The kind people at the lavender distillery offered us a tankful of water, which we accepted with great pleasure. We were not exactly early this morning, as the loss of an hour for European summer time means we are two hours later than we were this time last week. Not too bad, as we have had several days to get used to being an hour ahead, and anyway, we had an early night last night. But eventually we set off, heading first of all to a supermarket - more and more French supermarkets are open on Sunday mornings now - and then the Swan Whisperer said he wanted to visit Digne-les-Bains.
I do wish he hadn't - the most awful mountain road up over the Col de Cabe, 11.800m, and hairpin bends to match! Thank heavens for seabands! We stopped for lunch once we had come down a little, in a random lay-by, and then headed on. I slept a lot of the way. Nothing much to see in D-les-B, and we couldn't find the aire (although we did find diesel and a cash point, both of which we needed), so we came away and followed the tourist route (more hairpin bends, and a rather bumpy road, which the SW hates) down to Gréoux-les-bains, where we had planned to spend the night. I think we have been slightly ripped off, though, because it is (I think) €10 for the night, including electricity and services (we had to move to get to the electricity), but there are other services on the way in and plenty of free parking in the town, so am not very impressed!
After a cup of tea we went for a short walk to see what the was to be seen (not much, aside from the spa), and I cleverly found a short cut back to the aire! It is very much milder here, although we are still at 316m. Apart from the hairpin bends, it has been a lovely drive, lots of olive trees and lavender, and different kinds of fruit trees, some of which are beginning to be in blossom, but many look absolutely dead! It is amazing how varied France is! One of the reasons we enjoy our trips so much, I think.
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