Mountains Gandalf, Mountains!
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Yet another two weeker this time! (laziness on my part in all honesty) Last time Ellen had just had an argument with some grumpy horses in the shadow of Puy Mary in the Cantal.
The next morning we awoke atop a hill in the middle of a Cantal valley and headed up to the Puy Mary lookout and car park. Unfortunately for Ellen, as ever, the van was too long to park here for the hike up the mountain. So we continued on down the other side and through dense forest until we were spat out on the side of a long sweeping valley looking out across plains and rolling hills on the horizon. A short but overall unsuccessful stop at the mountainside store for a pin for the pin board and we then continued further on. The Village of Salers bearing ever closer.
We reached Salers and for a reasonable price we could park up the van and wander into the village. What a day we had here, it’s not been voted the beautiful village in France for nothing. Every corner presented yet more jaw dropping vistas or beautiful squares and buildings.
After a lovely day spent wandering the ancient steeets in the blazing sun, laden with artworks, jewellery and Salers Cheese, we hit the road once again.
This time we were headed for Aurillac for a restock on food and potentially a night or two stopover. However after we had restocked, we instead decided that we weren’t ready for another town/city and instead pushed on further back east and into the mountains once more. Destination, a lookout near the ski resort of Le Lioran where Ellen got chatting to the German couple who arrived in a converted Ambulance! Very cool.
The next morning we were up early(ish) to go hiking in Le Lioran. We had a discussion with the very friendly lady in the tourist office who offered to speak French for us to practice, on which routes to take and which lifts were running. I have come to regret this, but she did ask if we were feeling strong for the 12km hike up to the peak of the mountain and back. We said yes. But I apparently was not.
The 12km slog up 30% inclines that continued for over a km at a time were pure hell. It took us far longer than estimated and by the time we reached the summit I was dead. But we were still only halfway and the descent, which included rock ladders (bent metal rebar cemented into the rock face) was no easier than the route up!
Needless to say, I was not a happy man and was dying by the end. Thankfully the bar was open at the bottom and I could indulge in a well earned post hike pint. Here, surprisingly, Ellen met two British men who she had seen documenting butterflies on the mountain. They were lovely guys, one of whom Ellen actually recognised as working for Natural England.
We provided this blog to them and bid our farewells. If you’re reading gents, then it was lovely to meet you and we hope you had a good rest of your trip back northward!
That evening we just returned to the same spot as the night before. The next morning we were graced with possibly the best breakfast cooking view we’ve experienced on the trip so far, looking out across the valley. After which, we headed off farther north and found a lovely aire near the Lac de Chambon and the village of Murol with its imposing castle.
We spent a couple of days chilling here with the lake, bars and village all within reasonable walking distance. Which was good as the temperatures were rarely dipping below 30° during the day by this point.
After a couple of days of wandering, Day skipper coursework, swimming and Castle visiting we set off again further east. We eventually stopped at a little Aire in a car park on the banks of the Loire near Saint-Victor-sir-Loire with a sweeping grass hillside sloping down to the river.
Saturday was very hot. Ellen claimed a spot under one of the trees just below where we had parked the van as we expected it was going to get pretty busy. She was not wrong. Thankfully she had also been out for an early morning swim in the river, because by midday it was swarming with people. So much so that we were questioning our decision to stay. But headphones in, Ellen reading and myself doing more Day skipper theory and we had a lovely afternoon (and got some weird looks as I plotted courses on my training charts under the trees).
Sunday we decided to head on, further east still. We decided to cut out Lyon, big cities aren’t the easiest as I’ve said and there were mountains waiting in the Alps!
As we reached the lower mountains on the approach to the southern Haute-Alpes we pulled into a France Passion stop at the Raspail Vineyard near Saillans. Here we got a free tasting of their gorgeous wine, including their Vallon d’Or award winning Cremant de Die, which was particularly impressive.
Needless to say, despite a free stopover, we spent a lot of money here. Adding 6 bottles to the collection in the garage and an extra bottle of red for the road. The added benefit was the Durance river was right next to the vineyard which even had a tiny cut-through to get down to a popular swimming spot.
We spent the rest of the afternoon therefore cooling off in the river and dodging kayakers. Despite the crowds, it was a lovely afternoon and much needed given the soaring temperatures. The next morning was even better, we headed back down before hitting the road and it now being a Monday, it was silent. Just us and the river. We spent as long as we could here, jumping in and enjoying floating down in the crystal clear water until the odd person or two began to join us and then we set off back to the van.
Next stop was another much needed “holiday”, silly as it sounds. Similar to when we stopped at the hotel in Tuscany, (Remember that?! seems like a lifetime ago now!) this was to be a break from decision making on things like where to sleep and what to see and do etc. So, we booked a lakeside pitch at a simple little campsite on the banks of the Lac de Serre Ponçon in the southern end of the Haute-Alpes.
Lac de Serre Ponçon is a huge, gorgeous man-made lake surrounded by dramatic mountains. Our first night on the banks of the lake introduced us to just how quickly weather can change here in the Alps. We had set up ready for a relaxing evening with the awning out in the blazing 35° sunshine. Then within half an hour a horrendous storm battered us from all sides. This continued on and off for most of the evening but thankfully the only casualty was one minor malfunction of the awning from not being pegged in fully.
Eventually it died down, but one thing that didn’t were the vast numbers of flies! Apparently the unusually long hot spell has meant the flies have been breeding like crazy, and the van was full of them! The fly swatters and fly paper were really earning their keep but it still barely made a dent in the numbers.
