News - Country Walking come to Champsaur and Valgaudemar

21st June 2006

In the interests of spreading the word about our little corner of the southern French alps, Jenny Walters from Country Walking magazine came and spent a week with us. Jenny's article comes out next May - a long time to wait so in the meantime here's my quick surmise of what we did!

Jenny arrived on the 12th June after an unusually harsh winter with snow still very much in evidence in the high mountains, expecting gentle walking in hot and sunny weather. In true southern alps style the hot sunny weather behaved itself for most of the week, but there were a couple of thunderstorms!! And walking wise - well it was difficult to find totally flat walks but we managed to convince Jenny that walking up hill isn't really that hard and the pay off when you get to the top is all worth it!

The first night we went for an evening walk from Chaillol to Lac de Barberoux following the canal du Malcros (this was a flat walk!!) with Gilles our expert on edible plants and all things natural! We found plants you can eat, use to stave off fever, headaches and all sorts of other ailments, make great liqueurs (which we had the pleasure of tasting later on in the week) and even plants you can use to wash your hands,

Then we went for dinner at the Epilobe where Marie cooked up an amazing feast - made with some of the plants we had learnt about and some others she found near the gite. This was Jenny's first french dinner and I don't think she had really mastered the art of pacing herself. She was full by the end of the starter and there were three more courses!

Fully fuelled up for the next days walk, we went up to Prapic with Yannick and did a beautiful easy walk up on to the plateau through fields of wild daffodils and then down past the Saut du Laire - a dramatic waterfall with a good story! It was hot and sweaty but a fantastic day. We scoured the ridge for Chamois but no joy. However we did see a golden eagle and Jenny got accosted by marmots.

The next day we met Matthieu who was our guide for the rest of the week. We went to Col de Gleize - a beautiful limestone area full of flowers and got a great view of Champsaur. And when in France!, so we ate cheese and drank wine on the summit! I think Jenny liked that bit the best! After a quick shower at La Combe Fleurie we went off to the other end of Valgaudemar to stay in the Gioberney. The Gioberney is located at in one of the most spectacular places and is only accessible in summer, in winter it is closed off. You often see Chamois but of course not today - not when there are journalists around!

We all had a terrible nights sleep, no idea why, maybe it was the cheese? So started up to Lac de Lauzon the next day with tired bodies. But what a reward. We reached Lac de Lauzon on probably one of the best days ever, blue sky and not too much wind, near perfect reflections of mountains in the lake. We had a photosession here lasting abut an hour and I still don't think we got 'the shot'. But we'll see when the magazine comes out!

After the Lake we went back down and began the walk up to the Vallonpierre refuge. This was the start of our big challenge and our trip into the mountains away from civilisation. The refuge was unguarded (normally there is someone living there who cooks fabulous dinners for hungry walkers) so we had to carry in our own food. It was a fabulous walk and we were rewarded by watching baby Chamois playing on the snowfields. We reached the refuge and in the early evening and there were only two other people there. So we almost had the place to ourselves! Matthieu cooked his famous carbonara which tasted fabulous despite me getting the wrong cream and lardons!! And we relaxed the evening away feeling pretty on top of the world!

The next morning we awoke and ate porridge before setting off to tackle the Col de Vallonpierre and cross from Valgaudemar in to the Champsaur valley. It was an hour's climb and thankfully the snow had all melted so we didn't have to do much negotiating of slippery slopes! The path down the other side had yet to be repaired after the winter so there were a few nail biting moments for Jenny. But I wonder whether really she just wanted Matthieu to hold her hand!!

It was a beautiful walk down the other side, despite being a bit rainy. Luckily the thunderstorms had passed the night before! And again we were rewarded with Chamois. They were only metres away on the other side of a small gorge and amazed us with their agility, running effortlessly over cliffs so steep we would have to climb them with ropes and very slowly!

At the bottom we had booked ourselves into the Gite Les Gondoins for lunch and what a spread. All local produce except the butter which was from Courchevel? But very nice!

We walked up to Refuge du Tourond after that, a beautiful little refuge in the Champoleon valley. The weather still wasn't too great and threatened rain but it didn't spoil our view of the valley. We arrived and Stephan the guardian treated us to cold beers. The refuge du Tourond has a hot shower (very rare for refuges!) so we took advantage of that and settled in for the night.

What an amazing place to wake up - just the sound of running water, birds and animals and the smell of pure mountain air. It was a shame to leave, but we were on a walking trip!! We decided to opt for an easy day so we went up onto the plateau above the refuge and sat on the rocks with the telescope spotting wildlife. We watched five baby Ibex negotiate their way across the hillside and then the rain began, so we went back to the refuge. This time it wasn't quite so calm! Stephan was entertaining a party of 50 people with a spit roast. He managed to squeeze us around his kitchen table and serve us lunch before we set off back down the valley where Andrew met us with fresh beers.

We dropped Jenny off at the Hotel Les Autanes in Ancelle and left her to swim and relax in the Jacuzzi and pool.

The next day we was our last day so we thought we'd make the most of it. We did three walks all in one day!! We started off at 7 in the morning on an organised walk to take the sheep up onto pasture. It's a poignant moment in the Champsaur calendar as it marks the beginning of summer so there were plenty of people, free coffee and croissants!

The next walk was one of Matthieu's secret places behind the forest where he lives. There is a golden eagle's nest which had taken Matthieu two years to find so as you can imagine it was difficult to spot it but we did. Unfortunately, though the birds were away.
The last walk was up to one of the Valgaudemar honeypots to an old deserted village a spectacular waterfall and amazing alpine meadows. It was a beautiful place to end the week and there were hardly any people considering it was supposed to be a honeypot!

The last night was spent in Hotel Val des Sources and we were treated to a gourmet meal and a good night's sleep before our drive back to the airport the next day.

So there you have it, a week in the life of a walking journalist - not a bad job eh!!