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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2882 |
30th May 2016 Hiking - Walking: Baie Chanteloube, Les Demoiselles Coifees, Le Lauz Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: Baie Chanteloube, Les Demoiselles Coifees, Le Lauzet Ubaye, St. Vincent Max Speed: Distance Covered: Sunday 29th May – travelling and McDonalds wifi – Rain It started raining in the night and carried on all day!! We got up and had breakfast, packed up and left our spot at the top of the steep and treacherous road in Glandage and managed to get down the hill by using the other much more suitable road which came out at the top end of the village. Decided to go and have a look at the Gorges du Gats again and after going through the tunnels discovered that the Gorges went on for miles. Decided to go that way and it was very dramatic with rocks and cliffs on either side. There were some amazing fields of flowers along there too. The route did take us quite a way in the wrong direction but we joined the bigger road eventually and headed for Gap. There were some interesting things to see on the way including an unusual group of rocks with a via ferrata climb and a rocky river and a lake (which was more like a large duck pond!) as well as the usual mountains on either side. It was difficult to enjoy them to the full because of the weather:( When we got to Gap we found the Le Clerc and filled up with diesel then went to McDonalds to use their wifi to the full with a couple of hours on the computer. I had a Big Mac meal and I had a coffee. Left there and drove the short distance to our old favourite, Lac Serre Poncon where we have parked up before. They don’t really want us but the place is deserted and after a while another van with some hippies arrived so we weren’t alone! The lake is really high and the bridge across which was really tall and out of the water a long way when we were here the first time was nearly in the water. It is still the most amazing turquoise colour:) It did stop raining long enough for us to have a walk later. Monday 30th May – 4 walks **** Baie Chanteloube, Les Demoiselles Coifees, Le Lauzet Ubaye, St. Vincent les Forts. Sunny periods and showers We got away with our sneaky stop over at the Base Nautique in the Baie Chanteloube on Lac Serre Poncon:) We got up earlier than usual and did our exercises and had breakfast. It was really sunny early but the cloud soon built and it remained cloudy for most of the day – even raining again later!! Mag put the rubber gloves on and collected all the rubbish in our part of the car park, lots of bottles and debris from bbqs:( Only one fisherman came early and took his stuff on a small tender over to his motor boat which wouldn’t start! He got away eventually. There was a class of school children out in dinghies with the instructors from the Nautique and their teachers in motor boats. There was absolutely no wind so they were towing them around. They cast them adrift to get back towards the shore using their hands and they were having great fun – lots of squealing! The wind picked up and they did put their sails up later. We went for a walk to the big picnic area at the end of this part of the lake. Returned and packed the van up, took the rubbish to the bin and filled up with water. We set off around the lake and didn’t get far before we saw some strange rock pillars and then a car park to go up and see them properly. They were called Les Demoiselles Coifees and were pillars of rock capped with varying sizes of rock – one of the rock caps was absolutely enormous! There was a rock path up and several boards explaining how they form and why the caps stay on the top – in English too! We went up higher than the last viewing platform and the view of the lake was amazing:) There were some lads messing about up there or so we thought but it turned out one of them (bare chest and red shorts!) was doing some kind of gymnastic thing and his friend was taking photos of him. We saw them again further down the road where he was doing some ‘amazing feat’ with a white pole with the lake as a back drop!!!! A girl had appeared and was also taking photos of him standing on her car roof!!! Crazy. We had a good tour of the lake - It is so beautiful it is nice to see it from as many angles as possible. We have never been to this end before so stopped at many places including the Belvedere overlooking the barrage where we had our lunch. We carried on and left the lake, turning up to Le Lauzet Ubaye. The Ubaye is one of the rivers feeding the lake and it was in full flow! You can white water raft and canoe it and we did see some English lads in 3 cars heading down towards the river later in the day. We were originally looking for a small road which may or may not take us to a cirque but after following a likely road and coming only to a beautiful Roman bridge we decided to head back to the village, park up and have a walk instead. We walked down to the river and a short way into an old railway tunnel which you can bike or walk through but you would need a torch and it was a bit creepy so we gave up with that!! Walked down another road which took you to the place where they put the rafts and canoes in. The river was scarily manic!! Back up the hill and as we got to the Anaconda Rafting centre it started to absolutely pour with rain. The centre was all closed up but they had a very handy covered over picnic table so we sheltered there until the rain stopped – with a lady who spoke no English but was very friendly. Back to the village via the Lac (very small duck pond really). Decided to go up to some forts we had seen on a sign while entering the village and after following a very beautiful narrow road for several miles up and up we gave up and returned. We only had to move one huge lump of rock out of the road to pass!!! Ended up going a considerable way in the wrong direction to another place where there was a fort and a popular paraglider take off point – St. Vincent Les Forts. At one point there were 10 paragliders up and we decided to call it sky litter because it looked so untidy up there!!!! They had a height restriction on their car park so we carried on to the tiny ski resort of St. Jean Montclar and had a look round that but it wasn’t a likely place for an overnight stop as it was quite residential with very ugly ski flats but they had a very nice new ski lift! Returned to St. Vincent Les Forts and found a parking place without height restriction and went for a great walk up to