Cotignac, Aups, Gorges du Verdon

Cotignac was a charming town, just below a cliff, with a couple of castle tower ruins at the top. We tried to find accomodation here, but everything was booked. In fact everything was either closed or booked in the next 4 towns. We finally found the last room available in Aups. We didn't take many pictures while trying to avoid sleeping in a ditch!

The next morning we went to the tourist office in Aups and booked a hotel in la Palud sur Verdon for the next two days. Our preferred style in to follow our noses and find an attractive spot, but that wasn't working so well. We worried that such a touristy area might be fully booked, but we had no trouble prebooking on this ocassion. One of our guidebooks had recommended October, since tourist crowds would be less, the weather would still be nice, and places would still be open. Our experience was that lots of folks who run hotels take their own vacations in October and close the hotels! Amazingly as we left Aups heading north toward the gorge, we saw loads of open inns and B&Bs!

This was our first view of the Lac de Ste. Croix

This was a private home in Airguines. We had a picnic lunch in a nearby public park. Each of the towers has a different mosaic on top, and the shutters are lavender, of course.

We descended down to the bridge as the base of the lake and the gorge.

And then began the climb up to La Palud sur Verdon