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12th June 2016 Hiking - Walking: Pont du Countet to the Refuge du Nice Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny, hail and rain! Max Speed: Distance Covered: 8 miles (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Sunday 12th June – Hike ***** Pont du Countet (1690m) to the Refuge du Nice (2232m) sunny, hail and rain! 7hrs 20 mins out covering nearly 8 miles :) Good night at our dead end at The Pont du Countet, after yesterday’s mad rush to get up the mountain on Refuge opening day only a couple of early arrivals, a couple of climbers and a fisherman in shorts and running shoes! So we were up at 7.15 with clear blue skies but we were still in the shade. We ate breakfast, and as we had packed the picnic yesterday we were able to set off up the valley at 8. It was chilly to start with as we headed up along the stream towards a wall of rock with a huge waterfall and no obvious path out! We crossed the stream on a narrow wooden bridge and found a steep and winding path up by the side of the waterfall, spotting a dipper and Chamois:) I took my first photo at 9 as we reached the col at the top and the sun made it over the top of the high peaks. There are some big mountains down here with some peaks over 3000m! There was a stone wall here which formed a sort of chicane, possibly an old fortification, which we had to pass through and enter a stunning green valley surrounded by some fantastic mountains and scaring a marmot! There was a short drop down to a large bridge which made a good spot for a coffee break and some fun with the tripod and camera timer:) The path was hard to spot as we wound our way up and up, then turning right across a large section of rocky scree we were stopped in our track by one of the biggest herds of Ibex we had ever seen, we counted 16 in total from a baby to several old males with huge horns. What made it difficult was the fact that most of them were relaxing in the warm sunshine right across the path! We made a detour from the path but still got very close and they were not in the slightest bothered by our presence, it was without doubt one of the most amazing experiences of our lives to be so close to a large group of wild animals:) Having taken loads of pics we moved off and found the running fisherman fly-fishing in a tiny pool that must have been 2 hours from his car! We watched for a while and he did catch a small trout which he released:) We had our final destination in sight, the Lac above which the Refuge was built but they had built an ugly concrete dam to form the lac, sadly not very pleasing in the eye. This was a fairly flat stroll through mountain tundra surrounded by the clear water stream, it’s not surprising there is water everywhere as it rains every afternoon! It took us 3 hours to get level with the dam – the sign at the start said 2 hours to the refuge, that was very optimistic for a couple of old timer hikers like us and someone had actually crossed It out and put 2 hours 30 minutes in marker pen! We got our first sighting of the large refuge perched on a large rock at the far end of the lac with snowy mountains all around:) I ignored the do not enter sign and crossed over the dam to get some nice shots, at this point the sky was still clear and the deepest blue. Mag filled the water bottle from a small waterfall by the path, can’t beat bottled at source! There was a wide road, probably used to make the dam around the lac, we ignored the path sign which sent you up, and continued by the water but ran out of road and had to scramble over rocks for a short way. We found a nice spot below the refuge for our picnic and then although the sky in front of us was still clear, cloud was coming up and at times the dam was disappearing, a bit worrying for getting down! We had seen very few people in 3 hours but things were getting busy. Bearing in mind we thought this was a serious walk up here with steep narrow rocky paths, the first thing we saw was a couple of families coming down from an overnight stay in the refuge with a baby in a rucksack and three boys no older than 5/6 – amazing. If only we could have done this at that age! Then the first people coming up the same way as us this morning were a young mother again with a baby on her back holding hands with her 5-year-old daughter with dad bringing up the rear with a huge backpack! From then on it was not stop with everyone arriving ranging from old people -some with dodgy hips making us wonder how they ever made it this far - to three hikers with radios etc. who turned out to be employed by the Parc, some sort of rangers and they had a battery screwdriver and were repairing the signs! We then saw the nice Belgian couple we bumped into yesterday who ended up stopping at the Gite we walked past last night. We walked the last part up to the refuge chatting to them and discovering that they had flown into Nice and caught a train up into the mountains:) There didn’t seem to be any cake for sale although the owners were there chatting so with the weather closing in we decided to head back. We soon caught up with the large family group having a picnic with the baby playing on the grass surrounded by yet more Ibex. I got a bit close to a large male and he sort of whistled to let me know not to come any closer! We then met a nice Frenchman up from Antibes on his motorbike who loved the mountains like us. The cloud nearly covered us then so we continued across the rocky scree only to meet a crazy young mum with a tiny smiley baby in her arms beaming from ear to ear followed by dad with a toddler on his shoulders – they didn’t seem to have any stuff with them to cover the conditions or the weather - bonkers or what! It is a 4 mile scramble just to get up there and anything could happen – a bit of a worry really. We soon arrived at the large wooden bridge with rain coats and hat already on as large spots of rain had started. At the rock chicane we found another wall above, stopping for our chocolate bar with great views back to the