I haven’t updated in a while, could be weeks, could be days?! We have covered a whole lot of ground though. We finished a beautiful few days in Passy by driving to Les Chapieux, a valley in the middle of nowhere according to phone signal. I’d love to say it was great being out of touch with the world, but when things are the way they are, I was very anxious to find out the world still turned outside of our little bubble.

We stayed in a very popular tourist spot for two nights but everyone was very kind and of the same mindset… explore, walk climb! so we did it. I’m not the best with heights, never have been, but the challenge was there.

After a few miles and a few dodgy dirt “paths” I admitted defeat and sat and had a big old cry at a particular verge that basically meant treading very carefully, not slipping on the loose rocks and hopefully not plummeting hundreds of meters to my demise. (Luke was fine, of course!) BUT, I plucked up the courage, I held on tightly to the loose bits of long grass and made my way around the verge and over to the other side where it was all downhill, with spectacular views of the river and glacier.

I walked back to the van via the road. Firm concrete with metres to spare instead of inches. Not even ashamed. How people do this so often is beyond me.

Fast forward to the next journey to a lake that we can’t even remember its name. We swam, we sunbathed, we got attacked by flies. Thousands. But it was a great free spot in a little piece of heaven heading down toward the South Coast.

Luke told me about another great lake he visited a couple of years ago called Lac de Sainte Croix at Gorges de Verdon so we drove there and spent three days at La Source Campsite where the owners were unbelievably nice and helpful, the village behind it had great food and where the lake was so clear and turquoise and honestly the most amazing place to swim.

We hired a canoe for the day and set sail on the still water for a tiring 2 hour paddle to the gorge, joined in with fellow canoees, paddle boarders, and kayakers slowly making our way through the gorge and hoping not to crash. We did. Many times. Luke’s fault. 6 hours and some very sore arms later and we were back to our beach for some much needed rest.

The hospitality was amazing, the campsite was spotless and every body was so friendly. Gorges de Verdon is perfect for an active getaway.

Then the bad news hit: France has been removed from the government list of safe countries. Fantastic. No longer insured and no longer able to go down to explore the South Coast. So we escaped to Italy!

So far so good. Time will tell…