|
Journal: |
I woke at 5:30am after a good night's sleep, although my left
knee was giving me some grief during the night, and left the
sleeping Moulinet at 6:30am. The climb was very steady all the
way to Baisse de Patronel (1607m), but I took it slowly and enjoyed
a beautiful morning along some of the best trail you could imagine.
Mostly covered with dead leaves or pine needles, not too rocky, and
with views to my right the whole way. The sun filtered through
the deciduous and later conifer trees and I was generating just
enough heat to walk in a T-shirt though it was quite crisp.
The good trail continued after the Baisse as it followed a ridge
with filtered views towards Col de Turini, some of which included
snow-capped mountains to the north. At Col de Turini there
were three small hotels, all open, and one with a restaurant open.
To the amusement of the friendly waitress/proprietor?, I ordered an
omelette and chips for my first square meal in 24 hours. She
had a shouted conversation with one of the other hotel proprietors
where the word "omelette" figured to the amusement of all.
Nevertheless, it was very nice and went down a treat.
I left about 10:30am for the mostly downhill trek into the
Vesubie Valley. Again the trail was mostly easy going with the
snow-capped mountains frequently visible to my right and the
occasional roar of a performance engine audible across the valley
from the winding road up to the Col. Obviously a popular drive
and, I think, a connection to the Tour de France in some years.
I saw my first significant wildlife along here, a deer scampering
across the track in front of me. The gentle descent ended with
a series of steep, tiring and painful switchbacks that took me to
virtually the valley floor to cross a rushing stream before a
strenuous climb along old cobbled lanes up to la-Bollene-Vesubie,
another hilltop village full of steep winding laneways and very old
oddly shaped houses.
I wandered through the village before eventually finding the
centre and all restaurants and shops closed except for a small bar,
where I got an ice-cream and Mars Bar. Nothing else was on
offer. It was quite frustrating to see a bakery with a sign
outside advertising its signature sandwich, but to find it was
closed from 12:30pm to 4:30pm! Nutrition and the availability
of food is becoming an issue for me. There are a few tourists
and no hikers. I haven't seen a single one in three days yet,
generally, the weather is ideal. The snowshoes, etc., are
weighing heavily in my pack and I would love to mail them home, but
it's becoming increasingly likely I will be the first of the season
through some of the higher passes.
I had hoped to make it to Berthemont-les-Bains for the night, but
progress seems slow and I'm beginning to doubt the accuracy of the
guide on several counts. However, I am in the first days of
the hike, and know I'm often just plodding along. The trail
after lunch was less-used, overgrown in parts, and a bit up and
down. It passed some old fortifications that were part of the
French defensive Maginot Line before WW2 with a commanding view of
the valley. Some of them still looked almost serviceable!
I reached Belvedere, another hilltop village, soon after 4pm and
decided that rather than tackle another 7 hilly kilometres I would
look for somewhere to stay. At least there were a few small
shops open, but no restaurant or hotel. I was directed to a
Gite d'Etape which, in this case, turned out to be a sort of
bunkroom with kitchen and ablutions in the basement of a house.
Nobody was home, but everything was open so I made myself at home
and showered and unpacked. Just before 6pm I went for a wander
around town again just to confirm that no restaurants/bars were open
and called in to a tiny grocery where I picked up a few items that
appealed that didn't involve cooking since the kitchen in the Gite
looked mothballed.
While I was eating my snacks and working on my journal, the
owners appeared and in broken English explained how everything
worked, including the kitchen. The husband had holidayed in
Australia, spending a week with friends in Newcastle (Caves Beach)
and had also done the Spanish Steps pilgrimage so we had a nice
conversation. He is a retired baker and had been teaching a
course today and insisted on giving me one of the baguettes made by
his students for breakfast.
According to the guide book, today's distance should have been
23.5km, about 5km less than recorded on my GPS, which is not very
encouraging. I suspect they calculated the distances by
drawing lines on a map. Anyway, it makes my planned schedule
look very optimistic, although I would dearly like to cover the
whole route. I may start looking for a few short-cuts that
save me some distance here and there. I'll make another early
start tomorrow and hope to get some better meals along the way, and
maybe some wi-fi tomorrow night.
|
