I had decided to visit the Gorges of the
Verdon & Daluis to run in my truck. I
went on March 6th by the secondary road
D 225 through the pretty villages of Calas
and Bargemon but shortly after an
indicator ignited on the dashboard. I
looked at the handbook which
advised to go to rather in a qualified
garage. The only Mercedes garage is in
Roquebrune-sur-Argens. I presented myself
to it at the end of the morning. After
recording at the reception desk, I expected
the reopening of the workshops to meet the
shop foreman to whom I had presented my
vehicle at the beginning of November 2013.
He greeted me cordially and dealt with the
problem. My brother picked up me in the
afternoon.
The next morning a phone call around 10
a.m. informed me that my vehicle was at my
disposal. My sister-in-law, Marie-Lou,
lead me to the Mercedes garage at Roquebrune
where we arrived at the opening
around 2 p.m. The truck was ready and the
shop foreman explained me that the cause
of the breakdown was a defective sensor of
the crankshaft. Of course the breakdown
service was dealt with by the guarantee.
Moreover I bought nuts of safety theft
protection device (!) for the rims. I
took the road around 3:15 p.m. in the
direction of Fayence then of Mons on D
563. I stopped around 4:30 p.m. on a waste
ground at the crossroads of D 53 to take
my marks for the first trip with my new
truck. The day was brilliant with a
temperature of +20°C. Alas not having
tools I was not able to loosen the nuts
guard of the threading of limps of
antenna tuner to fix the HF antenna in order
to send the position report of the
bivouac, to see tomorrow.
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After having installed various materials
in the cabin of Mercedes I left the
bivouac around 10:30 a.m. I drove on D 563 to
the crossroads of D 6085 at the Logis du
Pin then by D 2211 up to St Auban. In
this season roads are still
prohibited due to closed pass due to
snowing up. By small secondary roads I
reached D 4202 driving to Entrevaux
already visited before. I stopped for a
picture. Then at the crossroads of
the Pont de Geydan I took D 902 to
visit the Gorges de Daluis. I established
my bivouac at the edge of the Var river
around 4:30 p.m. on the Roberts' rest
area at 2 km southwards of Guillaumes.
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| Lunch pause & selfie |
The Gorges de Daluis
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| The GPS tracklog, IGN
map at 1:100k |
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| Bivouac |
I had plan to go to Barcelonnette, alas
the GPS announced to me that
the road was closed and proposed to me a
diversion. I persisted by going to Guillaumes
at five kilometers. The
borough was an outpost of the kingdom of
France before the joining of Savoy in
1760. I questioned a native who assure me
that the road was closed. A plan must be
adaptive, I gave up Barcelonnette and I
choose outward journey to Digne-les Bains to
see again the museum
devoted to Alexandra David-Néel. I
traversed the Daluis' Gorges again.
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| Guillaumes |
After the lunch pause close to the Vault
of Notre-Dame de Valvert on the N 202 I
arrived at the Alexandra David-Néel's
Center of Conference around 2:30 p.m.. The
guided tour was started, but the guide
woman was not on the level. Moreover the museum
had been emptied of objects transferred
either to the Museum de l'Homme or to
the Guimet Museum. No-photo. I was
disappointed compared to my visit with my
mother there +20 years ago. On the other
hand I saw again Marie-Madeleine Péronnet,
secretary of Alexandra, 84 years old and
very strong. On the road little before Digne
I had noticed a car park for my bivouac.
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| N.-D. de Valvert |
On Monday, March 10 by a overcast weather I
traversed the N 85 by going along the
Provence railway line then starting
from Barrême the Napoleon Road. Little
before Castellane I forked on D 955
curving along the Lake Castillon by the Clue
de Vergons. I lunched again close to the
Vault of NR.- D.-de-Valvert. Then I
visited Castellane. The city is dominated
by the Rock, 184 meters high, crowned
by the eponymous vault dating back to 1703.
I gave up traversing the way of
interpretation. On the other hand the old
city is charming with its decorated small
squares of fountains. But in this low
season animation was worthless and much of
closed shops. I bivouacked northwards of
Jabron saving the visit of the Gorges of
the Verdon for the following day.
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| Castellane |
The Gorges du Verdon
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| The GPS tracklog, IGN
map at 1:100k |
The target of the following day was to
drive on the
left bank of the Verdon by the Sublime
Cornice. Without any doubt it is, it even
under a overcast sun in a freezing cold. The
roadside was still snow-covered. It is
only around midday that the temperature
softens in spite of a prickly wind. At the
time of one of my picture stops a man
came to meet my with a blue Mercedes "G"
and tells me that he had seen
me passing in front of at his house and
decided to catch up with me to see my
vehicle. He tells me that him and his
brother have Mercedes "G" and are crazy
about it.
We discussed then I gave him my
business card with my Internet address.
Of course I had the break to lunch in
front of the sumptuous view of the
Gorges of the Verdon.
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| The Gorges du Verdon |
I took again the road to go to rest me
at Bauduen at the edge of the lake
de Sainte Croix whose paved streets
are bordered of picturesque houses and
alleys with evocative names. I had noticed
on D 957 a site of bivouac that I took on
my return towards Moustier.
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| The village of Bauduen |
The last day of this small trip for taking
in touch with my new truck was
devoted to the tour around the Lake
Sainte Croix to Moustiers-Ste.-Marie with a
lunch stop at Ste Croix du Verdon.
As Bauduen the village is composed of
stone-built houses bordering by sloping streets.
It is now at the edge of
the lake whose beach accommodates the
summer tourists. The return to Draguignan
by D 49 was carried out under a swing rain
starting at Vérignon.
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| Ste Croix du Verdon |
