Sisteron to Saint Paul Trois Chateaux, former Tour De France stage destination

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Gorge Saint May – Sisteron- Saint Paul Trois Chateaux

Have you ever sat up late at night watching television coverage of Le Tour de France? At times I have felt saddened to see the riders processing toward Le Champs-Elysees on the last day of the race; sad because I have to wait another year before I can sit up late at night to watch the race again. It’s scary to see the riders pelting down those steep winding hills, riding three, four and five abreast at speeds that would blow the gendarme’s radar off the scale; and then pirouette through hairpin bends in the towns and villages before crunching their leg muscles as they career uphill burning energy o abundantly that it must surely be sourced from a nuclear power station. At times when I watch the race, I turn the sound off so I can watch the riders glide through the day’s chosen serene landscape of regional France.

This week our eyes are pigging out on landscape from that sort of scene. On this coming weekend the Tour de France will traverse the sections from Montelimar to Villars-de-Dombes and then Bourg-en-Bresse to Culoz. I recommend viewing those sections. You do not have to like cycling. If you are not pleased to see the scenery, then I am sorry for you as nothing could ever make you happy.

Last night we camped or glamped in Sisteron, a town that impresses like any other in this region.

This morning we drove to the town of Saint Paul Trois Chateux, a destination for a day in a recent Tour de France. It was a pretty drive through undulating to hilly farming land, over a couple of saddles between towering mountains and along a series of river flats. What was surprising was the gorge we drove through. It’s not quite a deep as say the Katherine Gorge, but impressive on any scale. The gorge is called Gorge de Saint May. Today’s drive beside the river Eygues at the base of the gorge was a bit over eight kilometres, and for several kilometres would have been no more than 80 meters wide ( there was room for the river and the road – that’s it) while cliffs tower up scores of meters above the river bed.



Happy viewing of the Tour de France at the weekend.

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Comments

[J & J Moon]

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Loving all your pics and coments , glad you were not in Nice on that horrible day, going away up north for 7 weeks hopefully will be able to get wifi in some parts, look forward to more pics, take care j & j xx