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Strada del Canoni…
After Colle Agnello, we continue to discover high altitude trail.
1. Ascent in the rain…
2. Fortunately, after lunch, the sky starts to open.
3. We are again at more than 6,500 feet elevation.
4. And the sun returns in late afternoon.
5. The clouds still cling to the north.
6. Emile trains on his bike.
7. View from above…
8. In the distance, the Maira mountains that we will discover later.
9. In the morning, blue sky is back.
10. On the Strada del Canoni trail.
11. Distant view…
12. After having tried to reach the Maira by the Meja valley which we discover closed by a gate, we climb there by the Colle Fauniera.
13. It is a pass visited by the Giro and a sculpture recalls it.
14. We discover the trail of the Maira Stura from the East side, looking for a boondocking place.
15. The massif is spectacular, alternating limestone walls and high meadows.
16. …
17. VivaLaVida on the trail.
18. Val Meja from above.
19. Sunset from our camp.
The trail being closed to motorized vehicles on Sunday, we spend a full there day enjoying this beautiful panorama. We’ll tell you that soon. 🙂
Lacs et Queyras…
1. Dernière soirée dans le Val Argentera.
2. Le Lago Nero (Lac Noir), proche de la frontière franco-italienne, bondé ce jour-là alors que plusieurs colonies s’y sont données rendez-vous pour la journée. Nous décidons ainsi de poursuivre la piste vers un autre lac d’altitude.
3. Campement à 2’400 m. d’altitude.
4. Emile s’entraîne à faire des ricochets.
5. Quiétude…
6. Préparation du souper.
7. Couchant
8. On se couvre un peu alors que la brise du soir rafraîchit l’atmosphère.
Ensuite, nous partons découvrir le Colle Agnello qui relie la haute vallée du Queyras à l’Italie. La vallée qui y mêne est magnifique, nous y reviendront à l’occasion.
9. Dernier lacets avant le col alors que la brume bouche le versant italien.
10. Nous trouvons un bivouac sur le versant italien, près d’un petit lac.
11. Et surprise, la brume se retire en début de soirée…
12. J’en profite pour tirer le portrait à ce joli petit lac.
13. Dernières lueurs sur les sommets.
14. Village aux traditionnels toits de pierre sur la descente côté italien.
La suite dans le prochain post.
Hike to Colle del Nivolet.
After being dislodged by a guard from the Gran Paradiso National Park who didn’t want to let us sleep in the car park of the refuge, we went back up the next morning to discover the various high-altitude lakes that dot this magnificent valley..
1. Departure for the lakes overlooking the Colle del Nivolet.
2. Here are the several first.
3. Emile has fun crossing a stream…
4. … from stone to stone.
5. …
6. …
7. Altitude pond…
8. Another just below.
9. From the highest point of the day.
10. Emile in deep meditation! 🙂
11. Not a bad view for a picnic!
12. In the distance, the Gran Paradiso.
13. Meanders and backlight…
14. During our descent…
Then we went to another place. We’ll tell you about it in the next report.
Finally again some vacation in VivaLaVida !
While VLV had been sleeping quietly since last November, it’s finally time to enjoy it again for a few weeks, starting with the discovery of new valleys or alpine ridges.
1. Long hike to the end of Val Savaranche, still very wild…
2. Little break for the kid!
3. Picnic in the scree.
4. Just under the glacier which has almost completely melted.
5. From our camp.
6. Nivolet valley looking towards Val Savaranche.
7. Close to Colle del Nivolet.
8. Colle del Nivolet (1)
9. Sand games…
10. Proud of his castle!
11. Despite the more than 2,400 m altitude, the temperature is pleasant.
12. …
13. The work of the day!
14. Colle del Nivolet (2)
15. Chapel…
Next in a few days… 😉
Fall holidays (1)
As Emile is on vacation with me for a week, we decide to go enjoying the fall colors without traveling too far since we only have 5 days to travel. The destination will be the Hautes-Alpes, between France and Italy.
1. After half a day on the road, we arrive in the Mont-Cenis region and its lake at the end of the day.
2. While the weather is fine all along the road, the east wind blows fog from Italy which gradually rises, enveloping VivaLaVida.
3. Climbing up to 2,200 m, we have time to make a shot hike outside the nimbuses.
4. But half an hour later, the fog catches up with us.
5. The time to find a boondocking site for the night and we are isolated by the clouds for a quiet but cool night.
6. The disturbance of the night removed the fog and nicely sprinkled summits with fresh snow.
7. A few openings in the couds let in the light…
8. … and VLV takes the trail again to reach the lake.
9. We take the trail that goes West of the lake…
10. … trail that we couldn’t drive in July, a barrier now blocking access from July 1st to September 15.
11. The showers follow one another and the wind is still blowing strong.
12. But we anyway go for a walk by the lake, just to play with Emile and, for me, to look for some picture composition.
13. …
The continuation of the story in a few days…
Week-end in Haute Savoie
At the end of August, Emile and I are going to spend the weekend in the mountains.
1. Hike to the Col de Balme.
2. We discover a pretty altitude pond…
3. … that cottongrass highlight.
4. Highland…
5. From a ridge, we can see VLV far below…
6. On the ridge…
7. The goal of the hike.
8. Too bad the clouds hid the light…
9. Altitude marsh.
10. On the way back, the clouds set the mood…
11. Reaching VLV for the night.
12. Campfire to prepare diner.
13. A last ray sets the Bossons glacier ablaze in the distance.
14. Red needles of Chamonix in the clouds.
15. Nice viewpoint over the Chamonix valley when we wake up.
16. Picnic near Emosson.
17. Aiguille Verte and the Drus from Emosson.
Some images of other weekends coming soon… 😀
Pyrenees, continuation and end
After crossing the Principality of Andorra where we took advantage of filling up VivaLaVida at an unbeatable price thanks to the special customs status, we take the road toward West again.
