Friday 24th June: Blue skies and cool to warm, 16°C to 20°
Refuge de Merveilles to Hotel Capelet: 3k tour plus 12k walk: 8.30am to 4.30pm, 8hrs
Breakfast is disgusting
Moonset over Mercantour
Waiting for tour guide Sondrine
Sleepy Marmot sunning itself
Glacial lakes Mercantour Park
Petroglyphics
Stony bouldery mountains
Tour guide Sondrine likes coffee
Coffee at the turnoff
Which photo will I choose?
Pas d'Arpette 2511m
Pas d'Arpette 2511m
Mercantour is just stunning
Ian relaxing over luch
The bottom at Pont Countet 1690m
Graham and Jenny touch down
Gordalesque Valley
Entering the Mercantour Parc
There were so many highlights of today. First was the guided walking tour of the Vallee de Merveilles (Valley of Marvels) looking at 5,000 year old hyroglyphics carved by bronze age people living in the Apls Maritime near the Italian border. Then we climbed 500 metres to the highets point of our trip so far at 2511 to Pas d'Arpette with spectacular views across the Mercantour National Park. It's hard to know whether the word stunning or spectacular is the better word.
We had a terrible night. Our dorm had 56 people and one snorer. All night it sounded like a chainsaw stuck in idle position. We're all sleeping together, lined up like cows waiting to be milked - and the little one said roll over! The bed was comfy, it was warm enough with two blankets but every 30 minutes I'd sit bolt upright, wide awake, to the sound of this chainsaw. At midnight I gave Ian a dig in the ribs, hoping he'd go and throw a pillow at our snorer - but he's too polite for that. By 6am everyone is awake except our snorer who was the only one who slept for 9 hrs.
By 6.30am we've already been up, had a cold water face wash, packed, and commiserated with all the other sleepless people. Breakfast is at 7am, and it's terrible - stale bread and jam, cornflakes, but at least the tea is hot. At 8am we're outside waiting for our guide to take us through the Vallee de Merveilles. There's 15 of us, each paying 15 euro, and we're soon following Sondrine, our guide up to the Valley. We drop our packs at the turnoff to the the Pas d'Arpette so we don't have to carry them into the bouldery narrow valley which is more of a crevice than a valley. Sondrine explains, in French and in English, that the valley was formed 50,000 year ago and was covered 600 metres deep in ice. The retreating glacier has left many glacial lakes and boulders. The Bronze Age people came to the valley for 2 months every year around 3000 BC during the summer months and doodled with their bronze aged tools creating 40,000 hyrerglyphics of figurines, horns and pictograms that archeologists are still categorising. The walk was very hot, and temperatures inside the valley regularly reach 45°C because it so narrow and deep. The carvings are amazing, hence the name Valley of Marvels (Vallee des Merveilles) and it was well worth the extra 3hrs.
At 11.30am, the tour finishes and we walk back down to where we have stashed our backpacks under a rock. Time for a coffee. Sondrine, our tour guide wanders past and we invite her for a cup of Jetboiled coffee. She's a wealth of information about the valley and all sorts of things - like how disgusting the bread is at the refuge, and which walk to take the day after tomorrow - over the Cime, or around the GR52A through the forests to St Martin de Vesubie. She spends the whole year tour guiding - summer in the mountains - winter on the coast. We say goodbye and head on up the the stony path towards the Pas d'Arpette. It takes us 45 minutes to power up to the top at 2511m, and have a quick cup of tea while waiting for Jenny.
We've still another 1,000m of descent. The first section very, very steep down a shaley slope. After 30 minutes, there's a flat area on the grass where we have lunch at 2pm. The picnic lunch we bought for 8.50 Euro each is as bad as breakfast. Stale bread, some couscous with some dried peas and corn sprinkled around, boiled egg (the only bit that's ok), a packet of chips, and a small chocolate, and an apple. On again down stony uneven steps through scattered pine trees. There's many walkers on this trail today, mostly guided tour groups visiting the Vallee des Merveilles, or just admiring the flowers of the Mercantour.
At 3.30pm we reach the bottom of the Gordalesque Valley, the Pont de Countet at 1690 metres. There's dozens of cars in an isolated car park where the end of the road through the Valley meets several walking tracks, including the one to/from Arpette, and one up to Cime de Vallette de Prals, at 2500m on the other side of the valley. Throughout the long trek down we've been looking at this Cime, one we've considered climbing the next day to go to St Martin Vesubie - but this track is not only a steep 1000m up, there's a 1500m drop into St Martin at the end - that's a down that some of us don't want to do. There's a few nervous faces eying up tomorrows possible walk.
It's another 3k walk down a narrow bitumen road, past St Grat and eventually we find a sign to the Hotel du Grand Capulet where we are welcomed and shown to our rooms. Time for a shower and washing that's then hung in the window on hangers to dry. It's all a bit obvious from the street but we've over being prudish by now. The WiFi works intermittently amd only downstairs, but we've discovered that our posted suitcase has arrived in Paris, and that Qld won the State of Origin. We haven't had WiFi for 2 days.
Washing done, it'ss now time for a beer and a bit of blogging before dinner. We meet a young couple from America who have just arrived by car from Nice at the Grand Hotel du Capelet and are wanting to do a few walks we have done. We discuss a few routes on their map and then look at the 3D map hanging on the wall. They'll do it easier than us - younger and with only a day pack.
Dinner at 7.30pm is superb. Grated carrot with an oil/herb mix, followed by a meaty, tomatoey, cheesy lasagne then a slice of Conte cheese, and a chocolate mousse. We have discussion with our host about the tracks tomorrow and he suggests going almost to the top, then diverting down to the Madonne de Fenestra Refuge and walking along the road to St Martin. More discussion between the group is needed. There's too many alternatives.