Roya 29th June

Wednesday 29th June: Blue skies cold to warm, 5°C to 20°C

Roure to Longon: 22k walk: 8.00am to 5.00pm, 9hrs

It's my turn for water

Leaving Hidden valley of Longon

Ibex on the hills

Blue skies and mountains

And again

Through fields of flowers

Springtime in teh Mercantour

This is just beautiful

More blue skies

Morning tea looking back to Bueil

A spectacular, stunning, magnificent day again in the Mercantour National Park. Highlights just went on and on. Beginning with a walk through the hidden valley of Longon, to reaching the Col de Moulines at 1981m with views to teh ski fields of Beuil, to climbing to the high shoulder of Mt Mounier at 2687 m with almost 360 ° spectacular views all round. Today was so spectacular, Ian took 120 amazing photos of which I have selected only a few.

Our day begins at 6am when we're awake to the noises from the kitchen next door. We've all slept really well with just the 4 of us in a dorm to ourselves. It's freezing cold at about 5°C but the hot shower is still working so it's great to be able to warm up. We're packed and breakfast is ready at 7am. We need an early start today as we know its a long one. An 800m climb and 1100 metre down. Breakfast is basic but really nice. The hot coffee is with hot farm fresh milk. And the bread is with slabs of home made butter and jam. Three slices and hunks of butter and jam later and we're ready to leave. We say goodbye to Sandrine, and note the names of her 4 lovely children.

The GR5 Guide book by Paddy Dillon says there's no water on this section, so we all fill up at the water trough outside the dairy. I have to fight with a cat to get to the water spout. Then we're off through the meadows of the hidden valley where the sun immediately shoots the temperature to 15°C. The valley is so beautiful, hidden between the mountains with flowers, sheep, cows, goats, sprinkled with dozens of marmots scurrying away as they hear us coming. Did I say the valley was beautiful? It's beyond what a photo will reveal!

In 30 minutes we come to the Portes of longon - the Gates to Longon and the hidden valley, and we're soon stepping our way down hill towards the stone houses of Vignols in the valley below. There's other hikers coming up towards us who have parked their car and on a day hike to the Refuge de Longon - as many hikers do because it's such a beautiful place. Then there's more up hill along a stony path to the Col de Moulines at 1981 metres - we've gone down 150 metres, only to go up again - that's life in the mountains.

It's just after 10.00 am when we reach the Col de Moulines - time for morning tea with a view down to the Ski fields of Beuil where the GR521 passes through passes through way below the Mercantour Alps. There's 2 other hikers walking down to it. From there, we know it's a long 600 metres climb up to 2700 metres to the edge of the track just below Mont Mounier. The meadows have turned to shale, and the landscape is now a moonscape devoid of any trees as we're above the tree line of 2000 metres.

For the next 1 hr 30 minutes it's up and up, on a good graded track which then suddenly crosses a flat plan before steepening sharply as it rises towards Mont Mounier which has been looming before us all morning. Ian and I reach La Stèle Valette at 2587m, the high shoulder of Mont Mounier, and the 345 °views are stunning, magnificent, spectacular - it's just an amazing spectacle of Alps, some snow capped, some not. We have time for a cuppa, as Jenny and Graham steadily plod upwards and arrive 30 minutes later.

It's hard to leave this magical spot. Ian takes a myriad of photos before we descend to teh Col de Crousette at 2480 metres, a pass I'd been concerned about since we planned this hike, as it's often covered with snow well into June. But there's only the odd patch of snow off to the sides, not on the track. The start of the walk down is a bit like standing at the top of the 90 metre ski ramp like Eddie the Eagle. It's so steep, you balk at having to take the first step down. I go first. I seem to flow down mountain sides easily - I might fall on my face one day but not today. It's steep for 30 minutes down, but then the steepness softens to giant steps over stony steps. Down and Down. We have another 1000 metres of descent.

Down the valley and as we look down there's a flock of sheep and a herd of goats mingled together right across our path. Ian and I are ahead and we approach the animals with trepidation. With good reason. As we get close there's two sheep dogs (thing viscous guard dogs) come toward us with gnarled teeth. Ian says "easy boy" I say "where' the camera". A standoff and we're both nervous. We back off and the dogs close their gums so we feel a bit easier as we walk backwards. All is good until a third dog joins the action and we retreat very quickly downhill to a gully. "Ian where's the camera", "Jan jump the creek", I am more interested in getting a photo than escaping the gnashing teeth of the dogs. We signal to Jenny and Graham that they need to walk down hill, off track, really quickly. And we all finish up in a swampy meadow with no obvious path to follow. Ian Jenny and Graham walk up and over and I walk down and over and we meet several hundred metres down track thankful to be away from teh dogs. There's signs all over the Mercantour National Park to be careful about the sheep dogs. The signs say, "Don't yell out, Don't throw stones, in general, wait for them to walk away". This situation was not "in general" and there was no sign of these dogs just walking away so we had to do a serious detour.

Twenty minutes later we're back on track walking down a steep stony track that leds to a forested track through and amazing gorge lined with sedimentary layers of rock called Barres de Roya and eventually we see the village of Roya, but its on the opposite side of the gorge and we have to walk down and up - again. We recognise the Gite de Roya when we see the umbrellas over the verandah and there's already 6 hikers enjoying a beer on the balcony. It's 5pm when we arrive. We've had a long day and need a beer ASAP. It's draught bee rand icy cold. After and hour of recovering, we're shown to our room - a 4 bunk room. There's a WC and shower opposite so in no time flat we've all had a hot shower and go downstairs to have another drink There's no WiFi. TGFT. Graham's "needs" a break from Alan Jones on the internet.

Dinner is at 7.00pm and is wonderful. A piece of pasta, thin beef soup, pork filet and pasta with rely fresh bread, and lemon sherbet or creme panache. We get to chat to the local hikers. One group is a group of school friends from primary school near Grenoble, a lone walker is doing the Via Alpini and doing about 40km per day. He left today from Larche at 4.15am to do his 40 km walk. Thin as a rake, he'll do another 40k tomorrow leaving at 7am to Sty Dalmas where he'll decide whether to do the GR52 or the GR5. Over teh years, we've met many hikers who do their 30 to 60k per day starting at 4.00am in the morning. They're all on a mission!

The Gite de Roya is a converted school (Maison d'ecole) and opposite is a very old church. Roya is only a small village of 10 houses, one church, one Gite, but it's a fabulous stopover.