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Fall holiday : Lake Lauson
For the second week of Emile’s vacation, we went to discover new alpine spots.
1. Sunset et our first boondocking spot, near Sansicario.
2. Herd going up towards Sestriere.
3. Going down the valley of Cluson river.
4. On the trail going up to Lake Lauson.
5. At almost 6,000 feet elevation, the larches are gorgeous in their autumn dress.
6. The best of co-pilots!! 😀
7. Lake Lauson.
8. Still a few holes of sunshine as the clouds gather.
9. Lonely tree.
10. Sheepfold under the lake.
11. Shepherd house.
12. Before dinner, we walk up the old military road above the lake, now closed by a gate. We overlook VLV at his camp near the lake.
13. Golden larches…
14. After rain and fog.
15. The view from our camp at sunset…
16. Last colors…
After a wet night, we will continue South…
Waterfalls in Jura Mountains…
In mid-October, in Emile’s absence, I went for a little trip to the Hérisson waterfalls, in the neighboring French Jura.
1. Gour Bleu waterfall, horizontal version.
2. Gour Bleu waterfall, vertical version.
3. Mushrooms…
4. Bubbling undergrowth.
5. Grand Saut waterfall.
6. Alcove.
7. Hrrisson torrent.
8. Above Eventail waterfall.
9. Oops, the forest roads were quite muddy that day! I had to use the winch to get out of that mess!
The next article will take you to discover some new corners of the Italian Alps during our Fall holidays. To come soon.
Return through Lozère, the Cévennes and the Ardèche
It’s time to go home as Emile is flying to America in three days with his mother..
1. Small village not far from our camp.
2. Another one, a little further.
3. Pastures of the Lozère highlands.
4. I love these arid plains…
5. Not far from Florac, on the Causse Méjan.
6. Isolated hamlet.
7. Trail under Mont Lozère.
8. Grove.
9. In Ardèche, Baumicou waterfall, actually dry…
10. Last bivouac in Ardèche before the return.
11. Dusk…
That’s it for this too short summer vacation. The next posts will be about fall adventures… 🙂
See you soon here and thank you for your loyalty in following the discoveries of VivaLaVida !
Highlands of Lozère
Coming back from Spain, we cross France by small roads, discovering some spots identified during previous research. We arrive in Gorges du Tarn and go up to a first causse (kind of of high plateau) by a very small road. It leads us to a trailhead to discover several natural arches.
1. First spot, a cave in the limestone.
2. A few hundred yards further, a first arch.
3. A hoodoo in the middle of a clearing.
4. Emile poses for the photo.
5. At the end of the loop trail, we arrive at the spot called Arcs St-Pierre with three natural arches within a radius of barely 150 yards. The first, which seems to have served as a shelter in ancient times.
6. The same from the opposite.
7. The second.
8. …
9. The third, the most imposing.
10. Both in a row…
11. Emile in a small cave along the path.
12. View from the plateau.
13. The meadows are quite dry but some flowers remain.
14. Our camp a few miles further; the shower feels good. 😉
Continuation and end of these summer holidays in the next update soon…
Rougier de Camarès and Millau bridge
We continue our return journey with several detours…
1. Pretty village of Saint-Sernin-sur-Rance on our road to Aveyron.
2. We arrive in Camares at the end of the afternoon…
3. … and we go discover its “rougier”.
4. It is an area of ​​erosion of clays with a high iron content, which gives its characteristic color from which it’s named.
5. We go walking there…
6. …
7. …
8. Back to VivaLaVida.
9. Nice boondocking near a private lake. Thanks to the breeder who allowed us to spend the night on his land.
10. After a short drive to the East, we approach the Millau Viaduct which I discover for the first time.
11. Quite impressive!
12. After having some lunch there, we take the road again towards the Gorges du Tarn.
We will discover several beautiful natural arches that we will show you in the next article. 🙂
Back in France…
As announced in the previous post, we are back in France, on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees. We go to discover Navarrenx, a pretty fortified little town about 25 miles West of Pau.
