This post recounts the thirteenth day of my English Channel to the Mediterranean cycle tour in France with Peak Tours in June 2025. Read Day 12: Sault to Les Salles-sur-Verdon.

As I got ready for the day, I could hear rain falling for only the second time on this tour. It had stopped by the time we retrieved our bikes from their overnight resting place, but the atmosphere was heavy with humidity.

We were quite slow to set off this morning, and I grabbed a seat, seeing no reason to stand. When we did set off, it was to tackle a seven mile climb, described in the Peak Tours route notes as the hardest of the trip after Mont Ventoux. It’s only now that I realise that we ascended almost 4,000 feet over that climb. It was tough going at times, but the cooler weather helped until the sun burned through later in the morning, bringing our usual 30C plus temperatures..

I stopped in the village of Auguines to take photos looking down to the Lac de Sainte-Croix reservoir. The road climbed up round a hairpin to the centre of Auguines, at which point we had the only rainfall when cycling of the whole tour. A few others donned rain jackets, but I had left mine in the van. (I knew that if I’d worn it I’d have resembled a boil in the bag chicken within seconds – a lesson I learned on Land’s End to John O’Groats in 2019.) The rain stopped within five minutes.

After just over five miles we came to a viewing platform at the top of the Col d’Illoire. At first I thought the viewpoint was on a distant rock, and decided not to visit it, but quickly realised it was actually a wooden platform just a few steps away from the road. The views of the gorge and the Verdon river far below us were stunning, as you can see below.

We had several more stops along the way to admire the views, although the crowds made it hard to shoot video clips without chatter and the roar of motorbikes in the background. One German always seemed to appear whenever we stopped, and would never turn off his motorbike engine, although he did take a photo of us at one point.

We stopped for our morning break after just under 10 miles – just cold drinks now the ‘brew’ van was out of the tour. I videoed John making his grand arrivée at the break, seen above.

We had to cycle carefully round the many hairpins, as these could be hazardous if we coincided with the many tourist coaches negotiating them.

I enjoyed seeing this unusual vehicle overtaking us. The rider made two attempts, aborting the first when he saw several motorbikes about to overtake him and us.

Above: images on the road along Gorges du Verdon

After crossing this spectacular bridge, we had a tough four mile ascent that was made far harder because of a strong headwind, which would plague us for much of the rest of the day. Jim and I were cycling together again, and at one point he videoed me as I cycled, as you can see in the screenshot below.

The last couple of miles to lunch at Comps-sur-Artuby was downhill, and we savoured the chance to relax and refuel. Unfortunately, the service at Restaurant l’Artuby was very slow, and we waited over an hour for our communal plates of meat and chips to appear. It was very hot by now, and we were grateful we had just 17 miles still to cycle to our destination.

After a tough morning, we were looking forward to the easier afternoon session, which the Pesak Tours route notes promised was ‘mostly downhill’. This was true, but that pesky headwind meant we still had to pedal, at least until we changed direction away from the wind.

We unexpectedly rejoined the Gorges du Verdon – Rive Droite, or the right bank – after a few miles, with the familiar rocky overhangs and green waters of the Verdon, seen below. There was less traffic compared with on this morning’s route along the gorge, and the road was much lower, so we were much closer to the river. It was lovely to see Donal and Monica cycling again after their unexpected break from the tour.

As we entered Castellane, we passed a group of cyclists heading out of town. Suddenly I spotted a spectacular rock – like a mini Gibraltar – with a church on top. This was the Roc of Notre-Dame, which dominates the town. The church was founded in the 12th century.

Mark, Wendy and I enjoyed a drink on the terrace of the Hotel du Commerce before we met Jim for dinner. Castellane is a lovely, historic town, with a good selection of restaurants. We chose well: excellent service, and wonderful food – including my pizza. It was a fine way to end the last ‘normal’ day of the tour – it’s hard to believe that by this time tomorrow we’ll have completed our epic ride from the English Channel to the Mediterranean.

Read Day 14: Castellane to Cagnes-sur-Mer.

The day’s stats

44.25 miles, 4,449 feet climbing, 4 hours 2 mins cycling, average speed 10.9mph (the lowest of the tour!)

The day’s highlights video