This was to be my easiest drive. A quick 3hrs to Grenoble, stopping by one location then taking a pretty cool road that hung over a cliff. I woke up without setting an alarm, had breakfast and left the city when I was ready.
The GPS had been a little weird yesterday, so I just punched in the first location and went directly there without a pre-defined route. The new route took me close to Grenoble before heading west towards the first location. It was a very quick drive to Pont-en-Royans and I arrived without an incidents (except a small issue at a toll booth around scrabbling for change).
The town was very pretty. I parked in a parking lot below the cliff and walked up the road and into the town. I was having the opposite issue with the weather today as it was bright, sunny, and very high contrast. I tried to take an initial image on the north side of the town where there was a gorge, but there was just too much contrast. I walked into the city and looked for subjects, but nothing stood out. Instead I purchased some water and a sandwich and headed down some stairs to a park in front of the river. This was going to be my main location, so I relaxed and ate while I looked around.
The water was nice, green and clear, so I wanted to make sure I used my polarizer. I took various shots at different levels of polarization (if that is a word). The image just above worked out perfectly when I allowed the reflection to really shine. I also liked the rock formations under the green shade of the water, so I made sure I took the image below.
After a few hours, I got back into my car and headed for my crazy road off the cliff. I had my camera set up to video the drive, so I was pretty excited (used a Gorillapod mounted to the dash). I could tell I was getting close when the road started to get a little narrow and the cliff a little steep. I could see the start coming up on the GPS and rounded the corner only to find the road blocked for construction. How many times was this going to happen to me? I was pretty pissed and had to take an alternate route.
I turned around (since that is where it was telling me to go) and proceeded to take the detour. The new route took me on a pretty tight road into the mountains, but there was little of interest and the sides of the road were lined with trees blocking any view. I arrived in Grenoble with little incidence and easily found my hotel.
That is when disaster struck … which will be in the next post.