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8th June 2016 Hiking - Walking: Vacheires du Boreon to Cascade de Peirastreche Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: Sunny periods then heavy rain again! Max Speed: Distance Covered: 9.5 miles (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Wednesday 8th June – Hike ***** Vacheires du Boreon(5225ft) to Cascade de Peirastreche to Refuge de Cougourde(7010ft) to Lac de Trecolpas(7135ft) Sunny periods then heavy rain again! That’s rain in the last 9 afternoons:( over 7hrs out covering 9.50 miles:) Woke at 7 with the sun just peeking over the mountains in a fantastic spot at Le Boreon in the Parc du National du Mercantour with just the sound of the mountain stream and no wolves! With rain every afternoon since we have been in this area it was up early, breakfast, make a flask, take some light snacks and set off just up the road to the Vacheires du Boreon (that’s French for cow sheds) and were again met by the 4 crazy pigs running down from the restaurant. A small van with a bed in the back arrived at the carpark with what turned out to be a lovely mountain guide closely followed by a mini bus with 6/7 people and our paths crossed all day. There were two options on the hiking map - right took you to the Lac while left the cascade, we chose left as it was only 45mins away. Following the fisherman’s track up through the tall pines by the river was an easy stroll to start but the track soon narrowed to a rocky scramble and I thought my gps would struggle for a signal here but I have got the whole track:) We reached the amazing Cascade de Peirastreche quicker than expected and found a large flat rock with great views of the falls, we even spotted Chamois playing on a patch of snow on the far side of the river:) We were enjoying a quiet cuppa when suddenly the group from the carpark arrived crowding round to take some pics, they were soon joined by three older hikers with large cameras and binoculars! The three soon moved on but the larger group were friendly enough, we pointed out the Chamois and I took their group shot:) As they were leaving I asked the guide where to go next and he told us of a Refuge an hour or so away where it was nice to stop for a beer! We let the crowds move away and then followed up past the falls, the trees had thinned now and it was fantastic walking the flowery meadows over several wooden bridges and when the going got a little tougher it was no problem as people had gone to a lot of time and trouble making the path good to walk on with rock steps and gullies to take the water away:) We soon passed the 3 older hikers filling their water bottles and caught up to the large group having a break in a big grassy bowl. We checked the sign post then continued on up, we hadn’t gone far when Mag heard the clash of horns! Looking over to the right was a rocky plinth where several young male Ibex were locking horns in a playful manner, they were soon joined by the senior male (about 12 years old by the growth rings on his horn), the females and several young, there must have been a dozen in total:) We were enjoying the spectacle with the animals not in the slightest bit concerned about our presence, wishing the group of hikers could see it. Then we saw the guide leading his group round the corner just below us straight into a male Ibex right on the path not 2m from him!!! He whistled and the animal soon re-joined the group. We then moved down to watch the herd as the youngsters tumbled down the rocks to join the rest feeding. At one point there must have been 14/15 people watching – it was incredible to be that close to wild animals:) Again we let the others move ahead and were the last to reach the Refuge de Courgoude an impressive alpine Chalet, the 5 star Hilton version of a mountain refuge and it was absolutely surrounded by female and young Ibex mainly licking the stone walls. We stopped here with the others for our snack, chocolate bars and a bag of Lidl nuts – we know how to live:) We saw a sign to Lac de Trecolpas which was only 30 minutes away a little higher up but on a fantastic rocky path crossing a small waterfall at one point which you had to be careful not to get wet feet! We thought we were going the wrong way but luckily 4 hikers were coming up the path and told us we were right. The last section up to the lac was steep and the weather was starting to cloud over as it was gone 1 o’clock so rain was getting close! We saw Chamois on the way up and down from the lac and when we crossed the ridge we were greeted by yet another lovely mountain lac surrounded by snowy peaks:) After a quick stop here we moved down just as the large group were coming up, it was a steep rocky descent but we soon re-joined the path from this morning and then just before the cascade there was a left to a bridge so you could return on the other side of the river:) The rain was falling now so it was cagoules on as we completed the journey, luckily the rain was only light as we passed the cow sheds and back to the van. We weren’t too tired considering we had been out for 7hrs 15 mins covering 9.35 miles of some serious up and down hiking, it was yet another pinch yourselves day as we couldn’t believe the outstanding scenery and amazing wildlife:) Back at the van it was cuppa and cheese and ham roll time, followed by a read and a doze with a nice tin of chilli for tea – what a perfect 5-star day :) Photo Gallery Here Thursday 9th June – Relax, shop and short drive – sunny start rain later, just for a change! We had a really relaxing morning in our beautiful spot by the river just up from Lac Boreon. There was not a cloud in the sky which was a really deep blue and made a wonderful backdrop for the green trees and grey mountains :) We did our exercises, ate breakfast, read and had a generally lazy time :) After lunch, around 2pm we packed up and left, heading down the river road to the lake at Boreon and on down to St. Martin Vesubie. We parked up near the construction site for a new sports complex with a living roof – think they will need to cut the grass soon as it looked overgrown already! We walked through the ancient streets with its many churches and a small stream of water flowing right down the middle in a concrete gully! We found an 8 a Huit shop (8 till late!) and topped up yet again before returning to the van and taking the turning to the Refuge la Madone Fenestre up in the Mercantour national park. It was another steep road up and not as pretty as the last one but once we got up towards the top it was again beautiful. The road lead to a Chapel, Sanctuary, gift shop, hotel and Hiker Refuge. We stopped near the small group of buildings and had a look round then went down the road to another car park to visit some cows and have a look at the signs but on realising that they didn’t want you to camp up there unless you were out with your bivouac we moved down the road a bit further to a good parking space off one of the bends with some beautiful woods and our own rocky stream :) The weather had stayed nice all day which is quite a miracle but at 5 pm the thunder started closely followed by the rain so it’s now 10 days in a row but as we said before it doesn’t spoil anything as long as you plan for it to be gorgeous in the morning and raining in the afternoon :) |
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