2010/5 France Alps

What do we do when we arrive in France – Supermarket tourism; and so we did at Bourg Saint Maurice in Savoie. Can’t resist all the goodies, the local specialities – andoulliette & fromage de tete for Joanna, duck & salami for me, cheese for us both and then of course the wine. We buy the casks, since in France they do put good wine in casks (5l of Bordeaux appellation controlee for 15 euro)and then we are not constrained by the contents of a bottle! David has also noted the proliferation of high alcohol beers, and had to test of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First stop Val d’Isere, the thriving ski station, not the village David knew 45 years ago but still a great spot and a super camping spot just out of town with fine views. Walk one in the Vannoise Park was a cracker, clear skies, fields a riot of colour, no not a riot but a pattern of delicate small flowers with deep colours. We have spotted so many flowers but did not find Edelweiss – maybe we should have brought Julie Andrews along!  We saw marmots every where – some shy, some not, a bearded eagle from afar and a herd of Ibex very close. A lot of camera clicking.                                                                                                                                                                

                                                                                                                                                                           The walk was a climb up to the sources of the Isere river at 2700m near the Italian frontier (lunch spot), very tiring but a half litre of wine at the refuge on the way down helped a lot, why can’t the parks in NZ have similar huts with refreshments?

Another walk was helped by taking the chair lift up and wandering the long way down through forest and flowers.  Thence up and over the Col d’Iseran at 2704m to the Maurienne Valley.  Down to Bonneval sur Arc, when David was last there in 1963 there were cows stabled on the ground floor and living space above, in this village that was isolated all winter. Now a thriving little village with tourists and boutique shops selling salami and cheese etc. Walks over the next few days to villages now  abandoned or being revived, and up to the snow line with impressive peaks and glaciers, on the Italian border - all in the Vannoise National Park and its neighbour the Park de Grand Paradiso. Walks were interesting and challenging, finishing with a three refuges (with refreshment of course) walk high above Termingnon with such a towering panorama of glaciers and mountains.

 

 

 

 

 

We really enjoyed the Vannoise here with its wide valleys, meadows, clusters of old stone houses. One walk to the Evettes refuge and a ‘cirque’ of glaciers was postponed due to thunderclouds and is on the list for another year.

We have been lucky to find a series of beautiful campsites, almost always with the sound of rushing water. Waterfalls by the dozen, in fact you know you’ve seen enough when you can say waterfall in 6 different languages. We were able to make better use of our portable Camping Gaz bbq this year, a dinky little thing that folds up very neatly.

 

Then a change of focus – the Tour de France cycle race mountain stage was passing farther down the valley. So a night 5m from the railway line near Modane. We took up position at the foot of the Col de la Madelaine descent at the village of La Chambre, jostling with the crowd who managed to slowly spoil our great view we had established with folding chairs etc.  No help from the numerous police standing around blowing whistles. First the razzmatazz of the publicity cavalcade then the riders hurtling down near the end of their 200kmride over 4 mountain passes with over 3,500m of climb, together with police outriders, support vehicles (which had more trouble taking the corner than the riders).  The atmosphere was unique but ‘been there seen that’. Everywhere there are cyclists from all over the world, going ahead or following after the racers,or just crawling up impossible hills. We also have never seen so many camper vans and after a thousand had descended from the Col we decided to go to the summit of the Madeleine and lo and behold another thousand still there for us to find a space overnight at 2000m altitude. Learnt hat the Aussie Evans lost the yellow jersey and apparently all chance of regaining it on the climb up the Madeleine. Our Kiwi came in at 160 something out of 187 but did come second in an earlier stage.

 

So thence to Chamonix – suddenly we are in a valley with lots of tourists, many English and climbers plus bus loads of Japanese going up to the Aiguille du Midi and to the Lac Blanc.  Chamonix is a lively town in a special setting, wall to wall sports shops – we were sucked into buying another two vented day packs; now 7 packs in the van (and dozens at home). We moved up the valley to Argentiere where Joanna spent 6 months over 30 years ago as a chambermaid by morning, an intrepid skier by afternoon and not too many details about the evening but we did enjoy an evening in one of her favourite bars.

