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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2901 |
23rd December 2014 Hiking - Walking: Lac Vallon, la Cascade de Diomaz,France Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny Max Speed: Distance Covered: Tuesday 23rd December- walk Lac Vallon, la Cascade de Diomaz ***** Sunny We really made the most of our lovely spot on Lac Vallon. Mag did exercises looking at the amazing scenery and after a late breakfast we headed off for a walk around the lake. The sun is shining again and with most of the ground covered in thick frost it was just a beautiful day:) There is a path running around the edge along the road then it runs through woods around the other side. At the bottom end of the lake it is frozen and has about an inch of ice over the surface. When we reached a break in the trees we broke pieces of ice off and skimmed them across the icy surface and they made the most amazing noise, not just the ice moving noise but the whole surface whistled, it was magical. We eventually came to the beautiful St. Bruno Chappelle and went to have a look inside. It was very simple and quite stunning. Outside there was a walk sign up to la cascade de Diomaz 20 mins and la Croix des Chartreux, also 20 mins. We decided to go and have a look and followed a well marked yellow stripe path. It was the usual French scramble, crossing the river several times. Mag is always wary of wet rocks let alone wet and icy rocks but only got a wet foot on the way down! We had been scrambling for far longer than 20 minutes through the beech and fir forest following the river before reaching the Cascade which wasn’t at all bad (we are sometimes disappointed with signposted cascades!) but there was no sign of the Croix. We carried on on a yellow stripe signed but ridiculously steep and slippery path for a bit longer but finally decided to give up when we found a signpost to a different way back to the Chappelle – neither of us fancied the scramble back down the way we came up! Far too scary!! It didn’t take long to get down, a bit longer than the predicted 15 mins on the sign but as it was very steep it was a more direct route. We could hear the men cutting down trees in the forest but we didn’t see them. It wasn’t very far from the chappelle back to the van, just crossing the river which feeds the lake. There is a history of how the lake was formed on boards all around the lake (in English too which is handy:)). There was a massive mudslide in 1943 from a mountain on the left which took 10 chalets and a saw mill with it and damned the river which formed the lake. You can see buildings through the water near the chapelle. At the time it must have been devastating but the resulting lake is a real bonus now. Several people walking round today and two very small children having a picnic with their mum on some rocks in the sunshine :) There is a cross country and racquette course around the forest and lake too. When we got back to the van we ate far too many cheese and biscuits! Stephen went for a walk up to the village but I stayed here and knitted and read. Had a text from Rob this morning saying that they skied yesterday on the one piste open at Les Gets and his knee went out on his third run down so that’s it for him this week even if there is any snow:( He had been hiking this afternoon so at least it’s not bad enough to keep him indoors thank goodness. They are going to an ice hockey match in Morzine tonight. |
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