Sunday 26th June: Blue skies and cool to warm, 16°C to 22°
St Martin Vesubie to St Dalmas: 7k walk: 11.00am to 1.00pm, 2hrs - almost a day off
Coffee on balcony at studio
Today's highlight was having "almost" a day off. We left late at 11am from St Martin and arrived in St Dalmas 2hrs later. I'd planned a very short day, knowing that yesterday was going to be a long one and also doing just a bit today instead of a whole day off, took the edge off tomorrow's long uphill walk.
A leisurely start to the day in our cosy studio - a cup of tea in bed followed by our own concoction of breakfast - muesli and yoghurt bought the day before. Everyone is showered and packed and the studio cleaned by 8.30am when we leave our backpacks at the studio and walk down the road to the village square to connect to the Free WiFi Hot Spot outside the council chambers - the Mairie. Jenny and Graham call their friends and rellies, and we call Will and Bonnie - can't get hold of Tom.
Gargouille (Stream) in middle of village street St Martin Vesubie
Steep climb up to Colmiane
Looking back st St Martin Vesubie
More snow capped alps at end of Valley de la Fenestra
Ultra trail runner in Coliame
At the top of Col St Martin, Coliame 1500m
How nice - flowers on mountain side, vapour trails in blue sky
St Dalmas village 200m below
Lunch on a wall at St Damas
At 9.30, the village square is fast filling with tourists having coffee and croissant outside the popular boulangerie. Time to do more shopping for lunch and dinner today, and breakfast and lunch tomorrow. First stop is the boulangerie, where we buy another loaf of bread, "Couple de Montagne" - Then it's down a narrow street to find another epicerie, as the local Casino is closed. We have to constantly step over the gargouille - a small narrow stream running in a gutter through the centre of the street - St. Martin and Briançon are the only villages in France with a gargouille. Next stop is the fruit market. What! No tomatoes! We saw the last tray disappear before our eyes - probably to a nearby restaurant. Two capsicums will have to do. The Charcuterie has ham and Comte Cheese - so we get 4 large slabs of ham instead of the wafer thin variety sold at the supermarket, and a large hunk of Comte Cheese - made from unpasteurized cow's milk in Eastern France just north of Geneva.
Graham is still yakking on his phone in the village square when we walk past with our shopping and we wave to indicate we're returning to the studio. It's just a 600 metre walk along the stream and soon we're having coffee on the balcony before leaving at 11am to hike up and over the Col St Martin to St Dalmas, just 7k away. The track is an old mule track traversing the side of the mountain to the small ski village of Colmiane, situated right on the Col St Martin. Along the well graded track, there's views back to St Martin Vesubie and up the Valley de La Madone de Fenestra where we walked yesterday. The snow capped alps can be seen through gaps in the pine forest on this stunning blue sky day.
We're up the top of the Col at 12.30, only to find we're in the middle of a 20k trail race called the "Trail de la Colmiane" which started and finished in St Dalmas, and followed the tracks around the Col St Martin in the village of Colmiane. I wouldn't like to be running these stony mountainous tracks! We can see the church steeple of St Dalmas about 200 metres down below with a green field full of cars parked for the trail run. Our accommodation for the night, Auberge Les Mures, is just before St Dalmas and after following the GR52A signs down the mountainside, it's only 30 minutes until we walk past our auberge, but we continue into St Dalmas, as check in won't be until 4pm.
Our picnic lunch is delicious with fresh "Couple" bread, cheese, ham, lettuce, and one tomato from yesterday. Graham and Jenny decide to have their afternoon off in the beer garden of the local bar, Ian and I return the 600 metres up the road to the Auberge to find it's OK to get into our rooms at 3pm. It's a relaxing afternoon washing, blogging and catching up with emails (the WiFi here is good).
At 5.30pm, it's time to catch up with Jenny and Graham for a drink on our sunny balcony and after an hour of chatting, it's time for our picnic dinner - same as lunch - with a chilled rose.
More relaxing then bed. For next few days we'll be in some isolated mountainous refuges and won't have WiFi
Hang Gliders at Dusk