Monday 20th of June La Plagne to Les Echelles

So today I paid for yesterday. Knackered after such a huge walk, today dragged on and although it was only 20 kilometres I was tired and missing turns and contrived to make it another 4 kilometres longer. It was also very hot although I shouldn't complain as the weather forecast for the middle of the week is bad.

If I have got this right, today was my last day in the high Chartreuse crossing the highest part yesterday. By the end of today, and by the time I had reached Les Echelles, I was in gentler countryside, still very pretty but nothing like as dramatic as yesterday.

Today was actually a fairly easy walk, no big climbs or descents although with a bit too much road walking. Essentially a down hill walk to Epernay, a gentle climb out of the valley via le Desert (views of Mont Blanc), and then over the road pass into the next valley. I think the next village was St-Pierre d'Entremont, but can't make it out on the map (got lost there anyway), followed by a huge meander down through a forest (where I got lost again) before emerging via the edge of the splendid Gorge de l'Echaillon into the Les Eschelles valley.

The Gite D'Etape at La Plagne

Across the Valley to La Cochette

Having got to Les Echelles I then discover how far my accommodation was out of town explaining why the host had offered to pick me up when my friend Lesley had made the booking. The sign said three kilometres, I rang them and tried to arrange a pick up point but we couldn't understand each other, so I set of to walk it. Fortunately they then rang Lesley, who rang me with instructions where to wait for them in Les Echelles. Turned out that it was far more than three kilometres, more like six, so I was saved from a hideous end of the day tramp down a busy hot road. Another example of my good fortune (touch wood).

Sunday 19th June Le Sappey en Chartreuse to La Plagne

Definitely too far but also a contender for the best walk of the trip. 30 kilometres, 1900 metres of climb, stunning scenery, mud, slippery rocks as well as some really challenging climbing; good job tomorrow is a short walk as my feet and legs feel seriously battered.

Ideally I would have got away from the hotel that charged too much sooner but breakfast wasn't until 8.30 and I wasn't walking until just before 9. Drizzly start to the day but weather-wise it felt promising. Although it was misty the sun kept breaking through illuminating great views.

Chamechaude

The first big spectacular was the Dent de Crolles, first approaching it and then climbing up it's side. Approaching it involved a long slow muddy walk through trees (clothes quickly rendered filthy), followed by a stiff walk up an open hill and then a scramble through rocks and a bit of via ferrata.

Dent de Crolles

Heading down to the Col de Coq

In the scrambling queue

This was the big climb of the day, a 400 metre climb up to 1700 metres but the route then dropped a bit followed by another 300 metre climb up to 1900 metres. Just as I got to the col at the top the sky cleared enough to see Mont Blanc and the views all around were amazing. Both of these climbs were really busy but that just added to the fun.

Back to the Vercors

Ridge of the Roche de Bellefont

For the first time all day I now had some relatively easy walking but it was 3.00 and I was no where near half way. After following a long dry limestone valley gently down wards the scenery again became more dramatic and there was a final tough climb before I reached a wide grassy plateau full of cattle. It was now 6.30.

Roc de Bellefont

Upland meadow on the way to Col d'Alpette

The final challenge was an steep descent down to La Plagne. Had already fallen over twice and my legs were like jelly. An absolutely stunning evening I had soon dropped well below the cliffs which looked absolutely brilliant in the setting sun.

Evening sun on the rock face above the Col d'Alpette

Arrived at Gite d'Etape, at about 7.45, got a very quick shower and then had a great meal shared will a table full of French walkers - much more fun and better value than the hotel that charged too much. Great day.

Saturday 18th June Grenoble to Le Sappey en Chartreuse

Back on the trail again after three days when I barely put one foot in front of the other. Had a brilliant break and special thanks to Lesley and J-P. Had everything short of a blood transfusion although in a vain effort to make a noticeable impression on their wine cellar I suspect my blood has changed composition. I have also been holed up in their lovely house through a period of continued unsettled weather so walking would have been miserable.

Got back to Grenoble at about 2, it had been raining all morning, and I was starting to think that I might need to think about alternative ways of getting to Le Sappey en Chartreuse which is only about 14 kilometres along the GR 9 but involves about 1400 metres of climb. Was coming into Grenoble on a bus and to be honest if I had seen a bus which said "Le Sappey en Chartreuse" I would have jumped on it.

