We have been making steady progress, up mountain and down dale. At Embrun, we stayed in a small family run hotel where the meal served is essentially what the family eats, that is no choice of menu. It was very good, the family which ran the hotel were Belgian and plied us with a range of belgian beers, all especially enjoyable at the end of a day's walking.
On Sunday, we walked the 18 kms from Embrun to Savines le Lac, a relatively new town on the shore of a large lake whose name escapes me. Savines le Lac is a tourist town built around water sports. Our accommodation at the Hotel des Sources was clean and pleasant.A meal in the local vietnamese restaurant was perfectly adequate. After dark, the lights of the village of St Apollinaire, tomorrow's first stop, shone down from what seemed - and ultimately transpired - to be a great height.
Monday morning, we set off across the bridge, and up to St Apollinaire, where we boiled the billy - Boronia doesnt travel very far nor very happily without regular infusions of tea. From St Apollinaire, there is a fantastic vista back to Embrun, across to the hills hiding the monastery of Boscodon which we had diverted around the day before, and down the valley for at least two days walk. By the end of the day, we had made Chorges where we had planned to stay, but despite extensive use of hte mobile phone, we couèld find no accommodation. We decided to walk an extra three kms to Montgardin where there is an Auberge.
As we left Chorges, we went looking for water....taps are in surprisingly short supply when you need them, though most villages have permanently running fountains. In any case, we decided to walk into the yard of a nearby factory or storage depot to ask for water. We were met with quizzical looks, which I put down to my hat - which Boronia despises - and poor french, and given two large bottles of water from a nearby pallet. It was only as we left that we noticed the sign which explained that we had walked into a huge water bottling factory asking for water.
The Auberge du Moulin at Montgardin was superb. Restful garden setting, very french and friendly hospitality, wonderful food, much of it grown on the farm and transformed into confitures, fruit salads and more.... in short, heaven. We could have stayed a week.
Tuesday morning saw us setting off for Gap via Laus, a site of some importance to local catholics for reasons we dont entirely understand.... I think it was where St Benoit lived and worked. Of course, it is situated half way up a huge mountain, and our pathway took us to the very top before wending our way down to Gap after around six hours trekking plus a couple of rest stops for tea and lunch. We both managed the climb remarkably well, but felt quite sore by the end of the day.
We are spending a rest day in Gap, so have booked into a proper hotel including access to the internet which is allowing this blog update. Boronia jumped straight into the bath on arrival, but I decided against doing so on the grounds that i would have to fold myself in thirds to fit in, and given how stiff I am feeling, it might have proved impossible to unfold myself once I inserted myself in the bath cavity. I cant help thinking that the shape, size and comforts of baths in Paris or New York would be much more enjoyable than what is available here, let alone at home in Canberra, but then again, the privations of a pilgim's trek must amount to something if we are to gain the deferred benefits promised by the promoters of such adventures!
I dont think we have explained that we are following a set route, one of France's Grande Randonnees; ours is the GR653D, from Col de Mont Genevre / Briancon to Arles. Our next major stop is Sisteron, where we will take a day off if I can persuade Boronia to cease her incessant pedestrianism. It will take us around 24 days walking to Arles, and our progress beyond will require further negotiation.
So far, we have covered a total of over 130 kms in seven days, at an average of 18 kms a day. I count this as very good progress given the amount of climbing involved. At my lowest ebb yesterday, coming down into Gap over rocky paths, my feet feeling sore and sensitive, I asked myself why this might be so, and calculated the number of steps we had taken since Briancon. Some 180,000 steps, 90,000 for each foot!
We wish all readers of this idiosyncratic trek account the very best
mike
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