Massive mass

Due to the slight slope of our pitch, which cannot even be compensated by our professional jacking up with two pieces of firewood, we are sleeping the wrong way round tonight. Chrissi perceives this primarily acoustically through the loud klong as Basti once again hits his head with full force on the cabinet above when he gets up. Whether it's because of yesterday's bath or the slight concussion, the rest of the night passes surprisingly quietly and we wake up at around eight o'clock in the morning with a small bump but well rested.

For today, we have planned another small program. As we discovered yesterday, you can rent a canoe at our campsite, and the Verdon Gorge can be reached by water without much effort. The receptionist estimates the tour from the campsite to the gorge and back to be about four hours.

Planned, done. After a hearty breakfast, we pick up the key for the canoe at the reception and release it from its cage by the lake.

In the initial phase, we find it very difficult to find a rhythm and take a break about every five minutes. After a "definitely capsizing" exchange on the lake - without capsizing - we continue our journey and gradually find a rhythm. After about an hour, we arrive at the gorge and already feel a little awestruck between the massive rocks. The initial skepticism of whether we are up to this tour quickly disappears in the face of the busy pedal boats, and we quickly make our way into the gorge.

The massive rocks captivate us and about three-quarters of an hour later we reach our endpoint. Not voluntarily, but the river narrows and despite several attempts and our previous fortification, we cannot make any progress against the current.

Since getting out and pushing is not an option for us, we accept our fate and turn around. Despite the headwind, the return journey is surprisingly comfortable with the current. We skillfully ignore the slight pulling in our muscles and overtake pretty much everything that comes our way in front of the bow, next to the pedal boats. On the way back, we take a break on the undeveloped opposite bank of our campsite. We let our slightly battered muscles rest a bit on this small private beach, before we tackle our last leg.

Arriving at the beach of our campsite, we lift the much heavier canoe back into its cage and treat ourselves to a well-deserved (afternoon) nap. Not without effort, but worth every exertion for the view.

Rested and hungry, we return to the small town with a slight dip in blood sugar and decide on a small, authentically looking restaurant. Meat is on the menu today. We choose Iberico pork and lamb chops, both grilled over charcoal, with fries and potato gratin.

Satisfied, we end the evening in front of our van with reading and writing, and look forward to the next day in this beautiful spot on earth. The weather forecast is sunny, sunny, sunny.