carpark. Then on the steep path down by the waterfall it started to rain hard and hail so we sheltered under a rocky ledge for ten minutes until it eased. We did the last section on the opposite side of the river through many streams that crossed the path arriving back at the van after 7hrs 20 mins tired but pleased by yet another 5-star mountain hike. One of the highlights for Mag was all the different rocks – amazing colours, stripes and glittering gold speckles. She also found some bones which will please Jay who collects them! One we think is a Chamois leg bone with socket! And some foot bones complete with claws which probably come from a marmot!! Then it was tea and cake watching the many hikers return in the rain from their mountain adventures, some even had crampons in their backpacks so they must have had some great tales to tell! We were relieved to see smiley baby arrive back safe and sound if wet!! Top aubergine bake for tea we are down to only a handful of vehicles so should be a quiet day tomorrow, fingers crossed for some morning sunshine. Photo Gallery Here Monday 13th June – Relax, shop and adventure drive ***** sunny periods then thunder and rain! Good night apart from being woken at 6 by the French couple in a panel van with a DIY conversion - foam rubber mattress and a BBQ to cook on - getting their large backpacks ready for a hike, they finally left at 7.15 after one false start when the man had to return to the van for something after only going 100m! Can’t believe they were actually going up into the wilds! A bit of a lay in as no hike for us today, read and exercises. Cloudy to start then sunny periods. We enjoyed watching life go past with dippers and Chamois, a couple of groups of retired ramblers with guides setting off and a young couple of runners setting off up the steep path to 2500m, wonder if they ran to the top? It was clouding over nicely now and we needed to stock up again. We know shops are thin on the ground in these parts so after a light lunch we set off down the narrow winding road at about 1.30. We passed the huge water chute just outside St Grat, squeezed through the narrow centre of Belvedere – just! and onto Roquebilliere where we hoped to find a shop. It was a nice little town with a square, bars, Marie, tourist info, tabac and even a small supermarket but in French style all closed except the bars!!! We parked hoping they would open at two, we walked up to the square, checked the Tabac for postcards – all rubbish so passed. Went in the Tourist board got a walking map and asked the opening times for the supermarket and were told 3 but he didn’t sound too convincing! Found a tap and filled our water bottles then Mag checked our emails and Facebook on her phone before walking back to check the shop – still closed so gave up and headed on. We had only gone about a mile down the road when we came across the biggest supermarket we had seen in 13 days! Pulled in and spent 50 Euros! It was then only a short way to our turning left for yet another bout of what I call ‘Adventure Driving’ it amazes us why some of these roads were ever built in the first place. The sharply twisting road soon left la Bollene-Vesubie behind – sadly a German motor biker had come to grief here, luckily not too seriously and the Gendarmes were sorting it out:) The road clung to the cliffs as the tight S’s went on and on towards the Col de Turini, then at Authion a tiny ski resort we headed up to a dead end called the ‘Circuit de I’Authion’ in the rain. We found the start of the loop which lucky for us was one way as the road is very narrow and barely serviceable - only open from April to November! The views all around were truly spectacular and hopefully we will get an even better view tomorrow in the morning sunshine! We thought what a pointless road this was in the middle of nowhere, then we came across a derelict army camp and a Second World War tank with a fresh wreath smelling lovely. Presumably there as it has just been June 6th. Then we saw another Vacherie and heard cow bells in the distance. So this whole area of grassy hills is grazing for their nice dark brown cows which we soon had an encounter with! We turned a corner to meet an old boy with 2 dogs driving his herd along the narrow road right towards us! We had no choice but to stop and let them pass. I got out to take pics while Mag sat nervously in the van. She loves them but doesn’t like them to be too close!! They have pretty big horns and they did brush past pretty close to the van!! Nearing the end of the circuit we passed a fort on the highest point which we hope to visit tomorrow. We came to a carpark with fantastic views back to the ski resort so parked up for the night. It was coffee and cake time as the rain and thunder rolled past, the sun briefly came out but it wasn’t great, the wind got up and the clouds flew past! Our son had warned us in an earlier text not to go near Marseille as there had been trouble when England had played Russia in the European Cup but we said we were not going that way. Then you couldn’t make this up bearing in mind we are parked up in a dead end loop in the middle of nowhere up a mountain with not a soul for miles - an English van parked next to us. Two blokes got out saying they have just had a puncture and were completely lost! They had been to the England match in Marseille (around 300 miles away from here) and were travelling up North to Lons for the next match before returning to St Etienne for another! They said they thought they would have a look at Monaco while they were down here and see some mountains!! They had certainly come to the right place but what a detour! We said that the road we had travelled on was absolutely stunning but there were some dodgy Cols and their best bet might be to head back the way they had come as there is a main road taking you NW up through Italy. Top tea of another delicious rotisserie chicken. Fingers crossed for a calm night and a sunny morning so we can cycle the circuit! |
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