Monday 11th July: Blue skies cool to very hot 15°C to 31°C
Briancon: 20k walk: 10.15am to 5.15pm: 7 hrs
Breakfast in the park
A spare day in Briancon to reflect, recover and rejoice. Highlight for Ian and I was climbing to the top of Croix de Toulouse at 1920m, and highlight for jenny and graham was racing to the top in the cable car to T Orient where it was freezing and raining.
Our day starts with breakfast in the park, having been to the Carrefours City just 200 metres down the road from our hotel to buy muesli, yoghurt, milk and fresh bread, It's already 20°C and a hazy day, indicative of storms looming in the afternoon. It's Monday morning so there's only the 4 of us in the park by the lake. Jenny and Graham return to the Hotel Edelweiss and walk up to the Fort Dauphin above Briancon, then take the cable car up to T Orient where the storms came in early and they wed cold and wet.
Intersport for gas can
Gite de Roya
Gite de Roya
Gite de Roya
Gite de Roya
Gite de Roya
Gite de Roya
Gite de Roya
Gite de Roya
Gite de Roya
Gite de Roya
Ian and I walked 3k to the Intersport to get another gas can, then returned in the heat of the day to the Hotel to have a quick cup of tea before packing lunch. It was already 31°C at 12.45pm when we left to hike 700 metres to the top of the Croix de Toulouse, a large rocky outcrop overhanging Briancon at 1920 metres. After 20 minutes we reach the ruins of the Fort de Sallettes, then another hour of climbing through shady forests and we're at the top of the Croix de Toulouse at 1920 metres where there's a convenient picnic table. It's a late 2pm lunch of Fresh bread, butter, tomato and camembert cheese, whilst admiring the view over Briancon, and watching the looming thunderstorms approaching from the mountains up the two valleys. Time to walk down the gravel road back into Briancon.
It was pleasantly cool at the top but as we descended, it became warmer, and after an hour's walking downhill past a pharmacy, the temperature on the sign was showing 31°C. I began to rain, not heavily, but enough to drag out my poncho for the first time this trip. But by the time we reached the hotel, the sun was out and the rain had stopped. Time to wash the day's clothes and have a quick shower before meeting Graham and Jenny downstairs as agreed. They have checked out the local supermarket chain E.Leclerc and found they have cold wine and beer, so that's where we go to buy our picnic dinner - salty potato chips with a beer, salmon, mache, tomato, with champagne and rose - perched on the side of the embankment to the Durance River running swiftly below us.
A slow walk home to our hotel in the cool of the evening and bed