We’ve continued northwards on the Route Napoleon to the northern edge of Haute Provence at Sisteron and onto the Hautes-Alpes region towards Gap. We’ve been rewarded with yet more beautiful scenery and majestic snow-capped mountain peaks around us. After seeing our second Vauban-designed citadel at Entrevaux, we came across another one that he had a hand in when we made an overnight stop at Sisteron, also known as the gateway to Provence. The town lies opposite the Rocher de la Baume, with its curious folds of rock, and the area is apparently quite a draw for geologists. On the other side, the citadel sits imposingly above the town and it was up here that we found a lovely overnight stop with a great vantage point looking directly over the citadel. The same features of the other Vauban citadels we’ve seen are visible here, but his recommendations for defensive reinforcements weren’t initially acted upon and only introduced later.
Before reaching Gap,we veered east to the Lac de Serre-Ponçon with its backdrop of the Alps. This is another artificial lake that is filled for the summer season and is currently at a lower level, with the shallower end where we stopped almost empty. The landscape and the architecture has changed completely since we left Provence. As we arrived at our base The alpine influences even included a local farmer and his sheepdogs herding a flock of goats and sheep along the breakwater edge of the reservoir.
We took advantage of being able to leave the trailer at a quiet site to venture into the mountain area in the van right to the end of a valley where a walk we had read about started. The walk to the waterfall of Razis also incorporates the ‘path of the fairies’, a sculpture trail (yes you just can’t keep Joe away from a sculpture trail!) with temporary exhibits in the summer and, what we hadn’t expected, some permanent works left in place all year round. The natural scenery of this location was stunning in itself but some of the works really impressed us. Some of the ones we liked best included a lunar pod, seemingly abandoned in a lunar landscape, a wooden hand emerging from rubble and coloured plastic used to create artificial lichen, like the spring flowers that are emerging.
Although we were walking on a beautiful sunny day, in a couple of places where the path was in permanent shade there was snow on the ground and Joe discovered that his adventure sandal footwear was perhaps more suited for drier conditions. As they say, there’s no such thing as bad weather – just inappropriate clothing!
But the absolute highlight of the day for Joe came at the end of the walk. Seeing no vehicular restrictions in place, he drove the van, with four wheel drive engaged, across a fairly vigorous river where there was evidence of other vehicles crossing, (the adjacent rickety bridge being closed for safety reasons) to a quiet picnic area. Our stay there was quickly curtailed however when a charming ranger in hot pursuit explained we could not stay there. No matter – we had the photographic evidence and Joe had a huge smile on his face for the rest of the day!
