GR52: Sospel to Menton and home

13.5 miles, 1600m ascent and 1900m descent

We were up for an excellent breakfast at 7. I used the outdoor shower in the morning and forgot to take my towel with me 😆 Very rustic, sprinting through the bushes.We got a lift back down to town and colllected Michelle, and started the long climb up to the Colla Bassa. Not too hard and mostly in pine forest, so we had shade for the best part of the day. Some nice paths and much greener than previous days. I wore Louise’s knee brace just in case. Had to carry plenty of water. I had nearly 3 litres which lasted me fine, in fact I had a bit left at the end. We fell into step with a group of seven middle-aged Frenchmen at one point. Members of a running club who also hike together. Too fast for us though!

Towards about 2 o’clock we started to glimpse the coast, but only intermittently because, very fortunately for us, it was a bit cloudy (and at times we were actually in the cloud). This made the temperature much more bearable. The descent from Plan de Lion seemed endless, and got hotter and hotter - it was over 30 degrees in Menton and the “feels like” temperature was higher than that. The bit on tarmac and concrete under the flyover and through the outskirts of town was particularly boiling. Good that we’d all brought plenty of water and electrolytes. We said a fond farewell to Michelle, who was getting a 2-hour train to Finale for the next bit of her holiday, and marched ourselves along the hot sea front to our hotel. Walked into blissful aircon, wringing wet and red in the face. We’ll try not to mention the pong. We immediately changed into our cozzies and went for a dip just across from the hotel. Water quite warm. Sun low, quite a few people on the beach. Then, a shower (bliss) and out for drink and dinner. Ravioli with delicious burrata.  All slept badly because the aircon was so noisy. But today we had a lovely time - another swim at 7 (with the beach almost to ourselves and the morning sun coming up over the hill and illuminating the old town opposite). Then out for a breakfast of coffee, croissant etc in the old town (quite hot by now) and a look in the cathedral before all going our separate ways for a couple of hours. I had a look round a few shops and then bought myself some stuff for lunch. Then off to the airport. Elizabeth flew off to Switzerland while we made our way to a delayed flight to Gatwick. I’m seated between Esther (thank God) and a huge, sweaty bloke who is overflowing towards me and snoring. On his iPad a programme about the Irish Mafia is playing unwatched. I looked over and someone was putting a hammer under a pillow. He has put the armrest between us up, so I’ll get up to get my AirPods and put it down when I return. Fingers crossed. Later: they’ve moved me to a spare seat. Lucky Esther’s got earphones with her!

V sweaty

Welcome cloud

GR52: Sospel

I decided to take the day off as my knees were twingeing on the downward slopes and day 6 was due to involve a lot of descent. So after a perfunctory breakfast, Louise and I were driven down to the nearest small town by her local taxi driver from the previous day, Jean-Pierre. Nice chap. He called ahead to the bus people for us (it only costs two Euro!). There were no free spaces on th imminent departure but we could get the next one, between 11.30 and 12. We’d been waiting there for literally one minute when an oldish guy drew up in his car and Louise said she’d stuck out her thumb to hitch. He took us all the way to Sospel, which was obviously brilliant. It was already hot there (not yet 9.30) but the market was in operation, including a very nice covered food market with delicious cheeses, honey, fruit etc. we shared some crispy, salty socca (chick pea flour pancake) and then wandered around a bit and I sat in the church for a while. It was cool and peaceful. Then we found a park with a picnic bench to sit at in the shade for lunch and a chat for a few hours before going down to sit by the river, read our books and have an ice cream while we waited for the others to arrive. We could see hikers appearing on the other side of the river and eventually they turned up, all very sweaty, at about 5 o’clock. Said farewell to Michelle for the evening and got our lift up to our accommodation for the night, in Jenny’s eco-camp place. She was odd and neurotic but served us up some excellent food. The shack/tent arrangement was rather unexpected and there were a lot of mozzies.  

GR52: Refuge des Merveilles to Camp d’Argent

9.5 miles, 800m ascent, 1200m descent

The Refuge des Merveilles was big and busy - three showers and five loos between what must have been at least seventy people. Standing room only at breakfast. The dorm was very big but had good dividers between some of the beds. We were in a set of three narrow mattresses. I tried to sneak into the next bed, which was empty, but its assigned sleeper turned up at about 11pm and chucked me out. Didn’t sleep  very well, but got an ok chunk. The sleeping pills don’t seem to do anything for some reason. Today was a pleasant, gentle stroll compared to previous days. We saw a fair bit of grass and even some trees. It was pretty hot till about lunchtime and then for the final hour or so we got some welcome cloud cover. We ate lunch in the shade of a derelict building, the only patch of it we found. This was in fact only about an hour above the village of Camp d’Argent, where we are booked into double rooms with en suite - heaven-sent! Michelle is staying a bit down the hill in the next settlement but will be rejoining us in the morning. We sat on the terrace enjoying the view, the heat and the cool breeze for a few hours - very pleasant. It’s really the first day we’ve arrived with any time to spare. We had dinner from jars which was variable - mine was quite a good chicken curry. Everyone else had the vegetarian option which was a bit sloppy. 