You get onto the GR9 via the Vauban fortress which sits above the city and there is a funicular up to it which would save about 200 metres of climb. By the time I had walked round to the lift the rain had eased of and to avoid the queue I walked up the road. After the fortress you climb up to about 800 metres, follow a ridge through trees, and then drop down the little village of Le Chateau Pillon. You then have a really steep 500 metre climb up, taking you to 1300 metres, to another hill top fortress. This was really hard work made worse by a runner steaming past me just before the summit.

Climbing up through the Foret dom de la Tronche

The views from the top were great. You could see the whole trail back down to Grenoble and the route I had taken on my last walking day including the La Sure ridge.

Looking back to Grenoble

The walk then went along the a ridge for about 5 kilometres looking over the Isere valley with great views east to snow topped mountains on the other side.

La Grande Pic de Belledone

Across the Isere Valley

Eventually the route turned west and away from the ridge heading down to Le Sappey en Chartreuse. Got to the Hotel, which looks budget busting, just before the heavens opened up. Considering how bad the weather was this morning I've been lucky and have had a good day. The forecast for tomorrow is good and the walk looks amazing, so fingers crossed.

Tuesday 14th of June la Balme de Rencurel to Grenoble

Mid walk change of plan, instead of stopping at Autrans, I carried on walking to Grenoble. The point of no return was 3.30 in the afternoon when I had to turn in the wrong direction to Autrans, which was about 90 minutes away, or carry on in the right direction to Grenoble, which was about 5 hours away. Going backwards was more painful than going forwards so I went to Grenoble. Took me a bit longer than I had hoped after getting lost at St-Nizier but I got to Grenoble just after 9. Walking for 13 and a half hours, 2300 metres of climb and 43 kilometres, sore feet but no permanent damage.

Got away from la Balme de Rencurel by 7.30. The hotel gave me an early breakfast and the biggest sandwich so far, had everything in it including little gerkins, top sandwich award. The weather was OK but looking up the valley it was cloudy. Just like at la Vacherie, three days ago, when the wind is from the north the clouds seem to hang on the tops of the mountains. Looking south the views were great.



Steady climb up the Rencurel valley and then a short tough ascent over the ridge into the Autrans valley. As soon as you got above 1300 metres the views disappeared in the mist. I was on outskirts of Autran, looking across a sunny valley by about 11.30.

Autrans

Motivation was a bit difficult at this point. The plan involved walking around this huge semi-circle, which was probably going to be in the cloud, only to come back to a point I had got to mid-morning. Anyway I pressed on climbing up through trees and after about 90 minutes my fears were confirmed. I was standing on a ridge, at the Signal de Nave, out of the trees but looking into the mist.

On the ridge in the mist

No choice but to carry on around stopping periodically to commiserate with other walkers sitting at the frequent view points staring into the cloud. Not only couldn't I see it was also hard work as it was far from flat, with a series of mini peaks all around to the loop.

It then started to clear and for the last third of the ridge I got some amazing views: looking back along the ridge with it's huge cliffs; into the Isere valley with Grenoble looking deceptively close; and across the valley to the Chartreuse, the next stage of the walk.

The Ridge looking east

Ridge above the Isere

I blame the improvement in the weather for the decision to carry on. After walking in the clouds it was now just so nice that I didn't really want to end the walk going in the wrong direction. I could see Grenoble and, despite the fact that the route went in the opposite direction, my optimistic streak was unconsciously telling me it would be easy.

Going away from Grenoble meant going to St-Nizier, which meant going down to Engins and then back up and then climbing over an incredibly steep cliff (featured in the picture below). I would have stopped at St-Nizier if I could have found some accommodation but as it was I just got lost. Was in too much of a hurry to check the map and the route has changed. At one point I was heading along a bit of the GR9 in the wrong direction.

Le Moucherotte

Anyway I eventually found a route down and after 600 metres of descent was in the suburbs of Grenoble. After such a day the hard surfaces were very painful but I made it to somewhere near the middle, found a cheap hotel, got showered and went out and bought a pizza. What treats.

Have now got three days without walking, so no blogging until Saturday. Staying with a friend about a hours train journey from Grenoble and then back again on Saturday to start 10 days of walking to the Swiss border.

