Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th October 2025
The result of our problems on Thursday meant that we had travelled further than anticipated towards our planned stop at Moustiers for Friday night. We therefore arrived around lunchtime which enabled us to explore the village on Friday, before moving on, on Saturday.
Friday – Moustiers-Sainte-Marie:
The village of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie is one of the designated “Beau Village” sites. As such it is quite popular with tourists, but as this is the low season, we did not find it too crowded.
The village sits right into a fold in the hills, through which there is a good flow of water, which appears from a spring just above the village. This is limestone country and water has shaped the landscape in many ways, building up around channels over time.
It is a good, steep climb to reach Moustiers-Sainte-Marie from the camping car park-up. When you arrive, you realise that your climbing is not finished as the whole place is on the hill.
Water features seem to be everywhere:
The place is charming, with many beautifully presented shops and eating establishments.
The church is built across the hillside and you descend stairs into the nave on one side and exit again down stairs on the other side. The chancel sits at an angle to the nave and is offset to the right.
High above the village, there is another church …and a steep path to reach it …you didn’t … oh yes we did! (Alison loves a challenge).
The path up to the church is used a pilgrimage route at Easter, with the Stations of the Cross at points along the way:
It is a heck of a climb. Alison suggested that it was someone’s job to come up and lock up at night, returning to open again in the morning. He/she must be the fittest person in the village.
The way back down was hard work, not only on the knees, but because thousands of feet had worn the stones in the steps, smooth and slippery.
From the top, you can see the suspended star, which hangs high above the village. There has been a star suspended in this way here, for centuries:
Saturday – The Verdon Gorge:
Our initial plan for the day was to drive along the road which is on the northern side of the gorge, to an overnight stop at Castellane.
Whilst en-route we stopped to look down and saw many people enjoying the gorge on the river, which looked fun. So after travelling a bit further before being able to turn around, we returned to the lake-side. On the way down, we saw some people on electric powered surfboards. No need for a towing boat …a new one on me!
We hired an electric boat for an hour (I didn’t fancy a canoe or pedalo) and enjoyed travelling upstream and back, through the gorge. It is really impressive with many limestone features on show.
After taking Alison on her bucket-list river cruise, we resumed our journey along the high, twisty, hair-pinned road along the gorge to Castellane. Wow, some of the views were amazing and unfortunately we could not always stop for photography.
The road ahead was a bit hairy at times, especially in a motorhome.
That is it for today. TTFN and see-u-later.
"See-u-Later" 