Last night we looked at the map—we had a decision to make. When "planning" our route, I'd thought we would take the road along the south side of the canyon since it was a yellow road while the road on the north was red. Then I looked at Scott's journal again (https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/geneva2015/to-castellane-traversing-the-grand-canyon-of-the-verdon/) to get a better idea of distance and climbing and saw that he had taken the northern route. Not only that, he said that it was the smaller, less busy road. And of course we would be riding on the canyon side of the road. We decided to follow the red road (D 952) and include the Route des Crêtes (D 23), as the Andersons had done.
It was a good decision. The road was reasonably quiet, especially the first part since we had departed the campsite around 6:30. We had granola and yogurt so didn't need to wait for anything to open, nor go up the hill into the village. The route was scenic and because the road was shoulderless with few barriers (and those mostly low) between the edge and a precipitous drop, we needed to stop and look many times.
The last part of the climb to Col d'Ayen was less scenic but followed by a pleasant time descent to La Palud (La Paluz on the signs, I think). We stopped at a café there for our first morning coffee break of the trip and to fill our bottles. It was a good choice since we needed that water and because the girl running the place could answer my question about the route. The map in Scott's journal clearly showed that they had turned onto Route des Crêtes here and followed the route counterclockwise. However, although the sign here indicated a right turn onto D 23, there was also an arrow for Route des Crêtes straight ahead. The explanation was that if you want to drive Route des Crêtes, you must go clockwise because most of it is one-way. On a bicycle, you can go either way and, in my opinion, counterclockwise is better: no cars approaching from behind on the climb, you are on the outside so needn't cross to enjoy the view, and you do one big climb all at once rather than (relatively) shorter climbs at the beginning and end.
The canyon and its tributaries cut deeply into the landscape
There was a tunnel too, but on the one-way section so on the chance that a car was coming in the other direction, a cyclist would be easily visible in its headlights. I think I turned my lights on anyway.
We arrived at Point Sublime, after a gentle but tiring climb, to discover that Rougon, where we had hoped to get some lunch, was 3 km off our road at the top of a gigantic hill, and that today, Wednesday, was the weekly closed day for the restaurant at Point Sublime. Luckily there was a kiosk that sold cold drinks and snacks. The honey cake we bought and shared fuelled us up for the rest of the way to Castellane.
Even after Point Sublime, the route remained interesting.
We decided to try and get a hotel in Castellane, even though the village is surrounded by at least a dozen campsites. The Office de Tourisme was open and helped us find a basic room in town for 65€. Not as updated as the other small hotels we've stayed in on this trip but somebody was trying. The bed was decent and the shower, well, as I told Al, you just have to laugh and be careful where you put anything in the bathroom that you want to keep dry.
At dinner, our wine was served like this—the holder is also a cooler. I wish half-litre bottles were available at home. Just the right size to accompany dinner for two.
