Framedlight

At Guillaumes we had turned the corner and were now heading back north in a homeward direction. The road crosses a wide gorge from the Var river and then narrows, going through tunnels in the mountain and past some interesting geology, glistening black hillsides and incredibly folded rock. It follows the Var to it's source just before the Col de la Cayolle. The pass itself is rather disappointing - just an open field, albeit rather chilly at 2326m. On the way we were shocked to find the road was closed for repair, there had apparently been a notice which we had missed. There followed a moment of panic as we were due at the vet's in Barcelonnette at 3.00pm and it would have taken us hours if we had had to turn round and retrace our steps over the other side of the mountain. I do as I always do in this type of situation and play dim English woman who does not understand anything (easily done) and smile a lot. It worked and after a digger had been moved we were allowed through. T...

We awoke to rain the next morning in our campsite at Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée, but nonetheless Alan decided that he wanted to cycle up the Col de la Bonette and back again. I took the dog for a walk up a little valley at the back of the campsite where there were some limestone encrustations by the side of a busy stream. When Alan returned he was suffering slightly from hypothermia having cycled down from the col in the rain. He had to spend some time in the shower trying to warm up. We set out late following the road south and then west to Guillaumes. The weather did not improve and I have no pictures of this journey. We parked the van by the river Tuebi for the night and had an evening walk through the narrow streets of this small historic town. Next morning we visited the castle which stands on a cliff overlooking the river. I have tried to find something out about it but have only conflicting information. The river was covered in mist but this dissipated as the sun rose to a blue sky...