Alpes-de-Hte-Provence

[hobble]

Just returned from a trip to Castellane in Provence, the reason to re-visit the area where I spent many of my summer holidays as a child in the early 70's.
My grandmother moved to Provence (Callian) to paint and stayed for 30 years.
I used to be put on the plane in London from the age of 5 and met at Nice airport by my Grandmother in her little yellow fiat.
Callian back then was much different to today, we visited last week and the surrounding area seems much more built upon. Lac Cassian where I spent many times swimming have facilities for tourists, picnic tables, boats etc, none of which were there when I was younger.
However the hilly countryside still looked the same with it's terrraces of Olive trees and little stone properties.
We camped at a site in Castellane and used this as a base to explore the gorge, both by white water rafting and canoeing.
We drove to Lac St Croix, (where the gorge spills out) and swam in the lake.
The drive was brilliant, scenery stunning and roads VERY bendy.......
The Gorge would be a brilliant place to explore on foot as there are hikes through parts of it. ( Couldn't do this with 3 year old in tow!!, not this time)
For teenagers a great place with many great activities, both boys zip wired across the gorge at 130 metres high in a harness, white water rafted, canooed and swam.
Photos in the Europe Gallery.

[ericrovve]

There's one good hike you could try next time.
Just out of Castellan towards the gorges is a suburb called La Salaou, the old Roman settlement and salt water spring. The Roman road, arriving from Grasse, branches off to the right and climbs, follow it to Rougon and beyond.
Castellan is my nearest town.

[hobble]

Returning home and studying the map further I think we will have to visit again sometime.
Thanks for the info. There are so many places to see, shame there is never much time.
Are you local to the area?