Refuge de Longon to St Dalmas: E2 Day 202

A day dropping down to lower, and warmer altitudes. 

Morning sky looking like rain.

Looking out of the refuge this morning it looked like rain, indeed rain was probably falling nearby judging by the clouds, but fortunately it missed me this morning. The Refuge de Longon lies in a broad area of pasture between mountains, there was a steep and rocky path up to it yesterday and today there was a steep and rocky path down out of it. As well as serving those walking the GR5, the refuge was an Alpinage, with cows and cheese production. I wondered how they managed to get food in and their produce out.

After a rapidly loosing a few hundred metres the path levelled out into a walk along a forest track through larch trees. Unlike in higher altitudes, where the valleys have smooth curves carved by ice, I now entered a region of steep sided valleys with sharp angles, the streams and rivers having cut deeply into the land. The weakness of the red shale I was passing may have aided the effects of erosion by falling water. In the haze more distant slopes were bleached by the brilliant sun.

Steep sided, forested valleys.

On a shoulder of land there were the remains of old buildings, a few were still intact, one with a barbecue outside suggesting they were now used as places to visit on weekends and holidays. Roure was an impressive village, its stone houses stacked on the steep mountainside. Water gushed through channels between houses. The GR5, on a metalled path, ran through and around the buildings as it rapidly lost height. A collection of metal cogs within a framework of metal marked the remains of a cable system which once pulled loads up from the valley below. Electric lines hung in a lazy curve across the valley to my right, hung off pylons high in the mountains. I continued this rapid loss of elevation as the path swept one way and another down the steep valley side. Fortunately the gradient of the path was not too great thanks to its multiple changes of direction, and my knees were not put under too much stress. Below I could see St Sauveur sur Tinée, beside the river at the valley base, its cluster of red roofed buildings ever so slowly becoming larger as I descended towards it.

Village of Roure.

At St Sauveur I indulged in a Coke, banana and slice of pizza from the Proxi mini-market, then began the long climb out of the deeply cut valley. In doing so I passed a chapel, sadly locked like so many, preventing prayers by the faithful, and although there were windows, it was too dark to see much inside. I gained height up to reach the village of Rimplas, where I topped up my water bottle at the lavoir, below an "Eau Portable" sign. In the heat I had been drinking heavily. To my horror the path then went downhill, worrying as I could see the next village ahead on higher ground. I knew there would be another uphill section coming up. I distracted myself by looking at the vegetation. There were low trees of oak, sweet chestnut, birch, field maple, juniper and locust tree (which I had last seen in Hungary). Beneath the trees there were brambles, the berries still small and green, and sloe. Vegetation more typical of drier lower altitudes than the conifer forests I had been walking through. After dropping to a stone bridge the path climbed up to settlements around La Bolline. It rained, thunder growled overhead, and I sweated in my anorak. By the time I reached my destination of St Dalmas, the rain had stopped.

At St Dalmas I had a dilemma, there were two campsites, I wasted energy visiting both, eventually returning to the first one, Camping de la Ferme, on account of its toilets. After pitching, showering, phoning home and booking future accommodation, I walked through the old part of St Dalmas, navigating narrow streets lined with stone houses, under arches and through tunnels. Then I ate a pizza finishing with a "génépi", a local digestif that I wanted to try before my trip ended. Although said to be an acquired taste, I liked it straight away. The tip I left had something to do with an English speaking couple at the restaurant who were unable to pay their bill. Like so many places on this trip the establishment did not take cards. The couple promised to pay next morning.