The Verdon Gorge had been recommended to us on our arrival at our accommodation, and some quick research had told us that it was certainly worth a visit! We had attempted to book a canoe online, but the company we used (Canoe Verdon) assured us that there was not need to book.
We set off reasonably early, first along an A road to Draguignan, then through the town (via about 30 roundabouts!), before climbing into the hills on winding roads. It was a lovely route, with great views and interesting geology (a mix of very orange rock, white / grey rock and red rock).
Eventually, after a drive of about an hour and 20 minutes, we came over the brow of a hill to stunning views of the lake and mountains. The car park was easy to find (and free) – with an interesting added feature of a deep, wide ditch down the middle of it – and just a short walk from our departure point. It was 25 EUR for both of us for 2 hours of canoeing, including a “dry box” for our valuables. We have had a few canoeing trips together over the years, so climbed in confidently and headed to the end of the azure lake, where the entrance to the gorge was.
The water was busy with a selection of canoes, pedalos, dinghies, and small motorboats, which thwarted Tom’s plans to get some drone footage. However, there was plenty of space, and we never felt crowded.
The gorge itself is brilliant, with towering cliffs on either side. The water was rather muddy, so it was tricky to know how deep it was, apart from the odd occasions when your paddle scraped the riverbed.
Eventually, shortly after a yellow buoy, the gorge widened slightly, and a beach came into view. We had be lead to believe that there was nowhere to stop en route, but decided it would be good to have a breather and stretch our legs. Oops.
The water at this point was much faster flowing, and we were paddling against it. On our second attempt to reach the beach, the strong currents tipped over our untippable canoe, depositing us (and our belongings) into the chilly river! It was a briefly scary moment, taking our breath away and giving us quite a fright! The river luckily took us straight to rocky side, where we manged to grab our canoe. It was also shallow enough on the side to put our feet down.
My initial absolute panic (once I knew we were ok) was my brand new phone. I had been using it to take photos as we went along, and had just been putting it behind me on the canoe. I was convinced that it would therefore be at the bottom of the river and utterly lost. Close to tears of utter annoyance at my stupidity, I helped Tom to right the canoe and, looking down, realised that luckily I had had the presence of mind to tuck my phone into my swimming costume moments before our submergence – there it was, safe and sound (and thankfully waterproof)!
Some very kind passing canoeists scooped my flipflops and our waterproof GoPro (thankfully attached to its floatation device) out of the water and checked that we were ok. Working together, we managed to clamber back into the canoe and head back, leaving the rapids happily behind us!
After a few minutes, we recognised the yellow buoy again and noticed that it had some writing on it. Paddling closer, we realised that this had been the point that we should have turned back. It really wasn’t clear though, and many other people had likewise sailed straight past it and continued!
The views coming back up the gorge, with the sun behind us this time, were even more spectacular, and the paddling easier as we were now travelling downstream. There were several points where people were climbing the rocks and leaping into the water, but we gave this a miss – we’d had enough of a dip in the river for one day!
We returned the canoe a little early, glad to be back on dry land. I then had a quick dip in the lake, just to remind myself that I was still a water baby really!
After drying off a little, we walked a little further along the lake to a quieter spot, so that Tom could finally get some drone footage. We also did a bit of stone skimming!
We had a lovely walk back to the car, enjoying the views, taking photos and admiring a family’s stone stacks!
A storm was brewing as we headed off. 
The family were really flattered that we were taking photos of their stacks! 
Lovely views back.
Following another brief supermarket trip on the way back, we arrived at our apartment in time for a dip in the pool and a bit of Tiny Whoop droning for Tom.
As we cooled off in the water, the owners of the house came out and invited us for aperitifs. We spent a pleasant hour with them, although it challenged my A-level French somewhat! They plied us with local rose wine, melon, almonds and large anchovies for Tom (which he said were very tasty), and Tom, in turn, shared the oysters that he had bought earlier in the day.
We discovered lots about our hosts, whose two sons live in Alsace and the Dordogne – two of my favourite areas of France! They also encouraged us to book directly with them if we wished to stay again, assuring us that this would cost us considerably less – in fact we could have two weeks for what we paid for the one. This is crazy, as we thought it was incredibly good value in the first place, being half the price of anywhere we found in the area (and considerably nicer)!
An aerial photo of their house when it was first built in 1993.
We left them to enjoy their evening so that we could have some bubbly and toast Sue’s recovery and Tom’s qualification for the British Drone Racing Championship. Tom cooked himself moules frites and we had a game of Tantrix, a game introduced to us by my sister-in-law a couple of years ago that we really love but doesn’t half take some brain power! We also began the dreaded task of packing, leaving the main bits until the morning.
A beautiful moth came to join in the game!
Tomorrow we head to Marseille for a night, before our homeward journey! We’ll be very sad to leave, but it feels like a long time since we were home and we’re looking forward to seeing Lyra and Gizzy!