Vist to Gourdon, along with hike to 'la boule'!

'La boule', the goal up on the hill in the distance

Daryl with one of the many bugs examined along the way



We did it!

Marcus, still smiling

Stephie, proud to have made it to the top.

Claire from summit

Tough Mathieu from summit

First family hike......success!

Ice-cream in Gourdon....celebrating our accomplishment :o)

Gourdon is a small historical village located about 1 hours drive 'up' from La Colle sur Loup.  The drive there was absolutely breathtaking, as we were literally driving alongside a very steep mountain, on not much of a road.  To make it more interesting, there was a bike race going on, therefore we were not only trying to stay on the mountain and in our small lane, but also clear of bikers.  Watching the bikers made us feel quite ashamed that we had been complaining about walking up our driveway.  The kids enjoyed watching the bikers that appeared to be chasing us up the mountain :o)  We parked our vehicle about 10 minutes up from Gourdon, where we began our first family hike to 'la boule'.  This is a giant ball (see photo 1) that can be seen from all around the south of France.  When we first saw it, I looked at our 4 kids (who didn't like our driveway), our 1 umbrella stroller, and thought to myself, no chance.  We were however with the Labries and their 2 children, who typically do this hike a few times per year.  So, I didn't say too much about my negative thoughts.  The hike was paved (which was great for the stroller), filled with all kinds of bugs to look at (the boys loved this), and we even found a really cool fossil that we marked on our way up so we could pick it up on the way down.  We stopped for lunch half way up when things got a little tricky, which rejuvenated everyone.  All along, we told the kids once we reached 'la boule', we would go for a boule of ice-cream :o)  Everyone did have a chance in the umbrella stroller.  We only had one wipe-out requiring band-aids, so for us, that was pretty good.  The hike got steeper and steeper as we approached the top.  At the last plateau before the final steep incline, I did say that I would wait there with a couple of our kids, while the rest went to the top, but, it was decided that we would plug on.  We couldn't come this far and not make it to the top!  After about 1 1/2 hrs, we arrived 'la boule', and let's just say there was a little celebrating....with a few happy dances :o)  The view was absolutely spectacular, as we could see the entire coastline.  Definitely worth the work :o)  The hike down took about half the time, which was great.  We then drove back to Gourdon, where we walked around the tiny village (which looked like a castle alongside the mountain), and enjoyed some much deserved ice-cream (which we seem to be having a lot of these days!).  All in all, we were very proud of our kids.  I really, really didn't think they had it in them, but they proved me wrong :o)  It was a great day, and everyone slept well that night.