Tuesday 21st June: Blue skies and warm, 16°C to 26°
Sospel to Moulinet: 19k walk: 9.20am to 4.50pm, 7hrs 30mins
Across the bridge, into the bush
Jenny clawing through overgrowth
Cuppa coffee on shady rock
Wild country in Mercantour Park
Cone de Penas at end of track
Magnificent view point
Jenny and Graham on the way up
Not a well used track
The wild Mercantour National Park
Very dry and rocky Mercantour
Host Simone at Villa de Beau Site
Magnificent entre Grain de Sel
A magnificent day, but a long 19k day. Our first day in the Mercantour National Park. 19k instead of planned 11k. We took one look at the scramble up a steep climb to Cime a Codolis and decided to take the long way round which add another 6k. The highlight was getting to our wonderful accommodation at Villa de Beau Site in Moulinet and being greeted by our friendly hosts Georges and Simone Mallory, an elderly French couple who live in this huge villa and rent out 3 rooms as gite.
Our day started at 6am with a cup of Jetboiled tea, some time chatting back home to the family, then a quick trip to the Boulangerie to buy some bread and teh Spa to buy some cheese and tomatoes for a picnic lunch. We say goodbye to Tim, the English owner who has owned the Auberge Vieux Pont for 10 years since he and his wife left Chipping Norton in England to avoid the massive developments in his village and chose Sospel which is surrounded by mountains with little likelihood of over population.
It's an easy uphill walk along a country road for about 3 k to Faissalonga where the road ends and the GR52A sign points down hill. It's an overgrown track - well sign posted but not well used. At the bottom, the track crosses the main road the D2566, and the overgrown track becomes an almost impassable forest of thorny vines and prickles. We make a collective decision to push on for another 100 metres before deciding whether or not to turn back to the main road which is not a good option either, as it's a busy narrow main road winding its way up the steep Gorges du Piaon, and there's absolutely no room for hikers on this road. After 15 minutes of hopping our way through the thorns, we come to a farm house where the thorny bushes are replaced with a stony path covered in cow plops - we can't win. But it does get better, and after an hour we've reached the edge of a beech forrest where there's little overgrowth, no cow plops and beautiful views across the valley.
By 11.30am it's time for a coffee break before tackling the 500 metre climb. It's a cool 22°C sitting in the shade but hot and thirsty walking in the sun and we find the only running water we've seen in 2 days. Time to fill up before the climb. A ridge walk comes to an abrupt end at the pinacle of Cone de Penas and we take a sharp left back down the otherside of the valley. We have beautiful views to our left and right and up. At 1.30, Ian and Jenny spy a shady spot for lunch by a running stream - it's very dry in the southern part of the French Alps, and any snow melted months ago. Fresh bread, tomatoes and cheese with some cold water is refueling and refreshing.
Another 15 minutes down the track, there's a signpost pointing upwards to the Cime a Codolis at 1022 metres. It's steep, very steep and rocky with an almost 300 metre climb vertically up. No thanks. We take a vote and decide to walk the long way around to the Granges du Cuous then on to the Pas de Capelette. It's still a 300 metre climb, but spread over about 6 k, it's an almost easy grade.
Once at the Col, it's an easy forest walk around the contours until we meet a gravel road, and the village of Moulinet comes into sight 200 metres below us. Down the road for 30 minutes there's a steep track leading down to Moulinet and we enter the village via the Public Washing basins - huge water trough like structures where the village people washed in previous centuries. Up through the village, someone tells us that the only shop won't be open til 5,30pm and it's now only 5pm. about 500 metres further on we recogise the Villa de Beau Site from photos we've seen. Georges and Simone greet us and take us up the 3 flights of stairs to their sun room. They a a lovely elderly couple, and we it and share a beer with them. It's an interesting conversation as they speak almost no English and I speak almost no French, but enough to get by and indicate yes, we'd like them to make a Reservation at the restaurant Grain de Sel which we passed on the way in. Our rooms a basic but lovely with a small kitchenette, paper sheets (yes disposable sheets) and a hot shower - all we need.
A quick shower then down to the Epicerie that's now open and serves as the local bar, to buy yoghurt and fruit and bread and tomatoes for the next 2 lunches - the shop is closed on a Wednesday so we can't stock up in the morning. The little restaurant is in the middle of town and we are the only customers. The food is absolutely beautiful. We all choose the 19 euro, 3 course deal. Entre is green salad, basil tomatoes and ricotta cheese. The main course is egg plant and half a chicken - a tiny chicken half the size of our halves in oz. And dessert was a choice of chocolate cake, pannacotta or lemon tart. One of the nicest meals we've had.
A walk back to the ville at 9pm and bed after a long warm day