Circuit du Paradis? Not today!

Our walk today, the Circuit du Paradis, had a steep 600 metre climb up a rocky path to the village of Gourdon, perched on top of a cliff high above the River Loup. Unfortunately, just 20 minutes after we started, the heavens opened and we had torrential rain all the way to the top!

Our route started uphill almost as soon as we left the campsite, up to Le-Bar-sur-Loup. This is where it started raining, so we put our ponchos on. These are much lighter and cooler than waterproof jackets and work really well for hiking when it’s warm and not windy… even though they look far from cool… especially on me, because mine practically drags on the floor and has to be tied up to stop me tripping on it! 🤣 As we left the town we crossed the Pont du Loup viaduct and could see Gourdon looking tiny high on a rock in the distance, and the low cloud in Gorges du Loup.

We reached the finger post pointing to the Chemin du Paradis, and set off up the rough path, which is a rocky and cobbled footpath that looks as though it’s been walked for generations. We kept following the yellow waymarks painted on the rocks… up, up, up… getting wetter and wetter. At least I wasn’t too hot for once, but I did keep thinking ‘so much for a path to paradise!’ It certainly wasn’t paradise this morning! We couldn’t even shelter under the trees because the foliage was too sparse and the the water seem to collect on the leaves then splat down on us!

After a while we reached the Canal du Foulon, which is a huge, long metal pipe around the hillside used to supply water to Grasse. From here the path got steeper and zig-zagged backwards and forwards around sheer rocky crags. We left the trees and the views opened up… I’m sure they’re usually stunning, but today everything was shrouded in cloud!

Finally, we reached the village of Gourdon after about 2 hours… dripping wet through… rain on the outside and sweat on the inside of our ponchos. We found a cafe for a drink… after the recent boiling hot weather, I didn’t expect to be drinking hot chocolate this holiday!

By the time we left the cafe, the rain had stopped and the sun kept peeping through the clouds. We could now see Le Bar-sur-Loup far below and the coast in the distance… Nice, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Antibes… even a couple of huge cruise liners in the bay by Cannes. I’m glad the climb wasn’t wasted 😊

Gourdon is very pretty and a plus side of the rain is that it was very quiet today… very different from Èze a couple of days ago! After we’d explored a little, we set off back to the campsite. The route was now relatively flat for a while, first through open land, then into the trees of the Bois de Gourdon. John picked up some geocaches en route, although we couldn’t find a couple… we didn’t want to hang around because the showers started again, and we knew heavy rain was expected again later on. One of the caches took us to a water source, and another to a deep rocky cave called Le Garagai Gouffre.

We continued following the yellow paint stripes on the rocks and trees, winding quite steeply downhill through bushes and Mediterranean oak trees with acorns on them until we met the GR51, a balcony footpath that follows the Canal du Foulon pipe.

We came across an open gate at the side of the path with steps down below ground. John had read that there were tunnels for the pipe that we could explore, and he had come prepared with a torch. We went inside but weren’t sure whether we’d be able to get out at the other end so we turned back. As it happened we needn’t have worried because, back on the footpath, we passed the open gate at the other end of the tunnel. That said, I was also worried someone might lock us inside! 😆

Where the path passed under a rocky overhang, we saw lots of sections of old pipe scattered and crushed among the rocks and bushes. We wondered if it had once been taken out in a landslide. Then finally we were back on road, with a view back towards Gourdon, perched on its cliff in the distance. It was a long walk, but excellent, despite the rain. My watch says 20 kilometres, although John’s more accurate Garmin said 16 kilometres. I love being able to look back at where I’ve been at the end of a walk… it gives me a great sense of achievement.

Soon we could see Le Bar-sur-Loup, tumbling down the hillside, and also the gap in the mountains where the Gorges du Loup is, this time with less cloud. We finished off our hike with a big beer in the old town at a bar that was part of the castle, where it was lovely and peaceful. Back at the campsite, we cooled down with a swim in the pool before the rain started again. It’s been good to have a cooler today, but I’m pleased that the forecast says the rain is passing over and the sun is coming out again.