Louise tipped a whole pot of pepper into her soup when the top came off. The cloud suddenly rolled in just before dinner and there was a storm which then disappeared just as quickly. 

 

Loveleeeeee!

GR52: Le Boréon to Refuge de Nice

A ridiculous and never-to-be-repeated 2400m ascent, 1800m descent, 16.3 miles 

A bit traumatised from day 2. I’m writing this at the end of day 3, as day 2 was so long and exhausting that there wasn’t much time for anything on arrival. Basically the guidebook had got the timing all wrong and it took 12.5 hours, of which 11 hours and 40 minutes was moving time. We set off at 7.30, spent half an hour on a wrong turning (easily done) so really set off properly at 8. We arrived at the refuge at 8pm, after dinner was all finished, but fortunately they gave us some charcuterie and soup. There was a huge climb up to the Col du Cougourd and a steep walk down the other side. It was obvious on the up-slope that my cardiovascular fitness was is not as good as Esther’s and Elizabeth’s as I spent a lot of it with my heart pounding out of my chest and trying to catch my breath. Altitude probably made it worse, and the 8kg rucksack. Got to Refuge de la Madonna de Fenestre at 3 o’clock, by which time I was quite exhausted. Decided to crack on to get to Refuge des Merveilles rather than changing the plan and stopping there. Unfortunately the leg from there was a bit of an ordeal for me as I was really knackered and it took another 4 hours, including another big, steep up and down. Have never been so pleased to arrive anywhere! Fortunately though, we had enough water and snacks to get us there. There was the obligatory steep up-slope to the refuge which practically finished me off. And even after all that I couldn't get to sleep, as per usual.

Saw quite a few of these mountain goats

A lot of it was like this - what they call “technical”.

Thank gawd!

Still that final little slope at the end to get into the refuge

GR52: St Dalmas Valdeblore to Le Boréon

Annoyed that I can’t get Garmin to talk to Strava, so can’t show my usual screenshot of map and stats. The stats for today were 13.7 miles, 5300 feet of ascent and 7 hours of moving time. Not bad - first-day legs must have helped. Louise has a bad ankle and isn't walking but will be following along by taxi, bus etc. She had a lovely time reading, sampling the mountain air, quizzing the locals about buses and eventually hitchhiking.

Sumptuous brekkie

There were some crystal-clear streams, including this one

At the topmost point - a relief!

Alpine flowers - the place was riddled with them 

in many colours of the rainbow

A drink and cards while eagerly awaiting dinner

We feared it would be very hot but actually there was a lovely cool breeze all day, and a lot of it was forested. I was carrying nearly 3 litres of water (2 of it in a bladder) and it felt like I was drinking loads but when we arrived I realised I’d barely drunk half of it. Which was probably why I started getting foot and leg cramps four hours in. A banana (kindly donated by Esther) seemed to sort it out.

GR52: Refuge de Nice to Refuge des Merveilles

830m ascent, 935m descent, 8.8 miles

Took me ages to get to sleep despite sleeping pill - just too many noises, even though we were only in an 8-bed room. Was surprised to find on getting up that my knees and legs felt fine. Maybe because I’d stretched a bit last night. Today was a bit longer than Elizabeth’s guidebook said, and quite hot in the afternoon, but very beautiful, and there was always a cool breeze. Just a bit less shade than yesterday. We walked with the lovely Michelle, English and walking alone, who was in our dorm. Elizabeth and I managed a swim in a lake in the late afternoon - brief due to the extreme cold, and exceedingly refreshing. The others dipped their feet and calves in. We tried to see some of the “merveilles” (prehistoric rock carvings) but didn’t spot any. We saw loads of mountain goats, some with their babies, and also a few marmots. Tonight’s Refuge des Merveilles is very big - we are in a dorm with probably at least 50 beds, and that’s knit one of several. I’ll try the sleeping pills again, with something loud in my AirPods. A shorter day tomorrow, if the guidebook is to be believed! The refuge is in an idyllic setting, just above a lake and surrounded by craggy mountains - no wonder it’s popular. Good that we arrived at a reasonable time today as it’s allowed us time to wash a few clothes. Next time I must bring flip flops to wear in the shower. Now eagerly awaiting dinner while sitting out here with a view of the lake. No WiFi or mobile signal here, so am writing this on my phone’s notepad.

Walked across some bits of glacier today

Lunch/sock stop

Yay!!!

Gorgeous view over the lake