Inveterate dabbler in business, travel, gadgets & life
I settled on the pression grande and fromage baguette (notice how my French is galloping on) and decided to press on through the Lauzanier valley rather than the bottle of red wine.
My excuse is there where no pretty girls about. Hold on who is that coming towards me? You could have been right Michael they are heading towards the village…..
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Arrived in Larche recreated in 1944 after the village was dynamited by the retreating forces. Now who is against the EU? Personally I don’t understand the anti EU brigade at all! If it means that we can live peacefully without frontiers (and it is VERY noticeable all the abandoned frontier posts, castles etc along the GR5) then I’m all for the EU. Here’s hoping that the EU does expand to fill the whole of Europe without any borders or controls on population movement. Remember passports were only invented in the last 100 to 200 years.
The really big questionhowever is . It is now 1.45pm, by the new church clock (yes the church was flattened to) and according to the guide its 6.5 hours to Bousiéyas (and yes I have checked the Refuge is open!) Continue or not? Its the most glorious walking day….
David S sorry I didnt include you previously 🙂 past emails are all on my blog www.geoffjones.com/blogger.html
Anthony will try your instructions although I suspect Ibrofen etc are 98% due to the placebo effect anyway.
Jacqui and George thanks for your nags its good to know that the Bleaklow day with Fred still resonates with George and to think we ‘only’ did 15 miles and 2500ft in our youth.
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The perfect day, the day you only dream about, walking across landscapes that Doc Searls gets to photo out of aeroplane windows. Incredible weather blue skys low 20’s doesnt get any better than this.
Great 3500ft climb first through forests then around the vivid turquoise Lac Sainte-Anne in blissful silence (even the Marmots were quite today) followed by a zig zag ascent to Col Giradin (where my pet hornet – who buzzes me whenever I stop proceeded to buzz me). The way down was total scary, I’m really going to miss these adrelanin rushes, back in Cambridge, ( no nanny state here – you live or die by each footfall) on virtually vetical descents on soft shale.
Eventually through the village of La Barge ( a real old original dilapidated french hamlet in the Ubaye valley) then over the Pont du Chatelet – google it – the most amazing bridge with a 107 metre vertical dropinto the gorge and only 2 foot high side walls with nice gaps at each end for the kids to disappear through!
The gite in Fouillouze www.gitelesgranges.com is an interesting old building, beautifully restored and adorned with potted plants. Looking forward to dinner as the dining room has a vaulted ceiling. It took ages to get the guardian to understand my pronuciation of vegetarian :-(.
Whilst walking now I can smell the gorgeous scents from all the wild herbs etc also the bushes are more prickly.
Will be on the final FFRP guide tomorrow and the GPS is showing only 70 or so miles left..
Flight booked for next Thursday from Niceat 10am (thanks Nick) so I can be at Ems first sixth form parents evening. Will try and arrange an evening out in Cambridge on Friday at The Pig.
Cheers
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I (or more precisely the hotel owner) arranged for a taxi to pick me up at 8.30 and to drop me up off at Cháteau Queyras to resume my perambulations on the GR5.
My left knee still had twinges of pain so I breakfasted on Nurofen super strength pills and vowed to take it easy and stick to the track!
The cheese mountain (Col Fromage) starts of steep but is well marked and soon turns into a nice easy ascent of just over 3000ft the knee behaved itself and the weather was kind too (although I must get another hat if it starts getting sunny – lost the last one somewhere). Looking back across the valley I could see the full extent of yesterdays disasters – I must have been mad. Check out Googleearth to see the crags and slopes i was trying to turn into a shortcut!
The Cheese Col has a false top so I thought I was on my way down when I met a party of walkers, on their way up. They recgonised me from last night at the hotel (they were doing bits of the GR58 which apparently takes in 8 countries of the Alps from Slovenia to France see www.via-alpina.org) they dutifully informed me the Col was still to come!
I made it to Ceillac in fine form at 1.15pm AND DECIDED to stay 🙂 .
I’m now a couple of days ahead of myself so hopefully will get a flight a week on Thursday 28 Sept. and be back in time for the CRUFC lunch on Saturday and maybe a drink at The Pig on Friday night.
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