Cycling Italy & Hiking the GR5

Monday 27th June:  Blue skies and cool to hot, 16°C to 32°

St Dalmas Valdeblore to Roure: 16k walk: 8.20am to 3.40pm, 7hrs  20 mins

Accommodation: Auberge Le Robur, Roure

 Today was another big day. a long 1000m descent to St Sauveur sur Tinee then a hot climb 600m up to Roure.  Highlight was getting to Rimplas, a village perched on a hill, to see Roure clinging to the steep side of a mountain on the opposite side of a 600metre gorge - and we had to go down then up.

We slept well at Auberge Les Mures with new mattresses from Bultex. I catch up on my blog and emails.  Breakfast on our balcony is museli with powdered milk then hot tea. We're showered, packed and leave at 8.20am, asking about the 2 dogs in the foyer, some kind of Swiss Bouvier cross - big as bears!  It's a beautiful blue sky chilly day as we walk back to St Dalmas.  Yesterday I saw a trail running shirt left behind and thought someone might return but they didn't, so it's now mine.  Past the 1000 year old Romanesque church, we shop to buy tomatoes.  Graham decides NOT to buy coffee and Jenny forgets to buy morning tea. 

Down the road to join the main GR5, not a subset like the GR52, the GR51, the GR52A or the GR51C.  This is the main GR route from Nice to Lake Geneva.  We walk beneath La Roche, a bigger village than St Dalmas and criss cross the main road passing through the small villages of La Bolline and Le Planet.  The track follows a spur with deep gorges on both sides, then down a steep forested trail to the creek at the bottom.  But then it's another 150 metre climb back up to the village of Rimplas where the town’s cold water fountain is most welcome.  Time for a cup of tea, perched on the steps leading to the village.  Graham's beginning to like tea, and Jenny settles for my chocolate and Graham's apple for morning tea.  

A few hundred metres through the village we see Roure on the opposite mountain side, a 600 metre gorge between us and it.  The road down is well graded but covered in shale - a few signs warn us of rock falls.  The road eventually leads to a track through the forest where it's cool in the shade.  Lower down, the track is very steep.  Two day hikers are picking cherries so we join in and after ten minutes of gutsing, we carry on down the steep track to St Sauveur sur Tinee in the valley below.  We're hoping there's a shop or boulangerie open but we think they will be shut when we’re there after midday.  And we’re right!  Shut!

Arriving at 12.30pm, the town is dead except for a bar/restaurant with a lone hiker having lunch.  We have a picnic lunch on the seat outside the Tourist Office and finish off our bread, butter, ham and two tomatoes.  A stroll through the village confirms all is closed, so we start our 600 metre climb to Roure which we can see high above, with houses that look like they’re glued to the vertical gorge wall.

Very steep and stony as we criss cross the main road then the zig zags become longer and less steep and after 2 hours of slog, we reach the first stone houses of Roure and pick our way through the narrow streets, still climbing, until we see a sign to Auberge Le Robur.  It's an old building and doesn't open until 4.pm, so Jenny minds our bags while the rest of us scout around town looking for a bar - there's none.  

Back to Le Robur at 4pm, and we're shown to our rooms.  We're washed and showered, then downstairs to check emails in the lobby with a cold beer.  A farm worker is having a drink at the bar - the only bar in town.  At 7.30pm, we're the only ones in the Michelin One Star Restaurant with a magnificent view over the Tinee Valley and select a 35 euro three course meal called Sel and Sucre.  The wines start at 28 euro ($47) up to 120 euro ($200) per bottle.  Pauline, our host, speaks English, and tells us the name Roure originated from the word Rora, an oak tree, under which villagers conducted their business.  She then explains the menu.  The first course is flower of eggplant, the second is meat from duck leg rolled in filo pastry, and the 3rd is laminated vanilla cream cakes with strawberry sherbert.  It's beautifully presented but we especially liked the bread, which embarrassingly, we ask for extra please, as though we liked it better than the Michelin One Star food.  Bed at 9pm and looking forward to Longon tomorrow.