Hiking, trekking & Walking & Sightseeing

Gorge du Verdon, St Andre Les Alps, Castellane

St Andre Les Alpes provides a wonderful location for hiking and exploring in Alpes de Haute Provence.

The South East corner of France is still largely undiscovered by the tourist industry. Paths are good, and are very well maintained by the local villagers who still use them for transhumance farming, which is a big part of the local economy. They are well sign-posted, quiet and free of litter. CASTELLENE MARKET AND THE Verdon Gorge

On either a Saturday morning or a Wednesday morning visit the market at Castellane, a chance to buy some excellent regional produce, stock up in the patisserie for a picnic in the Verdon Gorge later, or have a pain au chocolat and a coffee and enjoy a bit of relaxing people watching. Then drive via the pretty village of Trigance to the South side of the Verdon Gorge. The road to the gorge takes you over Pont d’ Artuby, one of the highest bungee jumping bridges in the world, a view point definitely worth stopping at. On the south side of the gorge, leave your car at Auberge des Cavaliers, follow the steep path down into the gorge which gives superb views back up the sheer rock walls.The path continues along beside the river often on walkways cut into the stone to l’Imbut, giving plenty of swimming opportunities, provided that the dam is not releasing water. From there you follow a spectacular path cut into the cliffs with steel ropes to hold onto and a ladder to help you up the final bit of cliff back to the road. The walk back along the rim of the gorge to your car gives you the chance to look back down into the gorge and take in some more breath taking views.

The Gorge is Europe's largest canyon being 700m deep in places and offers an enormous variety of walking, cycling, canoeing, rafting, aqua-rando and rock-climbing in a spectacular setting. On the North side, the famous Sentier Martel can be done from either Samson's Couloir or Chalet de la Maline. On weekends and throughout July and August there is a shuttle which runs between Point Sublime, La Palud and Chalet de la Maline.

Telephone 04 92 77 14 20 or 06 07 65 19 49 or email: transverdon@aol.com for more details.

More information about walking in the Verdon Gorge can be found on this website : www.carto.net

The gorge can be enjoyed from behind the wheel of a car too, or more energetically, by bike. There is an excellent road circuit, requiring a full day, which goes out along the south rim of the gorge, and returns along the north rim, taking in the village of Moustieres Ste-Marie. All along the way, there is a plethora of balconies, belvederes and viewpoints which give fantastic, and often vertiginous views of the gorge. The magnificent Route des Cretes, and the Point Sublime view-point are both well worth visiting.

Check out www.beyond.fr for maps and more on the region.