I was up early as I informed my accommodation at Briançon that I would be there at 5:00 pm and it was a good distance. After a short stroll along the valley bottom the climbing began up the GR5C. (There are three variants of the GR5 in the area, this one was conveniently accessed from my campsite). There was the usual zig zagging up the mountainside through trees but today a cloud of flies joined me. It was hot and I was sweating and the flies and mosquitoes (there seem to have been both) distracted me from the beauty of my surroundings. However I did see good views down to the town of Nevache, and the surrounding fields with the piles of stones that had been cleared from them. Shadows cast by the low morning sun sharpened the shapes and enhanced the beauty.
I was a bit confused at a junction with another GR path which was signposted to Col du Granon, where my route also went. The flies took advantage of me while I stopped and checked my guidebook.
In time I rose above the trees and the path levelled out. The flies, despite taking a preference for me rather than other hikers, did ease a little, maybe as I was walking faster. At the Crystal Lake there was a family with three children, one in a baby carrier on the mother's back. It seemed they camped there. I was amazed they managed to get their children up the long climb. From the lake the path rose again to the Porte de Cristol, a high pass. I was glad from there it was an easy walk on a track which contoured the hillside to the Col du Granon. Here I hoped for a coffee and a tart de myrille, but the lady at the buvette said the coffee machine was being cleaned and that I could not be served tart before 12:00 (it was 11:00), although I could see the tart waiting behind the counter. I settled for a Coke, the best I could hope for, a little put out as I had just eaten one cereal bar for breakfast.
My guidebook indicated a choice with a variant of the GR5C following a ridge. Although it sounded an attractive option, the way up to it was marked with a red and white "x", indicating it was no longer considered a GR route. This and the extra climbing and reports of a steep descent where you could slip on the gravel dissuaded me from the ridge route. I felt I had done enough climbing today. The following section of the GR5C was at first an enjoyable route high up the valleyside, mainly through trees but with views of the settlements in the valley far below. There was then an unexpected period of more uphill walking, however, it did lead to a viewpoint from which I could see the city of Briançon spread out beneath me with its numerous fortifications. A viewing table showed the directions to many places, although it is unlikely you would be able to see Nice or London from here.
A long descent then began, the gravelly path going back and fore. Initially the houses below looked tiny, and it took a long time for them to get any bigger. However, with my knee complaining, in time I reached one of the town's fortification, a 19th century structure of thick stone walls and ditches with a locked entrance. Loosing more height I reached the old part of Briançon. The houses, shops and cafes inside were protected by thick stone walls and impressive "gates", stone arches through which you entered the old town. Among the narrow cobbled streets, with a drain running down the centre, I found a boulangerie which served me a coffee and tartlette a framboise. On subsequently walking to the accommodation that I had booked, I discovered a major error. I had booked it for two days time! I cancelled and found a central but modest hotel where I could spend the next two nights. Two nights as I wanted to explore the town (and to give me a day off climbing mountains).
That evening after I had eaten I discovered a festival of mussels. A street had been taken over, mussels and chips were being served from huge cooking bowls to tables of people.
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