So, where did I go to for my last week of summer adventure?…….The French Alps!! And they were amazing………….I love mountains!
The French Alps cover a big area. The majority of people go to the Northern Alps around Chamonix and Mont Blanc but I went somewhere a little different. I went to the Brianconnais – the ‘haute alpes’ or ‘upper alps’ near the town of Briancon in the Southern Alps and there are a few reasons for this choice: They have a better climate for walking in summer; they see much lower visitor numbers than the more glitzy Northern Alps, and they are much more isolated so you can walk all day and see no-one. They are in one of the least affluent areas of France and off the tourist trail, so they are relatively cheap to visit, authentically French, full of culture, but they lack none of the beauty of their wealthier Northern Alp neighbours. They are, however, quite a bit harder to get to as they are a distance from any major road network.
So off I went with my trusty Cicerone guidebook and my new rucksack to an area completely new to me!
Yes, new rucksack! I only possess a large rucksack and the problem is, if you give me a rucksack, it does not matter what size it is, I will fill it. But then of course, I have to carry it. I only have one big one for my long walks so I decided to treat myself to a nice new bright orange day sack! The colour choice was deliberate. I have absolutely no sense of direction and can be a liability. I always carry a compass, but I will be the first to admit that I probably would not have a clue what to do with it, or the map, in an emergency situation, it just makes me feel better. There are plans afoot to remedy this situation but I’ll tell you more about that another time. Therefore, I have to check the weather carefully before I set off and keep an eye on it, and always know my escape route. I take plenty of water, snacks and a lightweight emergency shelter. In addition to me liking bright colours, my thinking was that when on my own, I’m easier to spot with a bright orange rucksack should anyone have to come looking for me if injured. If I was lost in bad weather, I’d probably be too embarrassed to call for help, so I would probably just console myself by eating all my snacks in my shelter until the poor weather passed.
I feel it is about time I also introduce you to the Cicerone guide books too. I have quite a little collection. If I’m struggling for adventure holiday inspiration, I have an outdoor shop near home that has the full range of Cicerone guides. I have been known to choose a holiday by choosing a Cicerone guidebook first. My motto is: “If Cicerone have written a guide book on a place, it will be good.” And guess what! They have a whole guidebook on the Brianconnais Alps – including 40 high altitude walks, and it was good! I only got chance to do 4 of them this time, so that just means I will have to return to tackle the remaining 36!
So here goes, I’ll tell you all about this fantastic area, where I stayed, what I did, good bits, not so good bits and whether I’d recommend it.
I flew into Nice, which was a 3.5 hour drive away in the hire car, although it was a very nice drive. Turin, Lyon, Marseille and Milan are all slightly closer, but as the flight was booked at short notice, price was a consideration, with Nice being the only reasonable option. I flew with my favourite airline (I’m being sarcastic and they shall remain nameless), but you could say I got what I paid for, including the silver duct tape I spotted on the exterior of the plane. No, I’m not joking, I only wish I had a photo but I’m not the greatest flier so taking a photo was the last thing on my mind at that point, I was messaging my eldest, who has a number of flying hours experience to his name, to ask him to estimate my chances of survival. Anyway, I got there!
I stayed in the beautiful little town of Guillestre, because the guidebook said it was a good central location from which to explore. I chose Guillestre as it is a lot smaller that Briancon, and is not very touristy at all. The guidebook said it was ‘a picturesque little town, set in a deep valley at the mouth of a gorge’. It has a pretty fountain in the central square, two churches, a medieval tower and is very much a lived in town rather than a tourist destination. It has a supermarket, an amazing boulangerie, which I’ll tell you about in a minute, and some fantastic bars and cafes. There is nothing glitzy about it, a good proportion of the houses and buildings in the old town look as if they are falling down, but it all sort of adds to the character and charm.