1. We find the unpaved trail at Coll de Cabus again.
2. Our neighbors as we have a little lunch.
3. Descent towards Tor.
4. The track is quite rough in places.
5. Arrival at the small village of Tor nestled at the bottom of a deep valley.
6. Church of the Holy Father of Tor.
7. The village is partially abandoned. Only a few weekend homes and a stopover are still inhabited in summer..
8. We find a beautiful place by the river to spend the night.
9. After a rain shower at the end of the day, the fire is welcome.
10. Diner in nature…
11. Waking up with the sun!
12. Upper Val d’Aran from the descent of Bonaigua pass.
13. We go discover Montgarri, a formerly remote site, built with a sanctuary and a refuge. We find a great spot to boondock next to the river, less than 3 miles away from Montgarri.
14. Emile enjoys it!
15. Hiking to the sanctuary…
16. … here it is.
17. L’intérieur est simple et plutôt bien conservé.
18. La porte qui mène aux escaliers du clocher.
19. Fin d’après-midi à jouer…
20. …
21. Quel bel endroit ! La rivière nous bercera durant la nuit.
Après cette dernière nuit pyrénéenne, nous prendrons la direction de la Corrèze où Emile continuera ses vacances chez ses cousines, avec un arrêt a Cahors sur la route. A découvrir tout bientôt.
Pyrenees (2)
1. Wake up at the Pedró dels Quatre Batlles. It is cool but the view is gorgeous.
2. …
3. We take a spectacular trail to go down from the plateau.
4. View toward South.
5. Escarpment.
6. Flower in the limestone rockery.
7. Further, a narrow passage in which i had to fold mirrors. We crossed it in both directions, the trail having been washed out 1.5 mile further.
We found several trails closed by recently installed barriers, undoubtedly the price of the hordes of 4×4 which crisscross them more and more.
8. Nice boondocking spot.
9. Emile is always ready to play with his small cars…
10. Smal village in the mountain.
While we were stopped by a barrier at the entrance of a trail which should have lead us to discover a pretty mountain lake, Emile said “We just have to walk there”. I explain to him that the lake was at a 7 miles walk with more than 2,000 feet of elevation gain but he insisted. So I parked VivaLaVida and here we were for a day of walking. My little guy had bravely swallow the more than 14 miles round trip! A real mointain goat!
11. The lake we hiked.
12. Picnic in the shelter of a rock while the wind blows in gusts.
13. Before the way back.
Other discoveries in a few days…
Summer trip 2021, start in France and Italy
Both Emile and I were eager to hit the road after two years without traveling in VivaLaVida. However, while we planned to leave on a Monday, trying to crank VivaLaVida the previous Thursday, no way to start it! I do the diagnostics and identify that it was the injection pressure regulator that was out of order. I ordered the part in the United States with express shipping and received it next Monday. The time to install it and check that everything was fine, we finally left on Tuesday at the beginning of the afternoon …
1. First stop at Fairies lake, in Beaufortain.
2. The next day, we go to the Iseran Pass, more than 9,000 feet elevation.
3. Emile building a kern.
4. View of the mountains where Isère takes its source.
5. Emile in front of an orientation table.
6. We find a place under the pass to boondock.
7. There is a torrent, Emile throws some stones at it!
87. All happy!
9. The sun hides behind the mountain until the next day…
10. The next day, direction Italy in the Rochemolles valley via Mont Cenis.
11. The pleasure of the first campfire of the trip.
12. Dinner!
13. The following morning, we go up to the Scarfiotti refuge and its small lakes. I give up going up to the Sommeillier Pass because you have to pay to take this dead end track and there was a lot of people.
14. Waterfall behind the refuge.
Continuation of the story in a few days… 😉
Faroes (I)
Having taken the boat from Hirtshals to Iceland, I decided to stop for three days to discover the Faroe Islands that attracted me for a long time. As I write this update from a small lost village, in the pouring rain, and don’t regret my choice. These islands are really beautiful, sheep heaths as far as the eye can see. In fact, there are only a few tens ofinches of humus on the substrate, sometimes basalt, sometimes black stone. The habitat is made of small villages of multicolored wooden houses scattered along the coast and located where there was an option of docking since it’s the Vikings who are the oldest colonizers of these islands. Here are some first pictures of VivaLaVida’s journey.
1. Before landing to the Faroe Islands, the ferry passed by the extreme Northern tip of the Shetland Islands.
2. While VivaLaVida landed at night, a small walk from my camping spot makes me discover an impressive panorama!
3. The day is announced dry and with some sun. Is it it coming from the South ?
4. Sheep stable…
5. Each island is separated from its neighbor by one or more fjords.
6. Mix of rocks and mosses…
7. And here is the sun coming!
8. Going towards Saksund, VivaLaVida is driving along a fjord.
9. Saksund is a tiny hamlet, one of the first built on the main island, and still has several traditional very old houses.
10. Its old church.
11. Specialty of these Northern countries, the roofs covered with moss and grass.
12. Window…
13. The village.
14. Boat garages a bit further along a fjord.
I will continue in a future update, just to avoid indigestion… 😉
D5 Creation