As for walks we made one at the end of the valley up near to the Swiss frontier and then back down the valley.  Next day on the south side with a telepherique assisted start and then climb to an impressive look over the Argentiere glacier, refreshment in a refuge but the 1200m descent with lots of zig zags = lots of kilometres was a drag - nothing to do with feeling the effects of the night before of course, but getting old – too tired to go back to the Savoy bar for the happy hour! (two pints for one). Third tramp was on the north side with telepheriqe start to walk to the Lac Blanc. One reason was to replace an old photo in our garage at home – not to be, as lots of cloud swirling around Mont Blanc – another year. However we did discover that it is on the programme for the ‘Alps Tour’(see name tag) of Japanese as  they file past with regulation dress and matching hats.

 

Many telepheriques, chair lifts etc run in summer not only for the tourists but for the legions of mountain bikers (called VTT in France) who are released at the top, don their armour and hurtle down bouncing and skidding to the bottom.Then there are the parapenteurs, the climbers with rope, snazzy crampons and ice picks (note it’s time to throw mine out).

Chamonix is crowded, touristy and totally commercialised but it still has a charm, which of course is why it is so popular. There are so many things to do, different walks combined with trains, telepheriques  and delightful refuge lunches etc and it isn’t hard to get away from the masses at all.

So to the end of the Alpine circuit. We have done 25 substantial hikes (Some more substantial than others) all carefully logged by Joanna. This of course doesn’t include some long bike rides and hours of trudging around towns doing our urban tourism bit. We are really fit (by our standards, not Tour de France riders’ standards – could be something to do with our drug of choice) and looking forward to the ski slopes in NZ in about 2 weeks. But first we have booked a channel ferry for 5.30am on the 21st (ferry prices at this hour are a quarter of the cost at a civilised hour). So a thousand kilometres and then a week in the UK to catch up with family and friends, fix some minor works on the van etc etc..

European Alps goodbye

2010/4 Rest of Northern Italy

From the mountains to the plains, we changed from 5 degrees to 35 degrees, and clear air to haze(which lasted for a week) all in the space of a few stressful hours. We thought that the trip down to Verona would be a lovely jaunt along an alpine valley then a quick whizz down the motorway. How naive and ever optimistic we are. Sure the valley was lovely, but the road works were hell, and all the other thousands of cars thought the same. The motorway from the Brenner (busy) Pass was chock a block with trucks that like nothing better than to tailgate defenceless woman drivers and turn them into nervous wrecks. After getting through that we spent about 2 hours faithfully following the satnav directions around Verona to no longer existing campsites (NB we need to update our Italian sosta campsite) book. HOWEVER when we finally made it – brilliant. The sosta was a few hundred metres walk from the centre of town and Verona is a lovely city.

We mustered our last remaining drops of energy and headed to town for the evening. We love the Italian evening  promenade thing. Actually managed to see most of the sights that night. Next day set off for more tourist torture. Discovered that Aida was on at the old Roman arena that night and managed to get seats. Spent the day seeing the sights – Juliets’s house etc. Plus several hours at a WIFI site – a big problem in Italy as they have new laws all about terrorism that make it difficult for foreigners to get on WIFI easily. Something that we don’t really understand – we think we do when they tell us but when we go away and think about it, we wonder what on earth it is all about!

Well Verona is charming. We were very happy wandering and visiting cafes. Aida in the arena was stunning.  The set was a total extravaganza. It started at 9.15, ended about 12.30. Our marble seats in the plebian area, near the top were bone-achingly hard, even with our double cushions. But we were happy. It was magnificent.

From Verona we travelled west, lunched on the shore of Lake Grado. Dabbled our toes, but too cold. Moved onto Lake Como. Made our way through the town to find the sosta at west Como. It was awful. Just an old truck yard full of wrecks and barely a human to be seen. Joanna put up some serious resistance  (unlike her usual compliant self!) and we moved on up the lake to Menaggio. 34kms which took an hour, but what a spectacular drive. The lake was sparkling,full of boats, crowds of people. Found a camp on the shores of the lake and being evening set off to promenade again. An elegant town, as most of Lake Como appears to be.