1. One of the entrances of the city.
2. Patrol path…
3. A beautiful courtyard.
We had promised ourselves for a long time to share a campfire with friends from the Pau area, Fred and Martine. A few years ago, they bought a small camper that allows Fred, an accomplished landscape and wildlife photographer, to travel for his passion.
Passing through the region, I texted him and the stars aligned so that we could share a nice altitude bivouac. Fred sent me GPS coordinates of a spot easily accessible by a good trail where we could meet up.
4. In the middle of the afternoon, we are the first on site.
5. A few Pyrenean peaks surround us.
When Fred and Martine arrive, the last section was a little too rough for their little camper and we go back down a mile to meet them and find ourselves a spot easier to access.
6. After the aperitif and lighting the campfire, it’s time to prepare the dinner.
Photo FredW
7. On the menu: melon and ham starter, then lamb chops with ratatouille cooked over the wood fire. Yum!
Photo FredW
8. Cooking…
Photo FredW
9. What a great evening with friends! Martine and Fred, thank you for your kindness and for this great time.
Photo FredW
10. Time to go to sleep…
Photo FredW
11. The next day, I get up before sunrise to enjoy the morning atmosphere….
12. First rays on our camp.
13. The plain North of the Pyrenees. The city of Pau is hidden by the mist.
14. On the other side, the first peaks of the Pyrenees.
15. I go back down to our camp.
16. It’s time to pack up camp and say goodbye. We promised to do it again another time!
Photo FredW
More soon with the discovery of a rougier and an impressive bridge…
Thank you all for your loyalty to this little blog.. 😉
Picos de Europa (continued) and back towards East.
We go up the valley towards Sotres and leave the road on the right to discover a trail which climbs to almost 6,000 feet above sea level.
1. Alpine pasture at the bottom of the valley, before the climb.
2. As VivaLaVida gains altitude, the landscape becomes more arid.
3. Snack break!
4. At the end of the afternoon, the convection of the day brings us a beautiful thunderstorm, forcing us to turn back.
5. Going down in the rain…
6. After the storm, we go up to discover a viewpoint on the opposite slope.
7. Small mountain church.
8. Then we head back east. Emile wants to go back to sleep at the surfing spot where we already spent a night.
Along the road the next day, we make a quick stop to discover Santillana del Mar which also turns out to be a real tourist trap….
9. Village house.
10. Church porch.
11. Entrance to the inner courtyard.
12. Large traditional house.
We continue on the road and reach the Spanish Basque country.
13. Nice bivouac on a ridge…
14. The sky is heavy at the end of this day.
15. A visitor who comes to observe us closely at our camp.
16. Last image of Spain in a pretty Basque village, the next morning, just before crossing the French border.
To be continued shortly with the rest of the trip: a stop in Navarrenx and a lovely bivouac with friends, in the foothills of the Pyrenees. 😉
Somiedo National Park and Picos de Europa
After traveling along the coast of Asturias, we head South to discover the Somiedo National Park, in the “valley of lakes”.
1. Houses and granaries typical of this region.
2. After spending a night in a small mountain campground in Valle de Lago, we set off on a lovely hike up the valley, towards the lakes. Along our walk, a beautiful wild iris.
3. Arrival at the lake.
4. Alpine pasture near the lake. We are only at 5,250 feet elevation but already at the tree line.
5. Picnic.
6. Lake plants.
7. Along the return hike.
The next day, we hit the road again to go to the lakes of Covadonga. We sleep in a parking lot under the sanctuary. The next morning, we discover that the road leading to the lakes is closed to private vehicles during summer. We park and go to buy tickets for the shuttle; arriving at 8:15 am at the gatehouse, the employee tells me with a large smile: “The next availability is at 4 pm”… It’s a bit of a cold shower! From then on, we give up and go to discover the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Covadonga.
