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Journal: |
I got up at 6:15am and packed before going down to breakfast
which was pretty basic, but OK. The mother of the girl who
looked after me yesterday took care of breakfast and enjoyed
pointing out the weather forecast when it came on at 7:30am showing
several days of rain. She also pointed out that it was 7C
outside this morning, but in a good-humoured way.
I checked
out and walked down to the tourist office where I sat outside and
connected to the web via their wifi and uploaded my blog and sent
some emails. Around 8am, a bunch of kids in soccer gear met
outside the old church across the small square and all jumped into a
minibus, obviously for a game out-of-town somewhere. Kids
sport, the world over.
After my internet I walked over to the
baker and bought myself a breadstick to augment my food supplies for
the next few days, then headed out of town along the narrow ancient
main street. St-Etienne also is a very historic town and also
houses a large college on the outskirts in a collection of old
stately buildings. I feel quite refreshed after my good eating
of the past 18 hours and the early going seems easy as it passes
along old narrow rural lanes and climbs past old farms. All of
a sudden the road levels out through a nice pine forest and I find I
have completed the first ascent of the day to Col d'Anelle (1739m)
which seemed remarkably easy. About this time it began to rain
and grew colder. There were lots of ominous clouds around.
From the Col the trail descended through a mossy pine forest,
mostly on a forest road to St-Dalmas-le-Selvage. Along the way
I met four day hikers travelling in the opposite direction and just
after arriving there saw three mountain bikers flying down the trail
the same way. By now it was cold and raining steadily, and I
thought I would rather be walking than riding a mountain bike.
They looked cold and wet, but I guess they had a hot shower and food
to look forward to....not something I was anticipating.
St-Dalmas was a small maze of narrow twisting lanes and very old
buildings with just a few tourists walking around and sheltering
from the rain. When some joined me in a dry doorway, they were
in disbelief that I was heading for Bousieyas over Col de la
Colombiere on a day like this, and I had some doubts myself.
Even without this weather, the guy I had called to get accommodation
in Bousieyas last night had warned about the snow on the Col.
I'm starting to think that it may be foolhardy to continue
walking through the French Alps at this time of the year and, as I
walked, I contemplated an alternative of getting to a large town
then going by train to somewhere in Germany and hiking through the
Black Forest and Bavaria (at lower altitudes) on one of the other
European long distance trails to rejoin the Via Alpina in mid-June
somewhere in Switzerland. I resolved to see how things were at
the upcoming Col and then make a decision. The climb to the
Col was steady and occasionally steep, with frequent precipitous
drop-offs on one side and good views back down the valley when cloud
permitted. The countryside was mostly bare or scrubby, but
there were occasional sections of terraced pasture and old or locked
up houses. I saw my first Chamois (mountain goat)
sure-footedly scampering across the steep slopes. My spirits
were lifted about a third of the way up when I encountered a solo
runner coming down the track the other way. He looked very
fit, but a bit cold and wet (he was wearing a raincoat over his
running gear, but wasn't carrying a pack), and just said a quick
bonjour as he ran by (also, no doubt, destined for a warm shower and
hot food). I thought that maybe he had come over the Col, but
there were other tracks he could have used, and I didn't see
evidence of his footprints in the snow later.
The higher I
climbed, the colder and wetter it got with occasional hail and thick
fog frequently obscuring the views. The wind grew stronger,
increasing the wind-chill, though I still hadn't got out my gloves
or another layer between my T-shirt and rainjacket. At the Col, it
was very cold and I was greeted with extensive snow on the ground
(the north side of all Cols have a lot more snow on the ground).
I made the decision to add some layers of clothing which I did very
quickly. It was freezing. The snowfield totally obscured
the trail and, learning a lesson from the Col de Crousette a couple
of days ago, I began to carefully navigate across the snow in the
thick fog using my GPS. The snow was deep in places and I did
a bit of post-holing, and also crossed the icy aftermath of a small
avalanche, but managed to keep on track and eventually reached some
identifiable trail at the base of a long snow drift. Once
confident that I was on course, I moved briskly to try and warm up,
knowing that Bousieyas, and shelter, was only supposed to be an hour
away. Apart from one precarious crossing of a flooding creek,
the descent was uneventful and I reached the deserted Bousieyas
(which is really only about three buildings and a church) and found
the Gite d'Etape which was open. Nobody is visible anywhere
and I may well be the only resident in the village tonight.
The Gite is pretty basic, with no running water (a spring outside),
but does have a gas cooker, lights and a toilet I would rather not
describe.
Although crossing the snowy Col today went
reasonably well, I know I have 20 or more higher ones, deeper into
the Alps in the next month. In bad weather, with more
extensive snowfields it might not go as well. This is
compounded by the uncertainty about accommodation and food at the
more remote villages with the guide book often incorrect about what
is available. Accordingly, I have decided to abandon this leg
of the Via Alpina and try and get a bus back to Nice tomorrow,
though I'll have to hitch-hike out of here to somewhere with a bus
service. In Nice, I will do some web research on an
alternative place to resume hiking with the goal of rejoining the
Via Alpina in Switzerland in a month's time. It's a pity,
because, apart from the hiking above about 2200m, it has been a
great hike and well worth doing. I shall return!
As if
to underline the wisdom of my decision, I can see fresh snow on
higher mountains to the north (which I would cross tomorrow at
2650m, much higher than today), a snowplough has just driven past
heading up the mountain to clear the road, and the rain outside has
now turned to snow and is starting to coat the ground.
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