Friday 1st July: Slightly overast skies warm to hot, 18°C to 27°C
Auron to St Dalmas Le Selvage: 15k walk: 9.45am to 3.15pm, 5hrs 30 mins
Accommodation: Hotel Ancien, St Dalmas le Selvage
Scott glueing Graham's shoes
A short 15k day in the Vallee Tinee. Highlight was climbing to the Col d'Anelle to see the quaint circular village of St Dalmas Le Selvage, with about 60 houses arounda central square. At 1500 metres, it's the highest village in the Alpes Maritimes. From above, the village looks like a circus tent built from leggo.
This morning, I discover malware on my Mac which didn’t allow me to access Firefox nor publish my blog without porn sites taking over. I google Malware while Ian chats to Bonnie. I'll fix it tonight. Breakfast is breads, cheese, ham, fruit and yoghurt, but the strong black soupy coffee makes me feel ill.
Checking for Malware while waiting
St Etienne sur Tinee below
Graham's got coffee
Jenny's new best friend Christian
Hot work up the mountain
But worth the views
Looking back at the Tinee Valee
Now that's a view
Through the flowers
Lunch stop at cold water fountain
Col d'Anelle 1739m
View from Col d'Anelle
St Dalmas Le Selvage below
Home for the night Ancien Hotel
We leave Auron at 9.30am and buy a loaf of mountain bread from the Casino. And surprise, Graham buys a jar of coffee! His shoes are falling apart so we stop at the ski shop where Scott helps glue them back together. At 9.45am we walk 1k to the GR5 sign to St Etienne sur Tinee. The track is steep, shaly and slippery, and it takes an hour and a half to slide down to the main road in the Tinee Valley. It’s 2k to St Etienne sur Tinee and we arrive at midday to the local markets - prawns $60 per kilo!!. It’s a nice morning tea stop perched on the wall of the school playground and Graham tries his new coffee.
The long day 2 days ago has caught up with Jenny and she's looking for a bus/taxi to St Dalmas as there's a 600 metre climb ahead. Wandering around, a man asks us if we’re lost, and after a brief conversation in perfect English, we discover he's married to an Australian and lives part of the year in Buderim. He offers Jenny a lift to St Dalmas, 7k by road, and Graham obligingly goes too.
At 12.45pm we part and Ian and I head out of the Vallee Tinee towards the Col d'Anelle. It's steep but not slippery and so hot, we're sweating in the forest. The track zig zags, crossing a gravel road then rises out of the forest to flowery meadows. At 2pm, we come to a flat area at the Col d'Anelle at 1739 metres. A shady spot under a tree near a cold water fountain is a good spot for a late lunch. Two hikers walk by. They're English so we chat. They’re doing the GR5 and GR52 to Menton where we started 14 days ago.
Down a gravel road we see the amazing round village of St Dalmas Le Selvage, which resembles a circus tent made from leggo. Over the bridge and into the small village, then past the church to the main square, up the first paved street and voila! Ancien Hotel. Someone in English says our two friends have already arrived. Up the steep rickety stairs at 45° with a rope to pull yourself up and Jenny and Graham are there WiFi-ing. We're in the room opposite and order 4 beers to put in the fridge for later.
We wash our clothes, shower then I set about untangling malware from my Macbook. In an hour I've solved the problem by re-installing Firefox but I've lost all my remembered passwords. It happened last night when I was looking for maps of the Maritime Alps and clicked an enlarged image which activated an .exe file with a heap of malware. Ian and I take a short walk around town. The village is so small that the only people we bump into are Graham and Jenny who'd also gone for a walk. We peak into the 1811 St Dalmas Le Selvage church and see 2 women perched on scaffolding, painstakingly restoring an old church mural. One is chiselling with a minute hammer and chisel, the other daubing chalk-like paint.
Back at the Hotel Ancien, I sort photos before dinner and at 7.30pm we abseil down the staircase to the dining room and meet Minnie and Tim, our host Anna's brother, who have come from Scotland for the week. A white wine or three later and dinner is served by Flaurent and Anna at a lovely 70mm thick elm timber table. We’re joined by a Belgian couple, Roxanne and Jan whom we'd seen in the village earlier. Dinner is lamb stew and mashed potato, green lettuce with oil and salt, cheese and bread, followed by chocolate cake –with a red wine. It's 10pm when we finish after much discussion about various hikes around the place. Our hosts are walking in the morning - because it's Saturday - so breakfast is at 7.30am
Roses line the streets of St Dalmas
Fruit van arrives in town
Dinner at Ancien Hotel