006: Tallard (LFNA) → Nice (LFMN).
POI’s:
Sometimes it is nice to have roads or railroad tracks or even rivers to use as orientation marks. But sometimes you have to switch things up and fly cross-country, dodging peaks and climbing across mountain ranges to reach your destination. Therefore I went cross-country from Tallard, soon spotting the Lac de Serre-Ponçon in the far distance.
As this region of France is sparsely populated you’ll find many national parks here. For the first part of my southeasterly flight I was skirting the western borders of the Parc national du Mercantour.
After playing around with the free camera I just had to take this shot of the village of Entrevaux, upon which I stumbled completely by accident. My LNM was zoomed so far out that it didn’t even show me any settlements between Gap and Vence.
Finally, after crossing the entirety of France and a brief excursion to Switzerland, I found our way back to the sea - although the Mediterranean Sea instead of the English Channel. This one was taken above Le Haut Cheiron.
After descending from about 6500ft and leaving the mountains behind me I prepared to land at Nice, finishing with this scenic shot of the Baie de Anges as seen from Cagnes-sur-Mer.
Short fact:
Did you know that the small mountain village of Entrevaux was once a fairly imporant fortification, defending the southeastern borders of France? A citadel was constructed in 1690 which survived not only a Savoyard siege in the 18th century but also served as a prison camp for German POV’s during the First World War after which it was abandoned. Why here? Because the area around NIce only joined France in 1860 so for the most part of modern history Entrevaux was very close to the borders of the Kingdom / Republic itself.