Hiking
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.
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:-
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.
Some pictures from The Lake District as spring arrives: a trek up Grizedale where the snow is still on the summit and a hike from Aira Force to Patterdale along the banks of Ullswater. We also saw an Osprey on our hike up to Dodds Summit.
