Hiking
Lucky choice with a fine autumn weekend in The Lake District to explore two passes, routes from one valley to another with resonances of tribal, Roman and mining traffic as well as the thrill of seeing the view outside of one valley.
A dry day after a misty start in Langstrath above Borrowdale; the route up Langstrath passes Blackmoss Pot (infamous for skinny dipping, though not in October): on up to the small tarn at the summit of the newly-refurbished Stake Pass.
And a clear night leading to a frosty clear Sunday dawn; starting early to bag one of the very few parking places at Hallow Bank. Hiking above Kentmere reservoir up Nan Bield Pass on to Mardale III Bell, (760 m.) on Striding Edge, with clear views over Hawkeswater and on to the Pennines, the Lancashire coast and maybe even a glimpse of the Isle of Man through gaps in the Lakeland peaks to the west.
Selecting these routes from the map alone, not consulting guide books or the ubiquitous Wainwright guides, had the advantage of paths without people, in contrast to the well-tramped high level routes at the summits of the both passes.
High above the spa town of Bagnères de Luchon, dominated by a residence that looks like the mountain-top hospital of last resort in “The Magic Mountain”, the novel by Thomas Mann about a sanatorium of last resort, from which the patients seldom returned. Also a location for LWT’s drama “Wish Me Luck”. We walked another part of the GR10 that had passed the Lac d'Oô. A break in the weather gave us views of the peaks and allowed the eagles and hawks visibility to forage.
Back home in Provence having been driven down from the Vercors by wind, rain and low cloud... The clear blue skies of Provence lured us up the twisty road from Gemenos up the col de l'Espigoulier (725m) towards to the cool and forested heights of Mont Sainte Baume. The ancient path up to the ridge at the Col du St. Pilon (955 m.) has been improved by religious pilgrims since when Mary Magdalene spent the last thirty years of her life in a cave looking out over Roman Provence.
Difficult to overstate how gorgeous is the location of the Lac d'Oô.
A stiff climb for a rewarding view. And interesting to revisit the valley below, which was a location for LWT's drama “Wish Me Luck” in the 1980’s.
Two contrasting postcards from the first weekend in summer at Villard de Lans in the Vercors region of France.
We hiked to the hike to the Col Vert (1760m) on a blustery day. Starting off from Villard de Lans (1050m), our choice of paths took us up through forests of a variety of pine trees. Above the tree line the heat of the midday sun and the violent winds made themselves known but the skies stayed clear.
The Col Vert is a craggy limestone window with a precipitous view through to the valley of the river Gresse 1000m below, which meets with the river Isère at Grenoble.
A fine but windy sunset and then the weather all changed for the first day of summer, see below:-
