Stormy weather.

Monday 4th June

Out for a drive today to visit the city of Sisteron where there is an amazing Citadelle. It was quite a wow moment when it came into sight – perched high on a rock hill in the centre of the valley where the river ran between the hills. It wasn't until we climbed to the top that you got a clear picture of the strategic location of the Citadelle.  You could see for miles both north and south along the valley, and from the east and west, the rocky mountains would stop any attacks from there. Lots of steps and lots of views from the ramparts. A lot of the citadelle was destroyed during WWII and has been rebuilt. There was a room in the keep where a Polish prince was locked up – he later became king of Poland. What I didn't get a sense of was whether people lived inside the fortress - there was no castle as such.

This was the best photo we got of the Citadelle from a distance.
Trees, power lines and traffic all conspired against us.

We are inside the Citadelle here and this is looking up from the first level.

More steps - I earned the reward below!

Have a look at the rock faces behind the Citadelle walls.
This was to the east of the Citadelle.
Can't imagine knights in armour climbing those rock faces
- mountain goat territory.

The bell in the tower where the Polish prince was locked up.

Lunch in Sisteron and on the way back to the car we heard ‘okey, dokey'; it was an aussie couple from Townsville who have been living in the area for 6 months while on long service leave. They are there with their 4 and 6 year olds who are at school there. What a wonderful experience for the family!

A scenic drive home on very narrow and winding roads over the Col de Fontbelle - 1300m. Such beautiful mountain scenery and a couple of tiny isolated villages along the way. The daily commute would not be fun. There were plenty of photo opportunities. Along one plateau we saw 2 Maremma dogs guarding a flock of sheep, and further along the road we came across a farmer with his flock of sheep and a few goats, and his maremmas too. Another opportunity to practise our French – the farmer spoke no English but we could talk to him about his 145 sheep and his dogs.

This was a roman inscription on a rock face
- the pass we were following through the mountains
was along a road from roman times.

Not the best photo as it was late in the day and stormy
- the farmer and his protection crew.
We debated what would attack sheep in France
- do they have foxes?

I'm assuming the camping cars fit under here;
or do they just use all the road?

A lot of masochist cyclists all over France and this road was no exception. They are more of a worry on the road than poking your nose around a corner and meeting a car coming the other way. We try to give them plenty of clearance but it is sometimes a bit of a rush job to get around them before the next corner and possibly oncoming traffic. Rob looked up one of the cyclists brochures we have here and apparently the loop we just did by car is around 100k and they cycle it in 5 ½ hours.

The french also love to walk – on the weekends there are randonneurs everywhere out enjoying the outdoors. I guess they are forced to walk to justify their tantalising pastries.

Tuesday 5th June

Rest day today. We decided that as we are staying in a thermal springs area then maybe we should ‘take the waters'. We first visited the ‘gites de france' office and introduced ourselves to Myriam who I had corresponded with to organise our gite. She was interested to hear our experiences travelling in France and why we were using gites. A lovely lady – a pleasure to deal with.

We found that the thermal pool was only open from 3 to 5.30 so we had a wander around the town just looking at the shops, then came home and had lunch before heading back to the pool after 3. Interesting experience – we had to buy caps as they are compulsory there. And a lady in the pool told us very authoritatively (until we understood her french) that we had to walk through the shower entry to the pool. We enjoyed our long soak though it was not as hot as other pools we have visited.

One thing I can say now though is that I have worn everything in my suitcase, except for 1 scarf.