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Walking in the Mercantour |
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Written by Steve Craddock
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Sunday, 27 January 2008 |
Surprisingly, snowy peaks of the Mercantour, perhaps the wildest and most unspoiled of all France’s National Parks, may be glimpsed from many places on the shores of the Côte. You’ve almost certainly been thrilled by seeing them to the north as your aircraft came in to land at Nice Aeroport.
France, unlike the USA, or Australia, where National Parks were reserved from the mid-nineteenth century, came late to the realisation of the conservation value of wild landscapes. The largely pristine quality of the Mercantour Park, established in 1979, has survived due to an odd quirk of history. This vast area of high valleys and peaks on the border with Italy had been the hunting domain of the kings of Italy, and so the natural values of the region and its abundant wildlife, including marmots, bouquetin, chamois and ibex, had been, in effect, protected for centuries.
But back to walking in the Mercantour, since spring is not so far away, and maybe it’s a good time to start trip planning now...
 Two beautiful villages, Barcelonnette and St Martin-Vésubie, both with good tourist information offices, and numerous accommodation choices, restaurants, and shops, are ideal bases from which to head out. Both villages also offer wonderful mountain drives on good roads to high cols and ski resorts, and endless opportunities for picnics.
The Col de la Bonette, at 2,715 metres above Barcelonnette, is one of the highest roads in Europe, and a fantastic drive. Napoleon, on his return from Elba, marched through the Col on the way north to Paris, and Hannibal also crossed the Alps here, heading east towards Rome.
Since there has been so much Italian cultural influence in this region over hundreds of years, and given that most of the Mercantour didn’t become French until 1947, don’t be surprised to find the evidence all around you. We were quite moved by the baroque tombs in the tiny perched cemeteries at Venanson, above St Martin, and at Barcelonnette. Local restaurants also display Italian influences, and are likely to offer a grappa or a Limoncello as a digestif. Up here you get excellent pizzas, rather than the soggy, undercooked rubbish produced by the typical French village pizza van.
 Barcelonnette, the ‘Mexican’ village, may be reached during any season via Grasse, Castellane, and Digne-les-Bains for a weekend or mini-break. The considerably shorter route from the Côte, by way of Colmar-les-Alpes and the Col d’Allos, is only passable in the summer and autumn.
Barcelonnette is called the ‘Mexican’ village because returning emigrants, who had made their fortune in the textile industry overseas, built many beautiful Spanish-style homes around the town. One of them has been made into a fine small museum, where exhibits tells the story of Barcelonnette’s surprising links with Mexico in detail.
St Martin-Vésubie, only an hour’s drive up the Gorges de la Vésubie from Nice, is easily accessible year-round, and is certainly close enough to make a day-trip well worth considering. St Martin is famous for the medieval gargouille, which flows down the centre of the main street, Rue Docteur Cagnoli, and in the same street may be found the wonderful Librairie du Mercantour, an excellent resource for books and images of the Park.
Other attractions at St Martin-Vésubie include the lovely perched villages at even higher altitude nearby, including Belvedere and Venanson.
St Martin walks
Here are just two suggestions from many possibilities. St Martin offers enough options to keep serious walkers busy for weeks.
 Lac de Trécolpas and Refuge de la Cougourde, 3 seasons
Eastern Provence Côte d’Azur to the Alps guidebook
This very rewarding medium-hard five to six-hour walk, all on good paths, starts after an easy drive to the Boréon high parking above the ski village and lake. You will need a map, compass, and a detailed guidebook.
Climb through delightful forest, initially on a jeep track, then on a good path alongside the busy stream, passing many shady picnic spots on the way up. You will soon reach the Chalet Vidron, a tiny stone hut beside a little tarn.
Higher, the path becomes more rocky, and leads to an open basin with a horse trough and two ramshackle tin-roofed bivvies. Here, the path branches right on the GR 52, and leads up eastwards to open moorland and the beautiful Lac de Trécolpas, perched just below the main ridge at 2,178 metres altitude. This glacial cirque is magnificent, as it is bounded by the border peaks between France and Italy. The views are well worth every bit of the effort involved in walking up.
 After lunch, (or morning tea, depending on your fitness levels) traverse back north across the moraine and scree on a less obvious path to the refuge. This substantial reddish-brown CAF hut, with its resident gardien, is situated in a breathtaking meadow, below the 3,000 metre peak of the Cougourde. From here, a steep path drops back to the fork in the basin, and the return path down through the forest.
