Chaux-Neuve to Chalet Rose: Day 170

Another snowy day climbing up ridges and through forests.

Setting off after breakfast I saw at the edge of the village what appeared to be a large ski jump on the hill opposite. It seemed far too big a structure for such a small place. Beyond that my walk continued along the edge of fields, soggy with melting snow, but soon I was climbing up the first ridge of the day. Fortunately much of the height was gained on a narrow tarmac road, free of traffic. This made walking easier, no uneven ground or rocks to contend with. Initially the black tarmac resisted the snow which had accumulated on surrounding trees and grass. Its accumulated heat melted the now falling, fat flakes to give a shiny, wet surface. However above 1250 metres it gave up the struggle and allowed the snow to settle as elsewhere.

Road resists falling snow, the melted flakes give a mirror-like appearance.

Higher up it was colder and the road gets covered.

Leaving the road, my way was along snow coated tracks, unsullied by human prints but used as a thoroughfare by animals. For a while I followed the prints of a hare hopping along. Hooves of deer crossed the track. The only live animal I saw was a tiny, brown mouse who scurried across my path into a cosy hole in the mossy bank that edged the road. Eventually I left the fairy tale, frosted forest (being reminded of Narnia) and crossed fields to the village of Chapelle-des-Bois. The shop closed at 12:30 just as I entered, but the kind lady served me a warm quiche and cold Coke which I enjoyed on a bench protected from the snow in a wooden shelter by the church.

Villages in the area tend to be in valleys which meant after my lunch I had a new ridge ahead of me to overcome. Possibly "massif" was the correct name as there was a steep slope facing me, topped by cliffs, beyond which the land stayed high. The rough path up, climbing over rocks, ran diagonally up the slope, first one way and then the other, the gradient being too great to be tackled straight on. I was pleased I was not the first today on this climb, fresh footprints picked out the path for me to follow which would otherwise be difficult to find on the snow coated, tree covered mountainside. At the top two ladies in mirror shades were smartly dressed in "designer" outdoor gear. Sometimes ahead, sometimes behind them a man took pictures of them with a chunky camera. I had the impression a walk to a viewpoint was not their only objective today. However the clifftop viewpoint was worth the climb. Snowfall had ceased for a while and visibility was reasonable, giving good views down to the village I had recently left, the surrounding fields and beyond them the forested hills. 

Looking down on the village of Chapelle-des-Bois.

Looking west from the viewpoint.

Continuing along the ridge among the conifers I again started to follow the French - Swiss border. In addition to an old boundary stone there was a plate metal memorial to Jews who escaped across the border to Switzerland, to avoid capture and death at the hands of the Nazis.

I reached a junction where once again the red and white waymarks indicating the GR5 went one way, and my guidebook, OutdoorActive App and GPS indicated another. I stuck with the route I had information on, afraid of losing the red and white waymarks as I had on a previous diversion, and not knowing where and how far the waymarked route went.

My GPS route, which appeared to be marked in places with white and yellow waymarks, led me to a second viewpoint, but falling snow obscured anything beyond the cliff edge. I continued through the forest until after 5:00 pm, when I began to look for a place to wild camp. Earlier there had been signs indicating this was an area protected for nature and camping, dogs, hunting, fires etc. was not allowed with a penalty of up to 750 Euro. Although I had seen no such warnings for a kilometre or so, recently a police SUV had driven slowly by, marked "Police Environment" it made me a little worried about camping. However, having little choice I turned up an abandoned, overgrown track, and once out of sight of the main track, stamped out a platform in the snow on which to pitch my tent. I am hoping for more snow to cover my footprints.

25.8 kilometres walked today with a total ascent of 840 metres.