Next day we headed into the hills – very steep walk but interesting, through historical village stuff. Lots of ancient work related remnants, some not all that old – mills, forges, lime kilns. Had a bit of excitement when we had to cross a fast-flowing river where the bridge had been washed away. David crawled across what was left of the bridge that had been slung across the water. Joanna got her gear off and walked across. Got the adrenaline going. Next morning had a swim in the lake. Unfortunately the haze had made it up the lake and we could hardly see anything.

Set off on a bit of an Italian lakes tour. Lunch at Lake Lugano, Coffee on the shores of Lake Maggiore and finally dinner at Lake Orta. Orta is by far the smallest of the lakes but has a charming medieval town – Orta san Guilio, with an equally charming island close off shore with a monastry. Joanna’s sister Sue spent time in Orta 35 years ago on her OE and has been trying to get people to go there ever since. Well we have now and it was lovely – although seems to becoming a bit of a museum piece and not really a living town anymore. No cars allowed in the town and camper vans are banished even further out so we got our exercise riding or walking up and down the hill.

Did a motorway hop to Aosta. So quick and cheap in Italy. David had been fretting about the rear lights not working, so decided this was the place to sort it out. Found an interesting sosta right in town that seemed to have several families of resident gypsies. They were very friendly but we were fascinated with all the goings on. While van electrical fault was being traced we headed up the new Pila telepherique, right out of the centre of the town up a thousand metres. We did an extremely rigorous walk(for us) straight up the downhill ski run - another 600 metres. It was stunning, a beautiful day, wonderful scenery,and a very good ski area. Some days we just can’t believe how lucky we are.

Side lights fixed and off to the National Park Grand Paradiso, just off the Aosta Valley. Very picturesque,towering mountains, pretty villages. Full of hearty, hiking sorts – we rather fancy that we are part of the scene at the moment. Did  a  hike up one of the valleys. We noticed a definite lag in our pace and reluctance to attack the steep bits, but it was when we noticed that the unfit looking day trippers in unsuitable shoes were looking more spritely than us, we realised that it was time for a break. Took 2 days out in a delightful little campsite in the village Valnontey. David managed to tick off everything on his list of jobs to be done (first time I have ever known that since we have been married – it usually grows!), we sat in the sun, checked out the village bars, visited the Alpine Botanical Gardens. All very therapeutic. The wildflowers have been magnificent on this trip. An amazing array that any home gardener would be proud of.

Our energy restored we explored another valley the next day before heading off for Courmayeur,right beside the Mt Blanc tunnel. Both of us have spent time in this area in the past, so enjoy revisiting, but always amazed at how little we remember. I am beginning to think that it won’t be long before we could just keep going back to the same place because we don’t remember anything anyway. From Courmayeur we made THE trans Mont Blanc trip on several telepheriques across the Alps to Chamonix. The weather was perfect and the views of Mt Blanc and surrounding peaks incredible especially from the high points of Hellbronner(3462 metres, Matterhorn in the distance) and the Aguille de Midi(3842 metres). We were both impressed to see the path we had taken many years ago down from the Aguille de Midi – Joanna to ski the Mer de Glace and David on various climbing expeditions. It hasn’t improved at all over the years – a narrow path along a ridge with precipitous drops on both sides. We watched climbers with crampons and roped  together. Joanna and David  did it in ski boots and carrying skis. Scary. Back to Courmayeur by bus through Mt Blanc tunnel. Had a great day. Recommend the trip. We have now been to the top of the highest peak in Germany (Zugspitz) and been very close to the highest in Italy (Grande Paradiso) and the highest in the France/Alps (Mont Blanc).

We are now (6 July) in a sosta at La Thuile, a little resort on the Petit St Bernard Pass – onto Val d’Isere later today. The end of our Italian sojourn,much longer than intended, but all good with Dolomites, Adriatic coast,grand Opera and the Grand Paradiso National Park.

We are looking forward to French bread – Italian is unreliable, and all sorts of other gastronomic delights.