CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Europe's deepest canyon, with the Corniche Sublime on the south rim. 48 km from Aups to Riez, about 58 min of riding. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 6 km this is Gorges du Verdon, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Where the Verdon canyon is at its deepest, the walls fall away on the south rim in cliffs of pale limestone that plunge several hundred metres to a river the colour of a green bottle. La Palud-sur-Verdon, on the northern edge, is the little hub for the Route des Crêtes, the one-way loop that runs along the rim of the gorge, and this stretch of road is its starting ground. Castellane is to the east and Aups to the west, each seventeen kilometres or so by road.
Read the complete Gorges du Verdon point 1 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Gorges du Verdon point 1 sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Gorges du Verdon point 2.
West of Castellane, the Verdon river disappears into the earth. Or that is how it looks from the road: the D952 climbs away from the town along the river, through a valley of pale limestone, and then the river plunges into the Grand Canyon du Verdon, a gorge up to seven hundred metres deep, while the road clings to the northern rim above. This spot lies on that rim, near Point Sublime and the village of Rougon, where the view down into the gorge is one of the most famous in France.
Read the complete Near Castellane write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Gorges du Verdon point 2 comes up 10 km in. Next is Gorges du Verdon point 3.
On the eastern side of Riez, the Valensole plateau starts to tip down toward the Verdon, and this point lies in that open country between Riez, Moustiers-Sainte-Marie and the great turquoise reservoir of the Lac de Sainte-Croix. It is a land of wide fields and big skies, where in June and July the lavender fields bloom in long purple rows, filling the air with a scent so strong you can smell it through your helmet.
Read the complete Near Riez write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
48 km in you reach Gorges du Verdon point 3.