Back Roads Journey through the french Alps-Provence-Cote d'Azur.

Back Roads Journey through the French Alps-Provence-Cote d’Azur.

After we left Chambeouf we continued to travel south east on the back roads enjoying the beautiful farming countryside. The farms through this area are a mixture of grape vines, wheat and cereal crops, mustard seed, (we are still reasonably close to Dijon and this area is famous for its special mustard products) sunflowers in full bloom and cows for both milk products and others for their meat.

One of the many red poppy fields we pass on our journey.

 

                                                     Great to see sunflowers in full bloom.

                                                Our trip through the French Alps commences.

We stop at Cluny to visit their famous Benedictine Abbey, which was founded in 910. It was a major religious centre which had great influence over hundreds of monasteries throughout Europe. It is very large in size and overtime it will be restored to its former glory.

Along the way we see many beautiful small stone French farmhouses and then on the next hill we see a grand chateau or an old fortress or church. There is a surprise around every corner and always something new to look at.

                                        Some of the wonderful old buildings we see on the way.

Eventually the very flat countryside gives way to more mountainous terrain and we find we are crossing many more rivers. From Aix-les-Bains we are really in the French Alps and the roads we are travelling on are surrounded by high rugged mountain ranges and in some places we can see snow still on the highest peaks.

We follow one of the Back Roads routes that is in the DK Back Roads of France book that we purchased before we left Australia and had a fantastic day. We travel through authentic French Alpine Villages, see ski slopes, travel along narrow very deep gorges and see many waterfalls and lakes. The many valleys that we see all have their own small village and some of the paddocks are full of alpine wild flowers.

This is the sort of country we went through. Note the small tunnel-this is the road we travelled on.

 

                                                                Alpine wild flowers.

                                                                    Another tunnel.

                                                     One of the many valleys with some cows.

In some places the terrain gets very rough and the small roads we were travelling on are only wide enough for one small car. The road is actually cut through the side of the mountain in several places and you have to hoot your horn to tell others on the other side of the tunnel that you were coming through. It was a real adventure and driving took a lot of concentration.

It took 10klms to get down this mountain and then we had to come up again.

                                              Two of the many villages that we passed through.

 

At about 4pm we started to look for a camping ground and a cabin to stay in for the night. We have been staying in what the French call “mobile homes”- cabins to us, since we arrived on the Normandy Coast mainly because we wanted more space, fresh air, a fridge, means to make a cup of coffee and to be able to cook our own meals when we wanted to – all in all we just preferred it to staying in a single room and having to go out for every meal. However sometimes finding a camping ground with cabins has proven difficult - so it was a real surprise when right in the middle of the alps surrounded by a forest was a small place called La Source  - Chambers d'Hotes.  We were greeted by Judy and Paul, an English couple who had moved to this area in France with their two children about ten years ago and started their accommodation business about 12 months ago.

                                                 Us and the Tepee we stayed in for one night.

 

They had better than a cabin for us to sleep in, they had an authentic American Indian Tepee – very large and wonderfully appointed and it was just great –comfortable and very cosy. Judy even cooked us a wonderful home cooked meal and even though it did rain during the night we were very comfortable in our Tepee. We really enjoyed our stay in this special spot.

Paul recommended that we continue our drive through the Alps and go and see the France’s Grand Canyon. It took us all day to travel the 300klms to the Mediterranean Sea because in some places the road way was very narrow and quite scary but it was a wonderful drive and we saw some magnificent scenery.

The lake at the bottom of the Grand Canyon we drove through.

                                                         The river flowing through the canyon.

Along this drive as well as seeing fantastic deep canyons and gorges we also passed through some areas of Provence and saw field upon field of the darkest purple lavender. It was just amazing and a real thrill to see it in full bloom.

 

Fields of lavender with wheat fields behind in Provence.

 

                       The little Mediterranean Beach close to the camping ground where we are staying.

We are now on the Mediterranean Sea on the Cote d’Azur at the small town of Cavalaire-Sur-Mer. It is a very pretty place with stacks of pink, red and white oleander plants everywhere, lovely houses close to the beach and small secluded beaches dotted along the coast line. It is touristy but nowhere near as busy as other places on this part of the coast. We are very happy to stop here for a few days and spend some time by the sea. The weather is perfect, warm but not too hot - so we are just prepared to enjoy our time here.