Sunday 10th July: Blue skies cool to very hot 15°C to 30°C
La Chalp to Briancon: 23k walk: 7.40am to 3.40pm: 8 hrs
Accommodation: Hotel Edelweiss Briancon
Waiting to start our last day
Highlight today was walking into Briancon - the last leg of our 320k hike from Menton on the French Mediterranean. The longest day yet at 23k over the Col des Ayes at 2477, then down 1300 metres to Briancon at 1180 metres. No injuries, no hiccups, all went to plan.
Storms are predicted this afternoon and we want to be off the mountains before they hit. We have breakfast of muesli and yoghurt in our own rooms at La Ferme d’Izoard and meet outside at 7.30am. By the time everyone has put on sunscreen and filled water bottles, it's 7.40am when we finally walk up the road to Brunissard. There's a fork in the road, the right to Col d'Izoard, where we went yesterday, the left to Col des Ayes where we're going today. Past a camping ground, then to a car park filled with cars, bikes, cyclists, runners and dogs – it’s a “canicross” event where people run or cycle with their dogs. A checkpoint man tells us the cyclists are coming soon, so we wait five minutes to see what happens.
Canicross event
Canicross event
First Canicross competitors
Blue skies on way to Col de Ayes
Up through the flowery meadows
Col des Ayes 2477
Briancon 15k away down valley
Snow at the top
Morning tea with a view
Down through the flowers
Rock climbers on vertical wall
Briancon getting closer
Last lunch on the track
Celebration after 323k Hiking
In five minutes, the first cyclists appear, seemingly towed by dogs out front on a leash. There's no fat dogs here. One dog, a German Short Haired Pointer, had pink booties on its feet for protection from the stones. We move on up a gravel road for 4k before turning into a zig zag track through the meadows. It takes us 3 hrs to get to the Col des Ayes at 2477 metres, a climb of 730 metres. It seemed easy walking up a graded gravel road then an easy, but steep zig zag track.
Cuppa tea time for Ian and myself while we wait for Graham and Jenny who make good time and were pleased to do it under the signed times. We see Briancon in the valley almost 15k away and 1300 metres below but the alps are a little hazy. Down through the meadows we encounter another flock of sheep protected by their patou, their very own personal security sheep dog. But unlike our previous encounter, this one lets us pass with no nasty incident. Jenny even got to pat it when it came up close to her.
Down past Chalets des Ayes, a cluster of houses with a bar/restaurant doing a roaring Sunday trade. The road soon splits. The main road follows the gorge down, and the GR5 follows the gravel road to the left on a contour. After 2k, we go down a steep forested track to meet the valley road where we have lunch at 2pm. The only shade is under a pine tree on a sloping ledge, but it's hot, so shade is better than a view.
Lunch is the usual cheese, tomatoes, ham and boiled eggs with bread and butter. We dilly dally for an hour, reminiscing on memorable events of the trip before heading down the track to join the main road at Villar Saint Pancrace. For Ian and myself, this completes our GR5, as this is where we started in 2012 to walk from Briancon to Chamonix. We pass the railway station and I go in to exchange my vouchers for tickets I'd booked on line from Briancon to Avignon on Tuesday 12th to see the Tour de France on Mont Ventoux then from Avignon to Paris on July 16th where we'll be for 3 days before flying home.
After checking Ian's GPS, we find the Edelweiss Hotel about 1k from the station. It's 4pm and the Hotel has just opened. We're dying for a beer and I'd like a perrier on ice - no ice - so after a quick drink in the lounge we go to our rooms to watch the end of the Tour de France which finished in a raging hail storm.
Meeting downstairs at 7pm, the manager tells us which restaurants are ok in town - we had previously thought we'd just do a picnic, but it's Sunday and the shops are closed. The centre of town is filled with French soccer supporters waiting for the clash between France and Portugal in the European Cup final tonight. We have to weave our way through crowds, tables and chairs, and eventually find a quiet pizza place where we can also order chips and salad. It's very nice and we leave to join the throngs in the street until kick off and return to our rooms to watch the final on TV. France has the better of the game, but Portugal wins 1-0 in extra time. Bed after a tiring trying day.
France versus Portugal