Moustiers-Sainte-Marie

We left the marina heading inland a little. We needed to get a little further up the coast but wanted more countryside rather than busy towns and over populated tourism. We drove through miles of lovely countryside with sometimes lavender or sunflower fields offering contrast to the lush greenery. Until it changed again and we found ourselves on roads surrounded by huge rocky limestone cliffs. We then by chance drove along a road that was skirting a very large lake with the most beautiful turquoise water, there were though unfortunately lots of people and height barriers across all the parking places 🤬. So frustrating because we really wanted to stop and visit this location as it was quite special. We could see there was the opportunity to hire a canoe or pedlo and take it out on the water between the walls of the massive gorge. We would have definitely wanted to do that, but alas parking Ivy anywhere was simply not going to happen 😢.
We carried on around the lake taking the road up the side of the gorge until we came across a place that at last we were able to stop overlooking the lake, so we pulled in and turned off the ignition . As we arrived we immediately noticed a couple with a lovely white northern Inuit dog. We had a chat with the couple who were from Belgium but spoke very good English. The man was suitably impressed with Ivy ( describing her as his dream) so Darren gave him the full tour. The lady was quite taken with Bliss, while I was equally taken with her dog. A beautiful dog no doubt, but a bit aloof, whereas Bliss was her usual friendly self, wanting to play and frustratingly being ignored. ☺️
The view of the lake was stunning, we just wished we could have gone for a paddle boat ride with Bliss. Never mind, maybe we’ll come back one day in the future when it’s not so busy. Ivy’s maiden voyage is a whistle stop tour by design, where we’re to find out one way or another if this is the life for us. So we’re not spending anywhere near enough time in each area to truly appreciate all they have to offer. This is one of those places that clearly has a great deal on offer and deserves to be revisited properly.
It suddenly started to get overcast and then started raining so we retreated back into the sanctuary of Ivy. We continued on our way and settled at a village aire that we came across. We went for a quick walk around the village streets with Bliss when we arrived. There was a pigeon that was sitting on the side of the road on someone’s doorstep, that we didn’t see but unfortunately Bliss did! Before we had a chance to stop her she pounced and had the poor thing in her mouth. One shake and a moment later the poor thing was dead. 😢
If there’s one thing I would change about Bliss it’s her predatory nature, but she is a husky and unfortunately that’s just what they are evolved to do.
We went back to Ivy, parked in this somewhat unremarkable but functional parking area, settled in for the night and tried to figure out our where to next.Read more