the fort on a really nice Sentier which included name plaques for the many flowers and shrubs – really pretty. There was a restored tower at the end of the walk and fantastic views over the lake. Returned to the van with our legs really aching after our four walks today!! Back down the mountain to the lake and drove round trying to find a good overnight spot – there were lots of places but none appealed so we ended up going back nearly as far as our lunch spot!!! There was a white cow and her calf out on the road so we had to negotiate a bend with them coming towards us!! We also saw a Hoopoe bird which is always a thrill as they are so beautiful and unusual :) We eventually found a nice place to stop not far from the road unfortunately but beautiful view of the lake, meadow and wild flowers so we decided to go for it as the road isn’t that busy:) We had our tea sitting outside watching the paragliders (sky litter) landing at the camp site on the opposite bank and listening to the bloomin cow bell on the loose cow getting closer and it mooing and echoing against the cliffs!! Luckily they seemed to go quiet when they got quite close to where we are parked so either they found their way back up to the pasture or the farmer came and got them! Tuesday 31st May – relax and amazing sight seeing drive ***** Sun, Rain, Snow!! A very relaxing morning in our lovely spot overlooking Serre Poncon – it really is the most spectacular place. When we first woke up it was blue skies all round but as soon as the sun hits those mountains and the lake it starts to cloud up and it was fascinating watching the clouds ‘brew’ and move over to the highest peak and sit there for a while – even looking like it was raining over there when we were in sunshine. It was another day of all weathers, of which more later!! While we were sitting out in the sun reading we were amazed that the small aeroplanes which scoop up water for forest fires came round for their practice again! We saw them last time we were here on another part of the lake and were really pleased to be able to watch this really unusual spectacle again. This time they swooped down, scooped up the water and stopped right in front of us before taking off from the water. They went round and did another run, this time scooping up the water and taking off straight away, dropping the water as they went as they don’t need it for a fire obviously. We packed up around mid-day and drove the same way as yesterday but managed to get through without getting distracted!! We followed the River Ubaye all the way to Barcelonette and saw some canoers in the furious water having great fun:) We found a Lidl and stocked up before passing through the centre of town and taking the road to the Col de la Bonette – a route we hadn’t taken when we were here before. Oh My God what a road!!! We knew it would be unusual when the sign at the bottom said that the Col was open but closed overnight!! Lots of stay alert and take extra vigilance type of signs too! We started the winding road up and the poor old van was already smelling hot – from whatever we did to it the other day. We don’t know whether it is the clutch, the exhaust or what but it is very smelly! But it keeps going the same as ever so hopefully it is just the soot in the exhaust and will wear off!!! As we went further up we heard the tell tale whoop whoop shout of the Marmotte so stopped to see if we could see him and there he was standing on a huge rock showing off and making a real racket! He looked more like a meerkat than a marmotte! He was beautiful and we were amazed that during the course of our tour through the Col we saw over 40!! The cloud at the top got thicker and thicker and suddenly as the roads got bendier (if that was possible!) it started to rain and then as we got higher snow! It was a blizzard by the time we reached the peak and had to cut through a small gap which had been cut through the actual rock to the other side. Then just as you went through there was a sign to Nice and another sign saying welcome to the Cote d’Azur and it is still a mental blizzard! We crept down the windy road with the snow laying fast when suddenly it vanished and there were blue skies and sun! Bizarre. We turned round and returned to the top for a better look and were rewarded by a glimpse of a Golden Eagle soaring above. Couldn’t watch him for too long as had to concentrate on the road and count Marmottes!! Dragged ourselves away and started off on the long road down – all the while having to pinch ourselves that we could be here on this road which must be the highest pass in France(2800m) because you are really up in the peaks of the mountains which you don’t even do when you ski! Whoever thought this road was needed must have been crazy! It was a brilliant road surface though and they must collect the fallen rocks every morning when they open it up. There are a lot of motorbikes use the route – but not that many today, in fact we only saw about 12 cars the whole time we were up there. We stopped at a deserted village which was something to do with the military back in time and had lunch. The journey this side of the mountains wasn’t so crazy and we were able to have a good look round. We stopped and walked down to a beautiful flower covered Roman Bridge which crossed the River Tinee which at that point was a raging torrent which had just emerged from the biggest water fall we have seen this holiday. That was right by the side of the road! When we were getting nearly to the bottom of the amazing road we turned off to St. Dalmas le Selvage which is marked on our map as a ski village. We parked up just above the village on a road which turned out to be one of the cross country tracks which meet up with the amazing road we had just come down. Needless to say it is firmly closed!! We had a rest and a cuppa and waited for another bout of rain to pass over then went for a walk down to the raging river Tinee and back through the very quaint and ancient village. We looked at the ski information board and there are many snow shoe walks and ski randonee (what we have been calling ski touring) and a little cross country. There are several restaurants and places to stay and it was nice to see such a remote village actually lived in! We returned to the van for a very simple tea of scrambled eggs and French bread as we had only had lunch at 4pm! We had delicious Lidl strawberrys and crème fraiche for a treat afterwards. An amazing day AGAIN!! Photo Gallery Here |
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