8. Chapel on the cliff, next to the Virgin.
9. Kneeling pilgrims praying in front of the Holy Virgin.
10. The Basilica of Santa Maria la Real de Covalonga.
11. Crypt under the basilica.
After this visit, we decide to go and discover the Picos de Europa, magnificent limestone mountain range set back from the coast a little further east, and more particularly the Gorge of Cáres.
12. Stop on the road at Mirador del Pozo which offers a magnificent view of the mountain range.
But arriving at the Viesgo crossroads, the road is also blocked because there are too many people. Traveling in the middle of summer is sometimes frustrating!
Emile spots a funicular that goes up to Bulnes, apparently a small mountain village. We go back down the road for 1.5 mile to find a place to park, take the picnic, walk the 45 mintues to the departure station. There is an hour and a half wait but as it’s noon, I buy the tickets and we go to picnic on the banks of the Rio Cáres.
13. Arriving at the top of the funicular, the place turns out to be a real tourist trap! After barely 10 minutes of walking, we arrive in a former summer mountain village which has been completely transformed into a series of crowded tourist restaurants. After only 15 minutes, we have gone around and realize that there is nothing to see there except a small mountain chapel. We can’t even go in as it’s locked.
Back at the upper station of the funicular, we have to wait one and a half hour to be allowed to go back down and we reach VivaLaVida after 4pm. I then decide to go up the East fork of the valley, towards Sotres where I have spotted a high-altitude track. You will discover it in the next article! 😉
Incursion into Galicia and return to Asturias
It was one of the spots I wanted to discover for a long time: Praia de Catedrais or “Beach of the Cathedrals”, in Galicia, about ten kilometers from the border with Asturias. A spot that has become extremely touristy since it was published hundreds of times on Instagram, so much that you now have to register on Internet to be allowed to access it via a QR code. As some arches are only accessible at low tide, this further concentrates the crowd at certain times of the day.
First there around 3pm, I gave up as there were so many people. Thus, we discovered it the next day around 8am and if there were still a lot of people, it was probably 5 or 10 times less than the day before.
1. The site consists of a cliff whose bottom is at sea level and “sanded” on a beach.
2. The most famous arches, in a row with each other.
3. What a perspective!
4. Another arch on the way back to the access to the foot of the cliff.
5. Heading back west, we follow the coast on small roads and come across a pretty lighthouse: Faro de Ribadeo.
6. A little further East, a pretty wild cove. We discover that it is currently reserved for nudists.
7. New stop a few miles further to discover another natural arch, at the Mirador de Atalaya.
8. We continue to follow the coast, sometimes on trails, discovering pretty coves like this one.
9. Here a pretty little harbor, in Viavelèz.
10. It’s time to look for a place to camp and after three unsuccessful attempts, we find a spot above a beautiful cliff that turns orange at sunset.
11. The next morning, discovery of a pebble beach after a short offroad session on an abandoned path.
Then we leave the coast to reach the mountains of the Somedio National Park. To be discovered in the next update. 😉
Cantabrian coast and Asturias
So we continue the discovery of the coast now in Cantabria. We had already stopped near Santander last year and we go to discover another spectacular coastal spot very close by.
1. Arrival on site.
2. Laminated rock characteristic of the region.
3. Variant.
4. A few hundred yards further.
5. Other composition.
6. The tide rises and creeps through the rock wall.
7. Natural pool.
8. Nice late afternoon near San Vicente de Barquera.
9. Rays…
10. Sunset.
11.
61 / 5 000
The next day, a little further, we discover another spot.
12. The Playa del Silencio.
13. This coastline full of cliffs is truly beautiful.
14. We continue to the Asturias-Galicia border to discover a spectacular spot the next day and find a quiet place to sleep by the ocean.
15. Last glimmers of a colorful sunset.
We will show you the Praia de las Catedrais in the next update. 😉
D5 Creation