Monday June 13th Pont-en-Royans to la Balme de Rencurel

Brilliant walk but with the steepest bit of climbing I've had to do since going up Canigou. Really great scenery and although the weather doesn't exactly feel settled it stayed fine all day.

The first easy part of the walk involved a walk east out of Pont-en-Royans through the Gorge de la Bourne (named after the river that runs along it's bottom) to the village of Choranche. Great views of the of the cliffs on either side.

Grande Cournouse

River Bourne

After crossing the river at Choranche, it was a gentle climb for a kilometre or so and then a sharpe left and up a path that somehow managed to find it's way up the cliff. Was climbing really steeply for 400 metres competing for space with a group of runners coming sporadically the other way. The views along the valley just got better and better.

East along the Gorge de la Bourne

Climbing up out of the Gorge de la Bourne

Arriving at the top you could see out the east west running Gorge de la Bourne cut through another valley, which at much higher level ran north south. In the distance was a line of mountains, looking like frozen waves on the point of breaking. The last of the line, and the highest, is the Grand Veymont at 2341 metres.

2000 metre peaks through the heart of the Vercors

Although the real steep climb out the gorge had finished there was still more climbing to do, mainly through trees but very nice. In total today's walk involved over 1500 metres of ascent. Eventually you start to drop into the Rencurel valley. The picture below shows the north south valley, the trees in the middle ground are actually at the top of the Gorge de la Bourne, running east west. Behind the row of trees in the middle ground you can just make out the cliff face on the other side of gorge.

Heading to Rencurel

There is hotel in Rencurel but unfortunately it was full so I had to walk down to la Balme de Rencurel, 2 kilometres off the track and a drop of 200 metres, which will add to tomorrow's walk. Shouldn't complain because the owner of the hotel has been really helpful in sorting out my accommodation. In the end all three options on the GR9 were shut so I'm going to have to modify the route a bit and spend the night in Autrans. Potentially, if the route is not too tree bound, it could be a absolutely brilliant walk.

Update

Made it to Grenoble and I'm now staying with a friend for a few days.  No wifi access so will be offline for a few days.  Will hopefully be able to update over the weekend.  Will be pressing on from Grenoble to the Swiss border from Saturday;

Sunday June 12th Bouvante-le-Bas to Pont-en-Royans

Not a lot of sparkle shown by the management of the Hotel Sapin in Bouvante-le-Bas but the accommodation was cheap if not necessarily cheerful. Great big hotel in a tiny village, no customers, I guess it's hard to smile, could be ages before someone else comes wandering alone the E4.

The basic summary of today's walk is: steep climb up through trees; walk across the top of the plateau through trees; incredibly steep descent from the plateau down into a gorge, mainly through trees; along the base of the plateau to Pont-en-Royans.

The scenery is really dramatic but for much of time the trees were so dense that you couldn't see anything, just little snippets, and it wasn't until the last third of that you got some real views.

The hard climbing work was done at the beginning and after walking an hour I had already gone up 600 metres. Climbing up the side of Val Sainte Marie you could occasionally see the cliffs on the other side or the longer views out into the Isere valley.

Climbing up the side of Valle Sainte Marie

Looking west to the Rhone Valley

Once on the top it was pretty solid forest trails including a really ugly stretch along a newly bashed out forest road, presumably being prepared to extract some of the timber.

Horrible Forest Road on the way Col de la Machine

Having passed the hotel at Col de la Machine, and resigned myself to a limited return on what was now 1,000 metres of climb, things started to open up. Dropping below the Col de la Machine is a gorge, a slice out of the limestone plateau called on the map, Rochers de Lavel. Firstly you get to see it, a sort of amphitheater with cliffs all around some of which must have been 600 metres and then, if your not careful, you get the chance to walk down it.

It was only when I got to the bottom that I realised that the way I had come down was a variant, the scary variant, and I could have stayed in trees on the top. I'm sure I got to see more this way but it was very steep.

Looking down to Laval

The steep GR9 variant down to Laval

Anyway I wasn't going to climb back up again to try out the other variant and carried on along the base of the plateau to Pont-en-Royans. On the way you got to look into another of these incredible limestone amphitheatres.



Pont-en-Royans is apparently quite a famous beauty spot and below is the classic photograph everyone takes showing the houses built on the cliff above the river. Staying at the very reasonably priced Hotel Royan and looking forward to another big climb up to the top again tomorrow morning.

Pont-en-Royan