This was a low-cost getaway. I like to travel and explore lots. I have two children at University who cost me a fortune, so I don’t have unlimited funds, but I like to get away every school holiday. I do everything from tent and camping to five star, I just love to wander. I’m more bothered about where I go than where I sleep. I actually prefer the cheap stays in some ways as they are more authentic, and you get a better feel for a place, and I hate pretentiousness. I’ve had my five-star break for this year in Greece, and it was lovely, but it wasn’t very ‘Greek’, it was a in a very modern hotel with lots of non-greek people. This was the opposite. It was very authentic, and it was lovely. I’m trying to think of the word, but I can’t find one that fits it exactly, maybe unique, eccentric, odd (but in a nice way). I stayed in a studio/chalet type apartment, which was part of a building in the old town, overlooking one of the oldest streets. It was very cheap but it had absolutely everything I needed. The building itself was extremely old and rickety. It ticked the boxes of being very clean and having a coffee machine – two essentials for me. It had a couple of little quirks; the bed, which was just really a mattress on a shelf which I had to mount a cupboard to get onto (trust me, not so easy when you’ve been on the wine); a bike hung on the wall; a skull in a plant pot (no idea why); and a guitar, just in case I wanted to burst into song. But I sort of fell in love with it in a strange way. It felt cosy and comfy.
I awoke bright and early on day 1 to make the best discovery of all………..I was opposite the boulangerie!!! Result! This boulangerie was amazing. There was already a queue inside, so I thought, “This must be worth queueing for.” It was! Now, what do I like like about France, Spain and Italy……………….they eat CAKE for breakfast! What a sensible idea. Why do we not do that in England? I hovered over the pain au chocolate for a while, and then wondered whether to have an almond croissant instead. Then I spotted the ‘proper’ cake counter. Well, that was me decided, will-power disappeared in an instant, eyes bigger than my belly, I thought I might as well go straight in for the raspberry tart, I’m on holiday! Oh gosh, it was delicious.
Armed with a sandwich from the bakers for lunch, and my new orange rucksack, off I set to go on my first walk to the Lac de l’Orceyrette. This was a short walk to break me in gently to some high altitude walking. Just 9km long and an estimated 3 hours with 355m of ascent. However, at 2,183 metres high, I found it quite hard work to get up those hills. The guidebook said it was a “stunning little walk, visiting a serene part of the valley, through a pretty and peaceful alpine meadow, descending to one of the prettiest lakes in the region.” Perfect, I thought. And they weren’t wrong, just look at this view.
It was the ‘alpine meadow’ and the pictures in the book that made me choose this route, I’ll tell you a little secret why. I’m a child of the 1970’s, an only child, and am a bit of a daydreamer and like all things peaceful, soft and fluffy! I’ve always been ok in my own company and liked wandering on my own. My boys think it absolutely hilarious that when I was little I had an imaginary friend. They think I’m some sort of ‘weirdo’. I can even remember her name – Cynthia – heaven only knows where I got that name from. I did doubt my own sanity when I revealed this fact and they burst out laughing, but major psychologists reveal that ‘children who have imaginary friends are less likely to be shy or struggle with loneliness. They also tend to be more creative and confident than those who don’t have make-believe friends.’ So there you go, I wasn’t weird after all, it’s normal, around two thirds of children have an imaginary friend.
I also had a very vivid imagination (I still do), and on UK TV in the 1970’s was a well loved children’s series called ‘Heidi’. Heidi was a little girl (the same age as me at the time), and she was sent away to live in a remote Swiss Alpine chalet in the middle of an alpine meadow with her grandad. The series was all about Heidi’s life in the Swiss alpine meadow with her grandad. Basically, she went around milking goats, talking to animals, playing in the streams and water, and was as free as a bird! There was no mention in the series of going to school or anything like that, and I wanted to be Heidi! Heidi had everything I thought I wanted in life and being an only child and living in the countryside (yes, ok, Yorkshire and not the Alps) I spent many happy weekend afternoon and evening after school being Heidi. I had to make do with sheep instead of goats, daisy’s and dandelions instead of alpine flowers and the heaped stack of the coal mine waste rock instead of mountains, but I did say my imagination was vivid didn’t I. Anyway, this walk gave me the opportunity to be a real-life Heidi for the day! It was nothing short of amazing.
