Lus la Croix Haute to Peipin, via Sisteron

 

Sunday 27th September 

It was much less cold last night, about 12c was the coldest I saw it go down to, so a big improvement on chilly Vassieux en Vercors at night.

We woke to a bit of cloud cover though, which is something we've not been used to. 

It soon cleared though and it was quite dramatic seeing the sun's powerful rays parting the clouds over the surrounding hills on our morning walk.

We set off after breakfast in a southerly direction along the D1075 which was another scenic drive but not quite on the scale of the Vercors .

First stop was Sisteron on the river Durance. It is just after the confluence of the rivers Buech and Sasse and is an important navigational route going back centuries due to its location, because it's in a narrow gap between two mountain ridges there are few other north / south routes in the area.

It's often called the gateway to Provence.

The town has been inhabited for 4000 years and the Romans used the route extensively.

During the French Revolution the town remained Royalist. Consequently, when Napoleon arrived on his march north after his escape from Elba in 1815, the town ignored him and let him through.

We walked up to the Citadel and what's more they allow doggies so we entered and climbed up to the top for fantastic views of the surrounding countryside.

It's quite a sizeable citadel and of course many information boards, thankfully with an English translation.

France certainly know how to do a roundabout !

Louis on Sentry duty

We sat under the shady tree as a rest from climbing many steps up to the Citadel

The bridge over the Durance was bombed by the Americans in August 1944 but they failed to destroy it, so the French finished the job two days later to hinder the nazis That's a big piece of sedimentry rock inverted vertically

This afternoon we headed to our parkup for tonight in a little hilltop village called Peipin further down the river.

We've had a walk around the village and it's a sleepy place, mostly the residents were out in their gardens enjoying a sunny Sunday afternoon.

We've done a lot of walking today and are ready to put our feet and paws up tonight with a glass of wine and watch the sun set on the mountain ridge opposite.

For me anyway, eau for louis.