Thursday 30th June: Slightly overast skies cool to warm, 18°C to 23°C
Roya to Auron: 12k walk: 8.20am to12.20pm, 4hrs
Accommodation: Hotel Edelweiss
Oldchurch in Roya
A quiet but picturesque day after yesterday's spectacle in the Mercantour National Park which we have now left to enter the French Alps called the Ecreins. Today we passed through wonderful fields of wild flowers, the benefit of walking in June in the Alps. Highlight was also reaching Auron, our biggest town after 13 days of walking from Menton.
Our morning starts with a shower, then breakfast at 7am of almost fresh bread, butter, jam and coffee or tea at the Gite de Roya. It's a short day, so there's time to visit the old church opposite in Roya and our host gives us the key to the Church of Saint-Nom-de-Marie. Inside it's beautifully ornate with monuments which bear witness to the life of 330 inhabitants in Roya in 1864. Today there’s just 10 houses with less than 30 inhabitants. There's another WW2 Memorial, again with many members of the same family in the list of "Morts glorieux".
The climb out of Roya is very steep, passing through meadows of yellow and white flowers, sprinkled with wild rose bushes and clusters of lavender. Half way up, I'm ahead and stop suddenly as I'm about to tread on a line of caterpillars - so I thought until closer inspection revealed it was a black and grey/white small snake about 30cm long, slowly slithering its way across the path. We watch as it disappears into the grassy meadow.
Ornate church inside
Walking through fields of flowers
Snake on the track
Coffee at Col du Blainon 2014m
Through the flowers to Auron
Ski fields of Auron
Lunch in "dead" centre of Auron
Casino - our local shop in Auron
Most amusement in Auron
Smoked salmon and trout and salad
Dinner on the church picnic table
The flowers and meadows give way to a forested track and in less than 2 hours we're at the Col du Blainon at 2014 m. Time for morning tea. It's overcast and chilly sitting on the grassy col, but the skies are clear and it soon warms up as the clouds lift while we are sitting there. Another 10 minutes and Auron, a large ski village comes into view on a plateau half way down the valley below. It takes us only an hour and a half to walk through the cool pine forests, past the ski towers and summer golf course and into the centre of Auron at 12.20pm. It’s the biggest town we’ve been in since we started in Menton 13 days ago.
The place is dead, with no one in the streets, but there's a small Casino grocery store that's open until 12.30pm. We have 10 minutes to shop! That’s all we need to buy one tomato to add to the cheese and bread we already have for lunch - one day old cheese from Longon, and two day old bread from Roure. But they've just brought out a batch of hot baguettes which we can't resist. Just as we're about to have a picnic lunch on benches in the village centre, a storm rolls in and we're forced to retreat to a ledge under and awning. The bread is so hot and delicious. We'll be back to buy stuff for a picnic dinner when the shop re-opens at 4pm.
Our Hotel Edelweiss is easy to find, just 50 metres around the corner near the bottom of the ski lift. We're lucky to get into our rooms at 1pm instead of check-in time at 2pm. The first thing to do is washing - everything we own after being in refuges and gites for the past 3 days and 2 nights. Then it's time to check emails before resting while our washing dries - we have nothing else to wear and have to wait to go for something to dry to go for a walk.
At 4.30pm, the storm has blown over, the sun is out, and some of our washing is dry. Time for Ian and myself to have a walk around Auron. The only amusement in Auron is a dog playing with a soccer ball. We find a table in the church grounds and plan to have a picnic dinner bought from the local Casino.
Back to our Hotel Edelweiss to collect Graham and Jenny and bring in the last of the washing from the balcony, do some grocery shopping at the local Casino then down to that picnic table we'd spied earlier for dinner. There's a cool wind blowing so it's beanies and jackets. Dinner of smoked salmon and trout with salad is magnificent - washed down with a 6 euro ($10) bottle of Rose. Back to our hotel and bed