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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2899 |
11th April 2012 Hiking - Walking: Cascade du Lance Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny periods Max Speed: Distance Covered: Tuesday 10 April 2012 – A little travelling, sightseeing adventures!!! Sunny, cloudy then snow!!! We woke up to a beautiful blue sky and that view :) Mag walked up the road over the bridge while I had a wash and did my exercises. We packed up and drove back down the Gorge road to Barcelonnette to do a big shop. We are out of nearly everything – even our stock from Tesco! After our visit to Carrefour we had a wander round the town which was ok but nothing very exciting. We headed up the road to the Col d’Allos which if anything was steeper and scarier than the other road! We could see our Gorge road snaking away up the other valley. We passed through two ski resorts (closed and have been for some time by the look of it) through the Col. One ski resort was huge and sat right in the middle of the Col. The road has only just been opened and the snow was in deep banks up the sides of the road. Passable until you meet something coming the other way! We saw more Marmottes along here (oh and they were Chamoix we saw yesterday). We got to Allos and decided to go up towards Lac Allos for lunch. This road was again very steep with hardly any crash barriers. We got to the ‘winter’ car park which leaves you about 6km short of the actual Lac – there are signs to walk to it. We had our lunch watching the birds including crossbills – they were crazy here – in the grass, trees, and shrubs – everywhere. We soon found out why – it started to snow – virtually without warning. A Swiss couple in a nearby car just got back from the hike to the lake when it started so they were lucky. We had decided to stay here and have a go at the hike tomorrow morning as the snow had turned to sleet and wasn’t laying. We had a cuppa and a read then looked out and were amazed that the snow had returned with a vengeance and had covered the road with at least an inch of fresh snow! The flakes were huge and it was scary how quickly things change at this altitude. The snow looked very set in so we decided to go down the mountain while we could. As we left the car park everything was absolutely covered in snow and you could only just make out where the road was! We went very slowly and startled some deer on the way down :) We stopped near a house where the man had just got home and he confirmed that it was ok about 1km down the road and we didn’t need to put the snow chains on but go now or you won’t be able to get down at all! So we gingerly kept going hoping we weren’t going to slide off sideways into a ditch or worse over the edge! The nearer we got to the valley the more the snow turned to rain and we joined the valley road with some relief! We drove to Colmars not quite knowing where we were headed – do we stay around here and wait the weather out or try to go further south and miss some of the good bits??? Our decision was made for us because Colmars has at least 3 forts, a bread shop and a camper aire right next to a signpost to some Cascades! Done! We parked up on the aire – very unusual for us but it is right near the river :) It started to snow as soon as we got here and is now laying nicely in the car park and on the trees around us. We really feel we had a lucky escape up the mountain because if it is like this down here it must be seriously snowing up there and we could have been snowed in for a few days because I don’t think it would be a priority road for clearing! At least here we can have a wander (in our ski gear!) if it doesn’t improve tomorrow. Wednesday 11th April 2012 – walking ***** sunny periods We woke up to 2” of snow and a brilliant blue sky appearing :) We decided to walk to the Cascade du Lance while the snow was still on the trees, so after a quick breakfast we put our skiing clothes on and set off through the trees behind the van. It was the most beautiful path and the cascade was only about 2km away. We were the only ones out and could only hear the scrunching of our boots in the snow and the river rushing past. The trees were beginning to shed the snow in the sunshine and it was landing in large blobs narrowly missing our heads! As we were approaching the falls the path went very narrow and clung to the side of the rock, it was very intriguing and then........ the bridge which had been put in to enable you to view the falls (which were round the corner in their own gorge) had been drawn up for the winter!!!! We were not going to be put off and did our usual scramble down the rocks to get a good view. It was spectacular and well worth the effort :) We upset a dipper who kept flying past screeching at us! We walked back dodging the falling snow from the trees and had a cuppa while watching the birds in a puddle made by the melting snow. We headed up to the little town of Calmars Les Alpes and bought some bread then walked through the walled town which was very quaint with cobbled narrow streets, water spouts and tiny shops (all closed of course, nothing opens until middle of June around here). We had the whole place to ourselves. Walked back to the van past some horses and a donkey and a beautiful old barn style building that they are doing up. Had lunch and a rest then walked up to explore the two forts. What a lovely place this is. We are staying here tonight and I want to go up to the town later to see if they are lighting the walled town and forts up in the dark. Just returned for a walk round the town in the dark to get some pics of the town all lit up!!! Now knackered as we have walked miles today – goodnight :) http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.3129837677540.2137243.101266056 2&type=1 http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3245995981425.2139602.1012660562&t ype=3&l=1bf5305e7c |
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