I did get slightly nervous looking at the ‘ things you might see’ signs in the meadow as I waltzed along and I came to the ‘wolf’ sign. Nowhere in the book did it mention wolves! How ironic I thought it would be, to get eaten by a wolf on my first day and have nowhere to hide because I’m wearing my new bright orange rucksack on my back. Anyway, no wolves were encountered, but I was most relieved to stumble across a little chalet in the middle on nowhere, with a couple of Coca Cola deckchairs, upside down cable reels for tables, and a lovely lady selling refreshments! Even better that it had a wine list! What a fitting place for a glass of wine!
A perfect walk for the first day. A stop off in the car in Briancon on the way back for pizza was required and then back to Guillestre for a beer because I had deserved it. I’ve got a new beer to add to my list of very nice beers. I will say one thing about monks…………..they make absolutely wonderful beer. My favourite beers are those from the trappist Belgian monasteries Westvletern, Chimay, Westmalle etc. This one I had in France was called Wendelinus, an Abbey beer from Alsace. It’s made it onto my list …….. very nice. Try it if you get chance.
Anyway, full of pizza and beer I managed to mount the cupboard to climb onto my bed shelf and was ready to tackle day 2 after a good night of sleep.
Day 2 got off to a slow start because I got up to market day in Guillestre, so I had to have a look around. It was amazing! So much fresh fruit and produce in one place. Every farmer from miles around was there. Charcuterie, bread, cheese, honey, olives, every kind of vegetable imaginable and one stall that was completely dedicated to the humble tomato! I never knew there were so many varieties and colours of tomatoes. Having recently had a bit of a tomato shortage in the UK in early summer when I went two weeks without being able to buy a tomato I really appreciated this market stall.
Today’s walk was proceeded by a drive over the top of Col d’Izoard. At 2360m this is a very high pass, negotiable by car in summer, and is often used as one of the Tour de France climbs, where it is categorised as a ‘Hors Categorie’ climb, which basically means it is beyond categorisation as it is so difficult, long and steep. However, I managed it quite easily in a Citreon C5 car. Here, I discovered possibly the best placed sunbed ever, from which to devour my market sandwich for lunch, and did my very best marmot impression to send home to my boys. I have to send one picture a day home just to let them know I am still ok as believe me, anything is possible where I’m concerned.
Onwards, to undertake another short walk from Cervieres to the pretty hamlet of L’Alpe Du Pied, as it promised ‘fine views over the Cerveyrette valley’. There were certainly fine views, and I found possibly the prettiest place to be crucified.
After all that exitement, it was back to Guillestre for a little evening glass of sunshine.
After another night’s sleep on my shelf, I woke to a bit of a cooler, but still sunshiny, day (well 28C instead of 35C). The little glass of sunshine resulted in the need for a middle of the night toilet visit, and at this point I discovered that shelf sleeping was not the greatest idea, as dismounting the shelf onto the cupboard and down onto the floor in the dark of night without a light switch nearby is not half as easy as getting up there. Being a bit cooler, I decided to tackle a longer walk. 14.25km and 740m of ascent up to Col des Thures at 2220m. If the Cicerone guide labels a walk as ‘hard’, it usually is……..and it was. However, it was another beautiful one. There were butterflies everywhere, a little church, some amazing fairy chimney rock formations. These are formed by the irregular erosion of a particular type of rock known as puddingstone, which leaves a narrowly-tapered column topped with a large rock delicately balanced on top. Anyway, a hard but very beautiful walk with some more amazing views.
The only mistake today was the choice of white socks. You know you’ve had a good walk when you come back looking like this!
Only one thing for it, a quick bath in the beautiful Lac Embrun on the way back to get rid of most of the dirt before getting in the very clean apartment shower. A lake swim is so refreshing on a hot day after a long walk.
Tea tonight was a treat. Too tired to self cater again, and thinking I can’t come to France and have pizza again, I went to a lovely little French restaurant for delicious local lamb followed by more raspberry tart.
Day 4 and 5 I decided to up the adventure a little bit. So day 4 first. The drive up Col d’Izoard had got me wondering “Could I get up there on a bike?”. I think we all know the answer! “NO!” But there is only me who could think it possible that at 52 I might be able to achieve something that Chris Froome makes look torturous on one of his good days.
