Francois_Dumas Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 ..... here we go again, continuing our ride to Sisteron. The sun came out and it slowly started getting warmer. It wasn't as warm as the photos might suggest though, and we still kept our rain gear on ! At this time we had passed the 'border'...... at some point riding southwards the vegetation changes into more bushy stuff, dryer soil and hotter temperatures causing it. We hadn't been making many photos (oh, you mean the 25 we showed you before? That's NOTHING!) and when we arrived at a bridge over a dried up river bed, I decided to stop and do some more..... Although Nina does a remarkable job these days, I am one of these people who have trouble sitting NEXT to a driver, on the BACK of a motor cycle, or in the co-pilot seat....... so I just NEEDED to make a few pictures myself The huge rock formations really looked as if the Romans had stacked bricks on top of each other..... weird formations! The little stream on the far right can fill this entire valley as a wildly raging river !!! We're on the D937 here and I don't know the name of the stream ! Funny enough, since we were slowed down so much by the bad weather before AND the smaller-than-expected roads I somehow was imagining that we were getting close to our destination. When we rode into yet another wide open valley...... .... and you see road signs with Marseille on it !!!!!!!!!!! (I always get visions of Louis de Funes and his Gendarmes). The D994 is a national road, going east-west. WE wanted south, so we crossed it ..... .... into this tiny settlement. The road is the D20 and I had this all planned over the past week in our apartment..... and entered into the Zümo. But sometimes the map and the GPS do NOT prepare you well for what the world really looks like. As we thought we'd have just one more little country road before we got to the main road towards Sisteron.... it turned out there was another mountain pass to conquer.... a little gem called Col des Guérins !! Villages Perchés means something like 'fortified villages'. You find them everywhere in the south of France, but also i Italy, Greece, Maroc and elsewhere. The villagers (farmers) constructed their houses tightly built together so as to form a wall against raiders, robbers and other dangers..... http://www.provence-des-montagnes.com/fr/territoire/carte-interactive/index.html On top of the pass looking in the direction of Gap (behind those mountains). The light area at the end of the valley turned out to be huge 'green houses' (made of plastic) covering apple trees! Col des Guérins wasn't very high, nothing like the Galibier or similar high-mountain passes, but it turned out to be quite challenging and very narrow ! The few car drivers we encountered all were looking rather distressed ! They too apparently were surprised by the nature of the D20 ! The funny thing is that the road climbed THROUGH these extremely narrow medieval villages...... .... where parking your car is an art in itself !!! And around the church we go... end of village. This was Barcilonette. The shadows were getting longer, our butts tired and the temperature finally rose...... time for yet another stop and get rid of our warm rain gear !! The little pink dot on the right is Nina...... returning from a little 'excursion'. One of the hundreds of castles of the region...... And more of these weird rock formations. It can be clearly seen how the rocks were pushed upwards a few billion years ago... The last picture of the day.... next we hit the main roads again and covered the last 20 km's to Sisteron where we re-found our little Ibis Hotel The next day we planned to visit Gap (we'd gone past and through, but never stopped), then the lac de Serre Poncon, and ultimately climb Europe's highest pass, the Col de la Bonette. Link to comment
Traveler1 Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 Oh boy - sure makes the mouth water - great photos and wonderful route. Thanks for taking us on another great ride. Link to comment
bakerzdosen Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 Sheesh Francois... How many pictures did you put in that post? (Thanks for another great report.) Link to comment
Francois_Dumas Posted November 28, 2008 Author Share Posted November 28, 2008 Want MORE !!??? Thanks ! Link to comment
Knifemaker Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 Francois......You shootem'....We viewem' With pleasure........ Link to comment
bazzjazz Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 Hey, brings me back a few years, great shots. We did a tour a few years ago and stayed for a few days in Gap, which we loved. The whole area around there was stunning. One of the nicest passes we did was the Col de la Crois de Fer. Another stunning one, whose name I can't remember, was a dead end! We drove up to the top to a car park and a stunning view of our destination, Mont Blanc in the distance and we had to turn around and find another route. Still, great spin. Thanks for bringing back some very happy memories Link to comment
Francois_Dumas Posted November 28, 2008 Author Share Posted November 28, 2008 Ah yes, Croix de Fer is relatively near our place....... just cross the Maurienne Valley, over the Col de la Madeleine, then a little south to Moutiers and up to Méribel.... et voilà ! A dead end? That may have been the road to Alpe d'Huez maybe? Link to comment
Bob Allred Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 Great photos, sure would like to ride those roads some day Where can I see the previous post & photos? [edit] DUH! Found 'em. Should have looked before I opened my mouth to ask Link to comment
Francois_Dumas Posted November 29, 2008 Author Share Posted November 29, 2008 Thanks Bob. You can find ALL of my travels at my own travel forum: http://travel.silvercloudpublishing.com Have a nice weekend everybody ! Link to comment
bazzjazz Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 It was actually the Col du Sabot, and I have attached an image of the view from the top! The figure in the middle is an elderly lady sitting in a chair reading her book! Barry Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.