Saturday 28th October 2017

Our campsite was due to close on Sunday, so Ray headed off to reception to pay our dues and check if we were able to leave on Monday.

He returned, having paid our bill, clutching details of a walk. (9.5 kms and over 3 hours!).  It began in one of the villages close to us, Quinson.

We drove to the suggested car park near the museum of prehistory and made our way towards the bridge over the River Verdon and our start. The view from the bridge is lovely and gives you a glimpse of the gorge and the river.

River Verdon From Bridge

We began our ascent up a step flight of steep steps towards the gorge, keeping the remains of the ancient aqueduct on our left.

Quinson Walk Information

The first half of the walk is along a path, which closely follows the river and provides views of the gorge and glimpses of people enjoying the water in canoes, kayaks, electric boats or the more confident on paddle boards.

Boats Of All Shapes & Sizes Below

Fine Views Of The Gorge

As well as the path, we often had to walk along the wall of the old aqueduct.

Walking The Old Aquaduct Walls

Or climb steps created from the gorge rock or in some cases, steep metal stairs.

Steep Stairway

At one point as we wondered along the path we were surprised to spot a cute boar piglet trotting towards us. On spotting us, it turned tail and disappeared from our view.

Lost Wild Boar Piglet

The aqueduct or canal du Verdon, is over 82 kms long and was in use up until the late 1960’s. Walking through the aqueduct is generally not permitted, but there is a section where you leave the gorge and walk in the aqueduct and through a long tunnel.

Sometimes the tunnel is closed to protect the local bat population, but we were lucky to be able to navigate the complete circuit.

Autumn Colours Along The Gorges du Verdon

Spectacular Water Colour

Weathering and erosion of the limestone rock over time has given the water in the gorge its’ spectacular colour.

Low Level View Of The Gorge

After about an hour and a half we reached the section of the walk with some steep metal steps.

This led to a path through some deep vegetation which was quite pleasant in the heat of the afternoon sun.

Eventually we found our way out into the open and made our way back down some very steep, incredibly rocky paths to the main road.

I’m not sure that the final part of the Quinson Walk was quite how it was meant to be but we are here to tell the tale.

Thank goodness 🙂