I did, of course, want to experience riding up there and very sensibly listened to the recommendation from the bike shop to perhaps have a go on an electric bike and set it on ‘Turbo’. Oh, what a good day I had. It was lovely. Fuelled with an almond croissant from the bakery, I set off from the bottom to cycle the 15km to the top and then the 15km back down. Now, what you don’t see on the Tour de France coverage is that there are little villages all the way up the mountain, and each one has a boulangerie. I’ve never seen the great Tour riders dismounting and popping in, but I was determined to call in every one, either on the way up or down, and I think I did achieve my goal. I do like to set myself a bit of a challenge though and was most smug when I handed my bike back in with 4 of its 5 charging bars still illuminated and informed the ‘Doubting Thomas’ in the bike shop that I had been all the way up and down in ‘Eco’ and ‘Tour’ and the ‘ETMB’ and ‘Turbo’ settings had just not been necessary.
Day 5, only one full day remaining after this, so let’s make the most of it as I’m still in one piece. What do you do if you are scared of heights, don’t like putting your head under water, and don’t want to make a mess of your nicely painted nails. Why, book yourself on a canyoning trip of course, on the day after a torrential downpour in the night.
So Rob, the lovely canyon guide from the Netherlands, very expertly took myself and another 8 individuals down Canyon Fournel in the Durance Valley, and took photographs at the same time! It was amazing. I’ve been canyoning twice before in other countries, and this one was equally as good. There were slides, jumps, abseils, via ferratas, all in the setting of the most beautiful canyon and gorge. I can’t say I enjoyed every moment as there were times when I was scared, and at one point I did opt for a lower jump than a higher one as I just mentally could not get my head around the rock that was protruding and sticking out below the higher jump. I’d 100% do it again though, and it’s good to confront your fears.
So all too soon I’d reached my final day and there was only one thing missing………………a marmot sighting. This is the only time the Cicerone guide has let me down! A walk to Lac du Plan Vallon from the tiny hamlet of Melezin. All the way up to 2315m of altitude just because the book said, ‘the marmots here are particularly friendly.’ We all know how I like to talk to animals. And the stuffed marmots in the gift shop looked so cute. I had this vision of myself, all Heidi like, sat in an alpine meadow at the top of a mountain, surrounded by friendly marmots eating out of my hand. I even googled, ‘What do marmots eat?’, to discover they like peanuts and carrots. And yes, there is only me stupid enough to carry 1kg of carrots bought especially for the occasion all the way up to 2315m to find how many marmots?? ……… NONE! Not a single marmot in sight on the way up. So I ate my sandwich, sulking, and made my way back down, only to discover, 100 meters from the top, having a drink in the stream………. a marmot!! What did it do as I held my carrot out for it? Well, it ran off, of course, hotly pursued by me, who was determined it was having some carrot. It then spent 30 seconds screaming at me from its hole before disappearing down it. Determined not to be weighed down by carrot any longer, I deposited a carrot at the entrance to every marmot hole within a 10 metre radius. So, do not believe walk 16 in the Cicerone guide………there are no friendly marmots here! However, there were beautiful views and cows with jingly bells round their necks, so I did get my Heidi moment.
Day 7 was unfortunately the grand depart. Just time for a quick drive the scenic route back to the airport over one of France’s highest drivable mountain passes. The road around the Cime de la Bonette reaches 2802m and according to Wikipedia is the highest asphalted road in France, and the highest through road in Europe. It’s not the prettiest peak. It’s really barren, very windy, very cold and there is no vegetation but definitely worth a look.
So that’s your Yorkshire Girl’s guide to the Brianconnais Alps. Would I recommend it……if you love walking, adventure, mountains, beautiful scenery, nature, gorgeous food, friendly people, but aren’t desperate to feed a marmot, then absolutely YES! I will definitely return, it’s like an adult’s adventure playground, and I still have 36 walks to do and a colony of friendly marmots to find. If you are looking for luxury and don’t want to exert yourself, and like more of a resort type holiday then no, it’s not that sort of place really, the locals definitely outnumber the tourists and there’s nothing glitzy about it. It’s a place where you relax in a more casual way and connect with nature, no need to pack your cocktail dress if you know what I mean. It’s quite a relaxing and homely place with a really welcoming vibe, I loved it and came back feeling really refreshed after a week of fresh alpine air.