We’re really having a proper ending of our stay near the Alps. Each hike brings us to more and more beautiful places. Theoretically, we know them all – we’ve seen Galcier du Tour a couple of times earlier but never in a close up like today.
Although… we were very close to resign from a todays hike and I think it was only a matter of reason that we continued. I don’t know, it never happened to me earlier that I really considered turning back on a trail, but that particular day, in temperatures exceeding 35 dg. C, it felt like a real ordeal to me do these first metres up. But eventually we made it (with lots of stops) and I don’t regret after all.
I love glaciers, I really do! It was worth every doubt, every moment of hesitance to reach it.
I can’t believe it’s over – our last hikes in this area. I have so many mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I understand that our move will bring us lots of good and that we wanted it, but on the other hand we’ll be living in the plains, so far from any mountains… So sad.
Stats: Max altitude: 2706 m, elevation gain: 1240m, duration: 5h 45min, distance: 11km
What can I say, really… Simply WOW! By no means this is the most beautiful Via Ferrata we did. It wasn’t too difficult, nor to easy -just fine for our level. We had little luck though… Holidays season is in full bloom and we arrived just a couple of minutes after a huge group of beginners, so, believe it or not, there was a queue on the rock 🙂 It’s a strange sensation to be hanging vertically and being forced to wait.
The beauty of this place was based on Vouglans lake that was side by side with the rock we were climbing. We had a panoramic view on the area almost all the time. On top of that, the route itself was interesting. It had various options that could be followed, bridges, ladders etc. I really enjoyed it and I guess after this day I may finally say – I’m into via ferratas.
We’re still hesitating what our stance on Via Ferratas is and that’s why we decided to have another try. VF Reclavier is situated less than 30 minutes drive from us and we chose to do it in this freeking hot afternoon. We forgot our helmets but decided to proceed without them (I don’t recommend doing this). Fortunately, this VF was soooo easy – not to say boring – that there was very little danger and risk exposure. I’m definitely up for more after this day.
Our second trip to Parc des oiseaux (earlier visit here) – a truly remarkable place – in top 5 around I would say. The day was extremely hot so maybe mountains would have been a better choice but since we have a family visiting, we decided to show them some birdies.
Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to birds show – the biggest attraction in the park. Nevertheless, it was still such a nice day.
I was really looking forward to experiencing a bit of peace and quiet of the mountains after such a busy touristic week, so whenever we had a possibility, we headed to the nature. Although the weather was not perfect, I enjoyed this short walk and a bit of temperature drop.
An undeniable advantage of Sulens are animals. Donkeys, cows, horses, chickens, ducks – Sulens has it all. Wojtek really enjoyed them. There is also a nice hut on the way up offering farm-made cheese and other goodies. Worth recommending.
As we proceeded, the clouds were forming around the top so we didn’t have much (any) view but that’s fine. We know the area very well and every now and then the mist adds drama to our hiking photos.
If you know me well you know I love planning. What I love planning most is my holidays and it was no different this time. Before departure on vacation I buy a guide, search the Internet and do a very detailed list of „to see” places. It’s rather rarely that I don’t stick to my plans, as there usually are various variants to choose from and one of them always fits. Today though we decided to make a drastic change and we headed to the seaside – which was not planned at all. I guess we both have had enough of „hard core sight-seeing” and needed a day-off from running around. So we took a map and basically chose a place that seemed nice and had a beach. So it happened that it was in a national natural park and since I love nature – we made our steps there.
It was unbarably hot so we didn’t spend much time with the flamingos. Sure they were cute but I really needed a water breeze to cool down so we shortened our walk around the ponds and headed to the seaside.
At the seaside… What can I say… Oh sweet laziness. We did absolutely nothing. I spent the entire afternoon under the umbrella reading and relaxing. The weather was perfect – it was super sunny but also windy from the sea so I didn’t feel hot at all. Wojtek loved the beach and in principle we didn’t need to entertain him at all. Am I getting old? I really wish I planned more of such days this year 🙂
We didn’t feel like we had enough of ochre and lavender the previous day so we decided to see more of this beauty. Also, it’s not really a new discovery to me, but I so much prefer visiting nature resorts than the cities and typical touristic places. So the plan for today was to follow a Colorado Provencal ochre trail and then drive up to Chateau du Bois region to have a walk around the lavender fields.
Colorado Provencal is a truly remarkable place. It’s a 3-hour trail of no technical difficulty that leads through ochre canyons and deserts. The path leads first above a panoramic point where we had a look over the marvels of nature, then we reached a White Desert full of pale formations and white sand, then through a panoramic view of the canyon at the other side and finishing with another desert – this time red. See yourself.
From there we drove to Chateau du Bois to have a strall in lavender fields. Pretty romantic scenery for commemoration of our 7th wedding anniversary (that would fall on the next day).
