La Palud-sur-Verdon is a small stone village of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, perched on the north rim of the Verdon Gorge, and it is where riders usually decide how they are going to spend the rest of the day. Behind it are fields of lavender and thyme, in front of it is the biggest canyon in Europe, and the village has just enough cafés, shops and bakeries to keep a person fed while they work out the details. It sits at about nine hundred metres, so the air is clear and in the morning it can be properly cool.
The Gorges du Verdon, sometimes called the Grand Canyon of Europe, was carved by the turquoise river of that name through limestone plateaus, with sheer walls rising up to seven hundred metres above the water. For centuries it was almost unknown, an impassable ravine that shepherds avoided. Not until the explorer Édouard-Alfred Martel, the father of modern speleology, made his expedition in 1905 did the full depth of it become widely known. The rock is pale, the water improbably green, and from the viewpoints the cliffs seem to hold their breath.
The riding from here is some of the best in France. The D952 runs along the north rim from Castellane, with the Route des Crêtes branching off from La Palud itself as a one-way loop with a series of belvederes. The corners are tight, the surface is mostly good, and the road clings to the edge of the abyss in a way that makes you thankful for the crash barriers. In July and August, traffic is heavy, with campervans, coaches and cyclists, so start early or aim for spring and autumn, when the colours are best and the crowds are thin. In July, the lavender fields around Valensole, a short way to the west, turn the plateau purple.
Fuel is the one thing to plan for. La Palud is small, and the nearest sure source is Castellane to the north-east, or Draguignan, a much bigger town, to the south, so fill the tank before you commit to the gorge roads. Food is easy: soups, local goat cheese, lamb and honey, and a pastis or a glass of rosé are the appropriate rewards after the ride.