We arrived at Marignan (the airport serving Marseilles) from Toronto on the morning of Tuesday July 11 with our bicycles and luggage.  We are pictured above (reflected in the airport windows) finally ready to begin the trek.

Heading NE from Marseilles, we arrived at the Gorges de Verdon by the morning of our third day.  This spectacular gorge is referred to as the european Grand Canyon, and was the hardest climbing I had yet to do - although it was only a warning of the hills ahead.

Trigance is a medieval town in the Jabron river valley, which is quite wide at this point.  A crenellated castle overlooks the town from atop the hill, although it is difficult to see in this photo.

Stopping for lunch in Castellane, a town tucked down in the Verdon valley.  The Chapel Notre-Dame-du-Rock (visible in the background) overlooks the town from its perch on a tall rock which juts straight up out of the valley.  The chapel is built on the site of a Roman fort and the ancient Roman town of Petra Castellana.

The view from part way up Col d'Allos. 
This is the first real col that we had to climb (altitude 2247 m at the top), and was pretty daunting for me, particularly when climbing past sky towns and lifts.

Tour de France passing the summit of Col d'Izoard (altitude 2360 m), Saturday July 15. 
Crowds had been gathering for over a day beforehand, some in cars or hiking but hundreds (possibly even thousands) on bicycles - all of which were applauded as they climbed the col.  But the sight of us lumbering up the mountain on our heavily laden bikes garnered the loudest cheers of all (next to the actual tour of course), along with several offers for pushes and a couple of jokers who enquired if we wanted to carry their bags as well.

One of the great things about touring by bicycle is the ease with which one can meet fellow cycle tourists.  Here we are with Robert Magnan, a bureaucrat from Bordeaux, who was covering around 200 km per day (by bicycle) in order to keep up with the Tour de France. Needless to say, we only spent one night in his company.

The view from atop Col d'Iseran, the highest col we climbed (and apparently the 2nd highest in the French Alps (altitude 2764 m)).  A long and arduous but exhilerating climb which seems to be a favourite among international cyclists - we met fellow travellers from Britain and Sweden at the  peak.