Route Napoléon Provence-Beyond (Beyond the French Riviera) ® Var (83) Age: 12th century Towns and sites (start-finish): [ Golfe-Juan | Cannes | Grasse | St. Vallier-de Thiey | Castellane | Clue de Taulanne | Barrème | Digne | Sisteron | Grenoble ] The current Route Napoléon, first opened in 1932, follows the route taken by Napoléon I (Napoléon Bonaparte) in 1815 on his march from Elba to Grenoble. Napoléon had abdicated in April of 1814 and gone to Elba (history). In March of 1815, he began his journey with the intention to overthrow Louis the 18th. Napoléon returned from Elba and landed at Golfe-Juan on the night of 1 March, and he and his small group of men stayed the first night in Cannes. To avoid the Rhone valley and the troups in Marseilles to the west, he decided to head north and cross the Alps between Digne and Sisteron to get to Grenoble. From Cannes, Napoléon and 1200 men went up to Grasse and then followed small trails and mule tracks through the hills to St-Vallier, Escragnolles, and Séranon, where they stopped for the night. On the morning of the 3rd, they left Séranon and marched another 24 km to Castellane where they rode through the center of town in the middle of the afternoon. From there they went up over the Col des Leques (1146 m) and through the Clue de Taulanne in heavy snow, past Senez and on to Barrême, where they arrived late and stayed for the night. The advance guard left during the night, by the light of a full moon. Napoléon and his main troup left Barrême early on the morning of the 4th for the 30 km trip to Digne. After lunching in Digne, he followed the Bléone river to the Durance, where he stopped for the night at the château de Malijai. On the 5th, Napoléon marched north towards Sisteron, where a citadel guarded the narrow gap of the Durance. At l'Escale, he continued on up the east side of the river, through the village of Volonne. It turned out that Sisteron wasn't guarded: Napoléon hadn't been expected to make such good time, and the population didn't really care anyway. He stopped for lunch, and continued on to Gap where he arrived that night. On the 6th of March, he went up over the Col Bayard at 1248 m, to Corps, 40 km north of Gap. The following day, the 7th, he marched another 25 km to La Mure, where the famous confrontation with Laffrey occured. That evening, the Emperor made his grand entry into Grenoble. Travel Time/Distance [ Other Road Distances ] Location Dist km Time Cannes         Grasse 16 16 0h17 0h17 St Vallier-de-Thiey 10 26 0h09 0h26 Castellane 51 77 0h18 1h14 Barrême 20 97 0h19 1h33 Digne-les-Bains 28 125 0h24 1h57 Malijai 18 143 0h14 2h11 Sisteron 19 162 0h19 2h30 Gap 48 210 0h40 3h10 Corps 36 246 0h35 3h45 La Mure 20 266 0h20 4h05 Champs-sur-Drac 25 291 0h20 4h25 Grenoble 13 304 0h15 4h40