Gorge du Verdon, The End

The Gorge gradually petered out and then I was in the rolling countryside again. The route back to Castellane was still full of fun. As I turned onto one of the roads in the itinerary, I noticed a sign that started "Route Barré" and the date of 14/09. Plus the word "autocross" was in there. I was going too fast to read all the words on the sign. But as I went down the road it occurred to me that today was the 14th of September. Although the sign was saying the road was closed, there was no barricade or even caution tape. I assumed whatever was going on was done.

I passed some race cars parked on the side of the road and some large car carrying trailers. One of the race cars was following me for a little while and, when I got to a straight section, I waved them by me. He was not going that fast. Imagine my surprise when I got to the other end of the road and slowed down enough to read the sign completely. It said that there was an autocross competition today from noon until 9:00 p.m. it was 2:00 p.m. when I read this. I guess they're having a late start.

More fun followed as a gorge squeezed the road to a single lane. I go really slow on roads like that because I hug the right side of it. You just don't know when a car will come around the corner right at you. I got behind a minivan and used him as a blocker. That was a lot of fun when it came to a little one-lane tunnel in the middle of a curve. He stared down at the car that wanted to go uphill and I just sat behind him and watched. Eventually, the car backed down the road and the mountain and I got by. After we passed, a couple of uphill motorcyclists tried to pass the car that pulled over for us. I heard a crunch and some yelling after I passed. A glance in my mirror showed a motorcycle leaning against the stopped car. I'll check the video later to see what happened.

I was back at the hotel in Castellane about 3:30 pm. Because I had a big lunch and ate a lot the day before, I decided to skip dinner and just have an ice cream cone. I did some laundry in the sink so that I won't have to do any more laundry this trip. It will be an early night tonight.
It's hard to believe there are only three more days of riding left on this trip. I sort of just made this my whole life now. I don't want to stop.Read more