Verdon Gorge is a river canyon in southeastern France. Carved by the Verdon River, it has white-water rapids and cliffs. Paths include the Blanc-Martel trail, ending at Point Sublime lookout.
We discovered the Verdon-gorge while searching through the internet trying to find a place that wasn’t very popular or a tourist trap where you queue for ages just to get that selfie that everyone else has.
Once we seen the mesmerising blue-green waters and read about the 7 hour hike through some of the nicest views I’ve ever seen, we had to do it.
Flights where cheap into Nice, then we hired a car for about £90 for 5 days.
We set off and got supplies from a supermarket as we were staying in a static caravan type holiday park with not much around.
The drive from the Airport was about an hour and a half through amazing mountain roads up to 1500m high where with nothing but rocks to stop you going over the edge!
The drive is scary, especially when the locals have no fear but all your thinking about is the excess stopped on your credit card!
We arrived at the site in one piece and headed out for food, we went down to a small village called Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, it was very quaint and no body really spoke English and it had a 12th-century Notre Dame de Beauvoir Chapel on the top of a mountain! We did in the end find a restaurant that did a half decent steak. For pudding we went to the bakers next door and got cakes and a French stick, awesome!
The next day we went back to Moustiers-Sainte-Marie and found a water sports shop, we booked to do Canyoning that afternoon!
We drove to a house not far away and got into our waterproofs and headed down to the Verdon in a minivan with some other couples, non of which spoke English.
Kitted up with wetsuits, hard hats and a Go-pro (that’s a necessity!) We plunged into the Canyon from a 10 foot high rock, the water was absolutely freezing and to top it off my wet suite definitely had a hole in somewhere!
We floated down the next section, everything was calm, beautiful and still cold!
Then we arrived at the start of the decent down the Canyon, facing massive jumps into gaps you that don’t have much room for error in!
At the end we had a 20 minute Hike back up to the minibus with lots of group photos and laughing.
If your planning on seeing the verdon, you have to get in it too, it’s a must!
Blanc-Martel trail
We set off for the Hike at 5am and made our way over to Chalet de la Maline to finish at Point Sublime.
You can do the Hike from either end but this is the most popular route, mostly because there’s some seriously steep steps that you’d much prefer to go down than up!
Although this Hike is extremely beautiful, it’s not for the faint hearted!
Steep drops and tricky terrain, you don’t want to rock up in your flip-flops and a bottle of Pepsi!
We had hiking boots, thermals for the morning and rain gear incase the heavens opened up and a torch for passing through the long dark tunnels! Taking lots of water is an absolute must! 7 hours of hiking up and down in the summer heat is a killer, if you don’t prepare!
Along the way you stumble across hidden rocky beaches, perfect for a snack and a short break, paddle your feet if you wish but don’t attempt to swim!
The Verdon is connected to a hydro-dam and could flood at any minute without warning, only excursion/tour operators know weather it’s going to happen, so just because you went Canyoning the day before it does not mean you can go for a dip, it’s freezing anyway!
There’s a great sense of accomplishment when you finish so get ready to celebrate with a cold drink and pizza at the restaurant near point sublime.
Then taxi back to your car. There’s always plenty waiting at the finish, if you see another couple waiting, share a taxi and split the bill!
Now, you’ve canyoned through the mighty Verdon-gorge, you’ve hiked along it’s massive cliff edges and scaled it’s rocky paths, now it’s time to Relax.
Head down to Sainte-Croix-du-Verdon, hire a boat and explore more of the Verdon on top of the bright blue water!
Boat hire is cheap and there’s plenty by the shores!
May I link this post? It’s easy-to-understand advice worth passing on! My friends would get a lot from this too.