Monday 20th June: Blue skies and warm, 16°C to 24°
St Agnes to Sospel: 17k walk: 6hrs 30mins between 9.30am and 4pm
Early cuppa tea St Agnes Cottage
View from St Agnes Cottage
Anita and dog Widget say goodbye
St Agnes, such a pretty village
Graham and Jenny on the trail
Last glimpse of Mediterranean Sea
First glimpse of snow capped Alps
Perfect seat for a coffee break
Up hill through the Sospel forrest
Lunchbreak under a shady tree
In 2009 we walked in Sospel and caught train back to Monaco
Highlight today was reaching the Col de Castillon, and looking back at teh Mediterranean for the last time then looking ahead to our first glimpse of snow on the alps. A warm sunny blue sky day with some stunning views back to the hilltop villages of Castellar and St Agnes.
It's a blue sky day as we look out the window of St Agnes Cottage to the glorious hills covered with yellow flowers. Time to pack, stash away my mattress inside the roller bed, tidy up the sofa bedding, and have a pre-breakfast cup of tea. Breakfast was our own supply of meusli and Anita's milk with a cup of tea and also a cup of coffee for good measure. It pays to drink a lot before a long walk so you don't need to carry as much water. At 9am, after some cleaning, Anita, who lives next door and rents out our Stable Cottage, appears and refunds our deposit of 100 euro (for breakages or in case we have a wild party). She is an avid walker and her little dog Widget goes with her everywhere. She offers to take us down to the start of the walk.
About 500 metres down the old mule track to St Agnes car park and Anita points out the track to Les Banquets, down to the valley across an old bridge and around the old Military road at the base of Sirrococca Peak. We take mutual photos and we're off at 9.30am. It's nice to know that the route I had picked out was teh same route she suggested, but I had done weeks of homework and downloaded dozens of other hikers GPS files to pick the best route.
It's not long before we're walking along the Old Military Road that joined Castillon to St Agnes during WW2, with spectacular views to villages Castellar and St Agnes, down to Menton and across to the Mediterranean Sea. The piste, a cross between a track and a gravel road, is wide and follows the contours around. It's a warm stunning day and soon we're around the base of Sirococca and stop for a quick coffee before walking on an almost level path to the Col de Castillon at 700 metres which we reach at midday. There's stunning views of the Mediterranean, the last we'll see of teh sea for this trip, and ahead we catch our first glimpse of teh snow capped alps.
Soon where at a sign post with directions to Sospel via Col du Razet, where we walked 7 years ago when we came to Sospel by train from Monaco for a hike as part of our 2009 Tour de France/Tour de Mont Blanc holiday. We take the direction to Sospel via Erc, and follow an overgrown forested track that appears as though it hasn't been used this summer. But Ian's GPS tracking system on his Samsung notebook assures us that we're on teh right track.
At 2pm, we've had a glimpse of Sospel almost 500 menters down in the valley below, an encouraging sight, so the first shady tree we come across it's lunch time. Lunch is a mix of left overs from last night's restaurant dinner, a baguette and cheese that Anita had left for us as a snack, and a half ripe avocado that Graham has been carrying around for a few days - but no tomato! It's cool in the shade with no breeze.
Onwards down the track, there's a 540m descent into Sospel, our only signs are bike track signs. It's hard enough walking down this mountain side, let alone cycle down. At 4pm we arrive in Sospel, cross the train track and recall memories of our visit in 2009 when we came to Sospel by train from Monaco to do a days hiking to the Col du Razet. The Auberge Vieux Pont is easy to find. Sospel is small with only a few shops and the Auberge I've booked on line is right next door to the old stone bridge and more importantly right next door to the Spa - a small grocery store
It was a thirsty day, so after a shower and some washing, Graham goes to the Spa to buy 4 icy cold beers. A little time for blogging before visiting the Spa again and buying dinner of Smoked Salmon, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, capsicum and a cold bottle of Rose. We take our picnic dinner downstream to a bench seat and enjoy. Early to bed.