Friday 24th June: Blue skies and cool to warm, 16°C to 20°
Refuge de Merveilles to Hotel Capelet: 3k tour plus 12k walk: 8.30am to 4.30pm, 8hrs
Accommodation: Hotel du Grand Capulet
Breakfast is disgusting
Moonset over Mercantour
Waiting for tour guide Sondrine
Sleepy Marmot sunning itself
Glacial lakes Mercantour Park
Petroglyphics
Stony bouldery mountains
Tour guide Sondrine likes coffee
Coffee at the turnoff
Which photo will I choose?
Pas d'Arpette 2511m
Pas d'Arpette 2511m
Mercantour is just stunning
Ian relaxing over lunch
The bottom at Pont Countet 1690m
Graham and Jenny touch down
Gordalesque Valley
There were many highlights today. First was the guided tour of the Vallee de Merveilles seeing 5,000 year old hieroglyphics carved by bronze age people. We climbed 500 metres to the highest point of our trip so far at 2511 metres to Pas d'Arpette with spectacular views over the Mercantour National Park.
We had a terrible night with one snorer in the dorm sounding like a chainsaw stuck in idle. Every 30 minutes I'd sit bolt upright to the sound of this chainsaw. At midnight I dig Ian in the ribs, hoping he'd throw a pillow at our snorer - but he's too polite for that. By 6am everyone is awake except our snorer.
At 6.30am we’re up to a cold water face wash, pack and commiserate with other sleepless people. Breakfast at 7am is terrible - stale bread and jam, cornflakes but the tea is hot. At 8am we're waiting for our guide to the Vallee de Merveilles. There's 15 of us paying 15 euro each and we're soon following Sondrine, our guide who suggests we drop our packs at the turnoff to the Pas d'Arpette. She explains in French and English, that the valley formed 50,000 years ago and the retreating glacier left many glacial lakes. In 3000 BC, Bronze Age people came to the valley for 2 months every summer and doodled, creating 40,000 hieroglyphics of figurines and pictograms that archeologists are still categorising. It’s a hot walk, temperatures regularly reaching 45°C as the valley is so narrow and deep. The carvings are amazing, hence the name Valley of Marvels (Vallee des Merveilles) and it was well worth the extra 3hrs.
At 11.30am, the tour finishes and we collect our backpacks for a coffee. Sondrine wanders past and we invite her for a coffee. She's a wealth of information about the valley and all sorts of things - like how disgusting the bread is at the refuge, and which way to walk after tomorrow - over the Cime, or around the GR52A through forests to St Martin de Vesubie. She spends the whole year tour guiding - summer in the mountains - winter on the coast. We say goodbye and head up the stony path towards Pas d'Arpette. It takes us 45 minutes to power to the top at 2511m, and have a quick cup of tea waiting for Jenny.
We've another 1,000m descent down a steep shaly slope then at 2pm, a flat grassy area is perfect for lunch we bought at the refuge for 8.50 Euro each. It’s is as bad as breakfast - stale bread, couscous with dried peas and corn, boiled egg, chips, a chocolate and apple. On again down uneven steps through pine trees. There's many walkers today, mostly guided tour groups visiting the Vallee des Merveilles.
At 3.30pm we reach the Pont de Countet at 1690 metres in the Gordalesque Valley. There's many cars in the car park where the road meets walking tracks to/from Arpette and one to Cime de Vallette de Prals. On the trek down we've seen the Cime, one we've considered climbing next day to St Martin Vesubie - but this track is a steep 1000m up and a 1500m drop into St Martin - some of us are not keen!
Another 3k walk on a narrow bitumen road past St Grat and we soon see a sign to the Hotel du Grand Capelet where we are welcomed and shown to our rooms. Time for a shower and washing that's then hung in the window. The WiFi works intermittently and only downstairs, but we've discovered that our suitcase has arrived in Paris, and that Qld won the State of Origin. We haven't had WiFi for 2 days.
Washing done, time for a beer and blogging before dinner. We meet a young American couple who came by car from Nice and want to do walks we’ve done so we discuss a few routes and look at the 3D wall map. They'll do it easier than us - younger with only a day pack. Dinner at 7.30pm is superb. Grated carrot with oil/herbs, lasagne, Conte cheese and chocolate mousse. We have a discussion with our host about the tracks tomorrow and he suggests going almost to the top, then diverting to Madonne de Fenestra Refuge and walking along the road to St Martin. More discussion between the group is needed!