Canada Day in La Gorge du Verdon

July 1st, posted July 2nd:   Alert - long-winded post ahead!

It's July 1st and Canada Day,  we're a bit off the beaten track in a little campground north of the Gorge of Verdon, near the town of  St- Andre-les-Alpes. It was supposed to have a swimming pool and wifi, but turns out neither is working! This is still in Provence, but an hour or two north from the Mediterranenan coast.

There aren't too many people in the campground today. Our neighbour  in the cabin across from our tent site is a friendly chap. We've just been chatting with him and his eleven year old daughter. They've come here, with their baby pet rooster in tow, to escape the heat and crowds of their home in Atibes on the Cote d'Azur for a few days in the much cooler mountains. He is French, his parents came from Alcase (France) and Italy, his wife is Bulgarian, and he lived in Miami for a few years. He and Frank had a great chat about world affairs. They tell us that these 40 degree temperatures are not normal for June – it might not be so unusual in August.

It's our second day in a row without WiFi. We also don’t have any local phone service or data either. I did purchase a french sim card and pre-paid credit for phone and data for one month. I intended to purchase top-ups as necessary. However, my service has been suspended because I failed to provide the necessary identification. You are supposed to fill out a form online and submit it within a certain number of days of initiating your sim card. I guess this is a security measure to prevent potential criminals from having anonymous  phone usage.

Anyway, I have no criminal tendencies, and I did attempt to fill out the form, but ran into trouble because the form couldn't recognize the Canadian address, and it was also not compatible with the number of characters in the Canadian passport ID number. My french-speaking friend Angela helped me call customer service, but to no avail. I could go to one of their shops and fill out a written form, but that would have to be mailed away and it would take two weeks to get it approved and service restarted. I'm not sure how Orange expects to have any foreign customers, and I'm sure it's not the first time customers have run into this issue. It's quite frustrating and a waste of money.

Anyway, it doesn't hurt to be incommunicado for a couple of days.

Today we tried to buy ice for our little cooler that we acquired since ditching the bikes. Turns out the supermarket was all out of ice, so we bought frozen spinach and peas to keep our food cool. So of course we incorporated these healthy greens into tonight's dinner. It was pasta with alfredo sauce and chicken, with an intense amount of spinach! Normally we both love spinach, but this dish was so bland, even with some nice Provencal herbs, that it was a greatly disappointing meal for our National holiday! My least favourite of all the meals we've prepared on our nifty little stove on this trip! We did have some nice wine though and very good chocolate cookies. Happy Birthday Canada!

Now before this starts to sound like a  total rant (maybe it already does), I have to tell you about our last few excellent days! We are still having a really great time! Our route here today took us along the famous Gorge du Verdon. It's impressive. Tomorrow we plan to drive back on the other side of the Gorge, heading westward again. Verdon has long been on Frank's radar due to the climbing here, so it was exciting to finally get here.

The Verdon river flows into Lac St Croix via a splendid gorge

The end of La Gorge du Verdon

Over the past weekend, we had a lovely time on part of the Cote d'Azur (French Riviera). After leaving Cassis, we weren't quite ready to leave the Meditteranean,  so we took a scenic route on small roads through Toulon and on to a little peninsula called Presqu’Ile de Giens.

Route des Crete, east of Cassis

Calanque de Port d'Alon - a beautiful spot half-way between
 Marseilles and Toulon. Spent a few hours here.

 Our invaluable app “Maps.Me” showed several campgrounds in the area, so we picked one and headed there. There wasn't a single sign on the road indicating any kind of campground, but nevertheless we headed down this narrow, bumpy road, seemingly heading towards the sea, ending up at a locked security gate.

I got out and pressed the button on the gates, and a few minutes later, the gate opened, so in we drove. A lady came out of a farm house and thinking we were definitely in a private residence, I said rather sheepishly that "nous cherchons

un camping pour notre tente". And she said, oui, we have a place! A little further fast the farmhouse and greenhouses was a perfect, secluded campground, very basic but quiet and best of all, right next to a nice beach!! Only a band of bamboos separated us from the beach.

The reception area in the farm campground

Preparing dinner - tonight it's red Thai curry with chicken

Had our curry on the beach with this view!

We had wondered if it would be possible to find any quiet places along the Cote d'Azur since it's so over-developed and ritzy, so this was a little gem. We just had to stay a second night.

Swam here

Only one more week left! There is a possibility that we will start seeing lavender tomorrow, and we have a lot more to see before Lyon next Tuesday!