Also we didn’t realise we could hire a sailboat on the lake until end of next day. This was after we had hired a small motor boat for the afternoon to explore round the lake. Despite this, we still had a fantastic afternoon on the boat swimming in coves and exploring some of the harder to reach areas. I still think it would have been better under sail, but it was a great afternoon all the same.
We spent another day here, Ellen enjoyed swimming in the lake and did a bit of work in the afternoon. Meanwhile I finished up my Day Skipper coursework ready to take the mock exam soon.
Then the next morning there was a bit of a cock-up on the bread order, the lady at the campsite having put down the wrong “same as yesterday” order and we ended up with a baguette and two huge loaves. Yes, they went stale in a day so we ended up throwing most of it away! Oh and then I managed to break the awning… so, yeah that’s something we have to figure out.
Anyway, morning chaos over, we set off further north along the lake, up the valley and deeper into the Alps. Eventually we reached the city of Briançon, known as the highest city in Europe (by common definition of 2,000+ inhabitants).
We parked up and headed in for a wander round this city of 8 forts (yes, 8 hilltop forts!). We enjoyed this little city so much that we just kept extending the parking. Eventually we gave in and extended for the whole night (it’s free in the camper park overnight) and went out for a great dinner in the old city.
I like to think we are doing well with our French and attempts to assimilate into some of the language and culture. The English couple on one side needed our assistance in understanding what a pichet du Vin was, for which the waiter thanked us as he spoke very little English. They were also patient with our French throughout the evening and even offered us a free shot of local spirit called Genepi. Which, they didn’t offer to said English couple or the Italian couple the other side of us. So I take that to mean we are practically locals… right?!
The next morning (a bit hungover admittedly) as we were getting ready to leave and Ellen walked over to the boulangerie, we noticed an increased number of Gendarmes wandering around. We assumed this was to do with the setting up for medieval festival over the weekend and thought nothing more of it. We headed on, via an intermarchè hypermarket for groceries and also ended up buying Ellen a ski jacket in the sale at one of the mountain shops in the complex. The friendly shop assistant warned us after not to go into the city today as the prime minister (not President Macron) was in town. That was why there were Gendarmes everywhere!
We heeded his warning and headed down the Serre Chevalier valley. With a brief stop at the first resort I ever visited as a 14 year old Snowboarder almost 20 years ago! Ellen indulged my wandering and reminiscing for a while. Although it all looks very different in the summer admittedly and honestly I don’t remember much from back then.
When she could bear no more, we set off further along the valley and onto Les Deux Alpes.
The road wound higher and higher as we drove deeper into the valley. The dramatic mountains and cascades all around making even our giant van feel tiny in comparison. We peaked over Napoleon’s refuge and then began the long wind down toward the lake at the base of the Les Deux Alpes resort.
We turned left at the lake and began the long climb to the ski resort. At first we passed the Aire and tried to fight through the roadworks in town. But eventually gave up and returned to the Aire just at the entrance to the town. We were here mainly to scope it out ready for the ski season and I’m happy to report that it’s a huge area with ski-in, ski-out and chairlifts almost right next door. Very well though out and we decided to have a chill afternoon and then head up the mountain the next day.
The next day saw us climbing up the piste that wove past the aire and up past the hotels and chalets in the heart of this end of the resort. It was strange to be walking up these pistes in the blazing sun and heat. The last time I was on this piste I was hurtling down it on a snowboard!
We made it up onto the main piste area and cut across toward the working lifts. The brand new gondola was in operation taking snowboarders and skiers up to the glacier a few km above us. That was a weird sight, 30° and there were people wandering around in alpine gear with boards and skis.
We bought ourselves some of the new rechargeable lift passes. €32 each and we got the full day use of lifts. Not too bad in the grand scheme, and I’d pay triple that to avoid a repeat of Le Lioran!
We hopped onto the gondola for Ellen’s first ski lift and glacier experience. Before you ask, no, I didn’t hire a board, I really didn’t want to risk snowboarding on the hard snow. It was bad enough mid season a few years ago!
A quick change at the mid point of the gondola to take the second up further to 3200m. Here we walked up to the Mont Blanc viewpoint with breaktaking vistas across the alps and out to Mont Blanc and the Italian border. (though for some reason I thought it was the Swiss border at the time. No idea…)
We grabbed lunch at the restaurant up here, simple but well cooked fare, chicken, burgers etc. Then we hit the funicular up to near the peak of the Glacier. Now the very top of the glacier is hard to get to without crampons or by the Pima drag lifts. The latter you need skis or a snowboard for ideally. But up here at 3400m were a couple of viewpoints, one with near 360° views across the valleys. The other was a short walk through the snow to look out across the “Ecrins”.
Having spent a good half hour here with the thin air, blinding sun and snow glare we decided head back down. We jumped on the funicular, the elevator to the gondola and then the two gondolas back down to the resort. Then a short walk along and we jumped on Ellen’s first chair lift up to do a short walk around the edge of the mountain. I did the first part but Ellen went onto the last part on her own due to the warnings for those with vertigo. I must say I had a lovely afternoon baking on the side of a mountain and watching the mountain bikers blasting down the pistes and runs!
After she had rounded back to me and we wandered back to the lift, we headed back down to the resort again. We had a way to walk back to the van so obviously had to stop for an Après-ski(walk?) beer or two. Oh, and a Gauffe (waffle) of course!
We wandered back to the van, escaping the heat with the odd diversion into a shop or bar on the way. It had been a bit cooler up here but it was still roasting. Grenoble and the area surrounding was our next stop though, and the shop assistant in Briançon had forewarned us that it was famously even hotter in Grenoble…
