Pinerolo- Manosque

We said our farewells to Jan and Nik and set off towards our destination, the town of Manosque. It seemed like a good base for our exploration of the Verdon Gorge and also of Provence.

It was a beautiful morning but both Steve and I were very grumpy with each other and out of sorts. This was not helped by Mrs Google taking us on a different route to the one we had expected. Normally this would not have bothered us in the slightest, but today it did.

I call it the separation effect. It happens when friends/family leave. Somehow it makes us feel very unsettled and it takes a couple of days to adjust.

It was a tedious journey, mainly because we decided to experiment with not using the toll motorways once we got to France. I can tell you that it’s definitely cheaper but much slower going on the free roads. Overall I think I’d rather get somewhere quicker and pay up.

We eventually arrived at our new abode which turned out to be a very bijou apartment underneath our host’s home.

Our host was very sweet but briefed us for an HOUR on things to do in the local area. I couldn’t possibly remember even half of the things he suggested and both Steve and I tried to bring things to a close but he just carried on. I think he must have been to the same school of tourism as Uri.

I was concerned that the sun would have set by the time he’d finished, but eventually he went and there was enough daylight left to have a mooch around Manosque old town.

I know we have just come from quite a vibrant little town in Italy, but the whole atmosphere in Manosque was one of decay and drabness. Obviously it was Sunday so things tend to be shut and therefore quiet, but there was dog crap everywhere, many of the houses looked uncared for and the only people around seemed to be sulky looking teenagers. All the restaurants were closed but it didn’t matter as we wouldn’t be able to afford them. Much,much dearer than Italy and it certainly didn’t look as though the locals would be eating there.

Anyway, not an issue for us as we are looking forward to staying in and cooking our own food, but it’s been a while since we’ve been to France and first impressions are it seems poorer now than it did 20 odd years ago.

Will be interesting to see if those impressions are right or not.