Hiking
Clear air, blue skies and autumn colours for our hikes on the granite of the vallée de la Gordolasque and the Vallon de lSalèse, all at the high end of the vallée de la Vésubie in the Mercantour national park in the Alpes Maritimes, the range of mountains forming the border with Italy for a few dozen kilometres up inland from the coast at Nice.Territory that used to be Savoy/Nice, not France or Italy.
One of the best waterfall systems you could hope to visit and some magnificent cirques, gauged by the glacier of the most recent Ice Age. A treat to enjoy the family cooking at a small restaurant in St. Martin Vésubie, underground in a cellar with a balcony looking out over the valley. I think Mother cooking and daughter doing the tables. But an indifferent family hotel, very two star and nothing more, but the wifi works!
Walking from Keswick on Derwent Water to Patterdale on Ullswater along the atmospheric Old Coach Road between St Johns, Castlerigg & Wythburn and Threlkeld / Matterdale was a pretty good stomp. The Old Coach Road route itself is 8.43km (about 5 miles) at a high level across Threkeld Common and Matterdale Common, beneath Clough Head and ending at the hamlet of Dockray.
Clear skies and high temperatures on our arrival at Les Contamines-Montjoie in the shadow of Mont Blanc. very near to Chamonix but up a quieter valley. Plenty of hiking with some great views of the Mont Blanc massif, although the glaciers are looking sadly diminished these days... global warming is very apparent. Also pictures of the Cascade de Rouet on the GR5 near Samoëns, a favourite from previous visits, and the garden of this hotel, from which we have enjoyed the sunsets on the glaciers above. Food very Savoyard: lots of Roblochon, Tomme de Savoie and Beaufort cheese with plenty of potatoes as Pommes à la Savoyarde or Tartiflette.
Great Gable (899 m.) is a bit of a scramble to reach the summit but today’s climb was rewarded with clear views in all directions: Scafell Pikes, Skiddaw Old Man, Morecombe Bay, the Pennine escarpment and ridge, Dumfries and Galloway, even Snaefell far away on the Isle of Man.
The route from Honister Pass has much the same total height gain/loss as the more popular stomp up from Seatoller and Seathwaite in Borrowdale. As well as being less populous, there are fine views during the ascent over to Buttermere, then Ennerdale and even Wasdale and glimpses of Lake Windermere. There are some fine ponds, teeming with little frogs.. It was something of a surprise to encounter the numerous climbers on Windy Gap and Green Gable, then the hordes on the summit at 899 m.
Summer hiking in the Vercors has been unusually hot, more than 33°C for much of the day, even at 1500 metres altitude. Nonetheless we've see some great sights and a few animals, including a first sighting of Ermine, probably a juvenile male in his caramel coat, which will turn to white next winter. Fireworks for the 14th July, Villard-de-Lans isn't Marseille Vieux Port but it was a good show anyhow.
