The last long day of the GR5! The hiking was much like the previous day’s second section: dry, rocky landscape with well-maintained paths. And it was horrendously hot. On leaving Utelle, we passed a small chapel (Chapelle St Antoine) where there is a button that starts the chant of the month. When we were there it was apparently “Silence is golden”, set to the music of 4’33”
Read MoreThe first of three long days. It started with a very long, very gradual descent. First around the alpages of Refuge the Longon, taking care not to let the dogs follow us. A sign at the refuge informed us that if we took the dogs, we might as well take the cows, too, but I hate cows so the dogs had to stay put. We were definitely out of the high mountains though. Most of the day we walked through the forest or along broad tracks between villages. The first of these villages was Roure, which clings to the hillside overlooking the Vallée de Tinée.
Read MoreThe GR5 guidebook suggests hiking from Bousieyas to Auron in one day, and on towards Refuge de Longon the next day. However, this would mean two fairly long stages (26 and 31 km). We decided to split it in three (the alternative suggested by the guidebook) and end the first day in St. Étienne de Tinée. This meant a very easy day for us, so we started out on sandals again.
Read MoreA long day with a boring start. The first 11 km(!) are along the asphalt road. They have actually made GR5 paths a short distance from the road near the river, but we kept losing this path so eventually we gave up and just followed the road instead. It’s not a busy road and the views are good. Near the end of the roadwalking the river runs through a dramatic gorge crossed by a stone bridge, Le Pont Châtelet. After crossing the bridge we followed the GR5 which luckily left the road, and began our climb up through the forest to reach Fouillouse.
Read MoreThe Adlerweg (Eagle's way) is a 300 km long hike traversing the length of Tyrol in Austria. It is a relatively new long-distance hike starting in Sankt Johann in Tyrol, and finishing at the Arlberg at the western border between Tyrol and Vorarlberg. Marte and I walked the length of the trail in the summer of 2017.
Read MoreThere was only one other person in the dorm but of course this was a snorer. After the previous day’s invigorating climb we felt like we could hardly stand, let alone climb the almost 1000 m up to the Col de la Vallée Étroite. This was all in the mind though, because we actually made very good time. The path was more like a dirt road or 4wd track most of the way, but there were some good views of Mont Thabor with the Refuge de Mont Thabor just beneath it. We’d originally planned to stay there that night but it when we called them they said they were fully booked for a week, so we had to continue on to the next refuge. Hence our decision to continue on to Valfréjus on day 5.
Read MoreBad news first: lots of condensation in the tent, but fortunately all our stuff was either inside the packs or inside drysacks. We had a towel so we could dry the inside of the tent and try to prevent water from dripping onto us and our sleeping pads.
Read MoreBlue sky! The refuge is in a deep valley so there was not sun yet when we got up. Frost on the grass and snow on the mountains! Glorious. And for some reason we got chocolate chip cookies for breakfast. Clearly, today was going to be a Good Day.
Read MoreFrance has a brilliant network of long-distance paths, called Grande Randonnée (GR). In 2016 we hiked most of the GR5. OK, so technically, “most of” is a bit optimistic, because officially the GR5 starts in the Netherlands. However, the French Alpine section is probably the busiest and most famous. It starts in St. Gingolph at Lake Geneva and then crosses the French Alps to end up in Nice on the Mediterranean.
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