We got hungry so decided to pass by a neighbouring village – Saint Saturnin les Apt. It turned out to be a lottery win as the place was secluded by tourists – I really don’t know why as I would say it was one of the prettiest settlements we visited throughout the whole visit. There was a castle on a hill, a dame, charming streets, fountains etc. The views were really nice as the whole place was situated on a hill. Worth doing a detour!
Next we visited Mines de Broux – another place worth recommending. It was an old minery complex that now was open to tourists. A 40-minute long tour with a guide tought us a lot about the industry and was really interesting. The day was getting to an end so we had time to visit just one last place and decided to go for Menerbes which is on the list of the most beautiful villages in France. We were super lucky as there was a men choir concert for free that we attended with pleasure. Even our son liked it and it’s not often an almost 2-year old sits quietly and listens to the music! Another beautiful day past us!
Mission completed. Lavender fields: check 🙂
Our main goal of a trip to Provence was to see the lavender blooming. In the end, this is the main attraction there. So our first tourists’ steps headed to Abbaye Notre-Dame de Senanque. The view you see above appears in most of the postcards sent from here. No wonder… 🙂 Although we were a bit late to see the lavender in full bloom it was still pretty. We also made a walk in the abbey but to be honest – without the violet frame it would have been a bit boring.
We made a stop in Gordes where I discovered my utter love to lavender ice cream. I ate at least two boules of them every day throughout the whole visit. Even now, when I think of them, I start drooling and wish I was there again.
Our next destination was Village des Bories – beehive-shaped stone huts that date back to the Bronze Age (and have been restored some time ago). A short 30-minute walk around the settlements and we’re off to the next place – Lavender Museum.
Ok, so there was a lot of lavender that day. But what not many know, Provence’s treasure is also its ochre industry. Ochre is a pigment used in all sorts of products. Starting from rubber, ending with cosmetics. To be honest, I never heard of it earlier so I didn’t know what to expect but when we visited ochre trails I was simply stunned. The three ochre-connected places we visited were the most interesting to me from the whole trip. First on: Rousillon.
It’s worth mentioning that these photos were not retouched. The landscape was simply like out of this world. The soil was red. Like… red red red. Check out this (untouched) photo:
Can you see the colour of the soil? Amazing! We made an hour walk around the Sentier des Ochre and then we headed to Rousillon which was … wait for it … red too 🙂 Truly amazing place – worth paying a visit.
Holy Graal of Aravis – Pointe Percée. The first time I heard about this mountain was 2 years ago in winter when one of my colleagues proposed to hike it in ice and snow. I was wise enough to turn down this offer but put my focus on this mountain and started sniffing around the route. In the end, it’s not that often to see a T5 hiking grade. In the next two years I heard a lot about it. That one should not underestimate it, that it is extremely difficult etc. The legend of the mountain grew strong and fearsome. At some point I even decided to check it myself from a close up and I went up Col des Verts to have a look. This is when I took the most beautiful picture from all of photos I did in mountains. But we chickened out that day and didn’t hike up to Pointe Percee. But this summer is different.
There are two possible routes to Pointe Percee – a T4 one that goes up and down by the same steps; and a T5 one that goes in a loop through Col des Verts. We tried the latter. We already knew the path to the col so it went easy and smooth to reach it. A short break on the ridge and the true fun began.
There was no path as such – in principle we had to scramble the rocks all the way up to the summit. Sometimes it was a bit challanging but most of the time it was pure and utter fun for both of us. Except for maybe two very delicate and technical passages, there was nothing to fear of from my perspective.
Have a look at this short video for the notion:
And a couple of photos from the process:
Once we reached „gendarme” (a pointy rock that looks like a guard of the entrance to the other side of the mountain) we were back on a T4 path and we were only minutes from the top. Since Pointe Percee is the highest of the Aravis mountain chain, it’s pretty well-known and cared for. That is why on the top there is a huge cross and even a guest book where we left our memento.
We knew that going down would be a bit of a pain on a route like that but we really didn’t expect it would take as long as an ascent. But in the end, it’s way more difficult to descent in such conditions than to go up. Personally, I was glad when we reached Gramusset hut and the annoying rocks ended. On the car park we entered a local farm to buy some goodies – cheese, youghurts and fresh cow milk. Yummy!
Stats: length: 9.1km; Time: 5h 20min, Elevation gain: 1200 m
With no doubt a top 3 hike for us – Mont Buet. I was pretty excited to be doing this one as I know of many people who did Buet and they all underlined the magnificence of the route. We started early in the morning as the walk would be long (all in all over 8h) and the day was exceptionally hot (like all the others this summer) so we wanted to reach high altitudes by the noon.
Apparently, departure at 8 AM was still too late to avoid the heat wave and I barely reached refuge de la pierre a berard. Fortunately, soon the heights started to cool down the air and after 10 minues in the shade we continued our walk in changing landscape.
Our next stop took place at the plateau right before a final ascent to Buet. Oh dear lord, look at the views! The final metres were rather easy, although quite slow and tedious as the altitude gave us signs with shortened breath. But we made it and it was totally worth it!