Lac de Fenêstre, 3 seasons
Eastern Provence Côte d’Azur to the Alps guidebook. Starts just over the ridge from the Lac de Trécolpas, at the Refuge and chapel of La Madone de Fenêstre.
This short walk, with no serious navigational challenges, begins after a lovely 12 km drive up an excellent road to a sensational high valley above the tree line. We suggest you drive up here, even if you have no intention of going walking, to experience mountain scenery at its best. Pedestrians have crossed the Alps here since neolithic times, and the chapel is on the site of a Roman temple.
Follow the red and white markers GR 52 markers north up the steep rocky track. The views and the marmots and the herds of chamois will compensate for the climbing! At the track intersection where the GR 52 heads uphill, bear right, and you will soon reach the Lac. Above and beyond you will see bunkers — military fortifications from the War — and the path that leads up to the Col de Fenêstre on the Italian border. Return along the same path. The walk will probably take you 2 to 3 hours, and I would be very surprised if you din’t spot some marmots or chamois..
If you are able to organise a car shuffle to either of the ends, these walks may be linked by traversing the Pas des Ladres, and though the full excursion sounds very demanding, it must be one of the great mountain walks.
Barcelonnette walks
Again, there are dozens of possibilities on the mountains surrounding the town. Here, I will simply recommend one very easy, but very rewarding high valley walk.
 Lac du Lauzanier, 3 seasons
La Vallée de l’Ubaye à Pied guidebook
Although this walk begins quite close to the Col, begin by branching off right from the Col de Larche road at the village of Larche. The steep gravel road, used in the winter as an XC ski trail, crosses l’Ubayette Torrent, then runs alongside it up to the high Pont Rouge parking.
You will need a compass and guidebook, but the Balades et Randonnées dans la Vallée d’Ubaye map from the Tourist Office is quite adequate.
 Walk south up the gently climbing grassy path beside the river past several old bories, used once by sheepherders. The paths steepens and gets rougher as it reaches the moraine below the glacial cirque, and climbs quickly to the lovely hanging lake at 2,284 metres. The surrounding peaks are superb, and alongside the lake is a tiny chapel. Inside it has a blue-painted vault with gold stars.
Expect to take 3 or 4 hours for the easy round trip. Along the way, we met many French walkers content to sit quietly in the lovely meadows, using their binoculars to spot birds, chamois and mouflon.
guidebooks
There is no comprehensive guidebook in English to walks in the Mercantour, but the best is:
Eastern Provence Côte d’Azur to the Alps, John and Pat Underwood, published by Sunflower Landscapes. This countryside guide begins with a series of car tours through the region, and follows with detailed notes and maps for over 30 walks. It is pocket-sized, and nicely illustrated and we have enjoyed every walk we have done from it. Unfortunately the binding irritates, as the book just won’t stay open.
Mercantour Alpes du Sud, Patrick Mérienne, published by Guide Rando. You obviously need better than basic French to get the most out of this comprehensive guide, which is beautifully illustrated and bound, but many people will be able to use the very clear maps and profiles to follow the walks easily enough. Highly recommended!
La Vallée de l’Ubaye à Pied, published by FFRP. This excellent series of guides covers all of France, and most walkers will be familiar with the format. Again, you need some French to use the notes, but the maps are very good.
Maps
IGN Carte de Randonnée 3741, Vallée de la Vésubie, covers St Martin.
Serious walkers would buy the similar map for the Ubaye, we were content with the excellent: Balades et Randonnées dans la Vallée d’Ubaye map from the Barcelonnette Tourist Office
Long distance walks through the Mercantour
France is blessed by having some of the world’s best long distance walks, the grand randonnées, and as we have noted, several pass through the Mercantour.
Tinée-Vésubie Vallée des Merveilles, in the FFRP series, gives detailed notes, maps and profiles for an amazing long-distance walk through the Mercantour. They recommend you take 9-10 days to traverse the 154 km route, following the GR 5 from Larche to Nice! Alternatively, you could branch off at St Dalmas-Valdeblore, and finish down the GR 52 to Menton.
It would be quite easy to split this walk into shorter legs; indeed our Lac du Lauzanier walk follows the start of this trek.
 My friend Neil Blundy, and his son Tim, from Australia, spent 97 days in 2006 walking 2,000 kms through the Alps from the Mediterranean coast in Slovenia through Italy, Austria, Switzerland and France to Menton. On the way, they passed through La Madone de Fenêstre on the GR 52.
Click here to read more about their trip.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 02 June 2008 )
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