France - Day 6

We drove all the way down to Isola village, then north west up the Tinée valley through Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée, finally parking at the Torrent de Vens waterfall car park.

The start of the walk was at about 1550m. After a mile or so on a track, the path zig-zagged steeply up the north-facing slope beside the Torrent de Vens. It was hard going but very spectacular.

Finally we arrived at the first of the Lacs de Vens.

A little bit further took us to the main Lac de Vens, which is stunningly situated and has a mountain refuge perched on the far side, at 2380m.

We sat there to have our lunch and a rest.

The return journey was much the same as the outward one, and seemed to go on for ages.

On returning to the car we drove to the village of Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée. We bought a couple of maps in the Tourist Information office. We also had a couple of drinks at a bar in the main square, they were pretty expensive at 14 euros for two large beers.

After doing a little shopping both here and in Isola 2000, we went back to the apartment. Later we had fish fingers, chips and flageolet beans (bought by mistake instead of peas) for dinner.

France - Day 5

We drove north out of Isola 2000 and over the Lombardy Pass into Italy. About 10 miles further we parked the car at the Santuario di Sant'Anna di Vinadio.

From there we did a circular walk called the Sant'Anna Lake circuit. This went up past the lakes and over a couple of passes, going over the border into France and back out again.

We came upon a herd of sheep being herded down to some water, where there were also some cows drinking.

We had our lunch by some more spectacular lakes, including Lac Lausfer Supérieur.

On the way down we saw some chamois, a type of mountain goat, at the Col du Lausfer.

When we got back to the sanctuary we had a wander round, there was a mountain refuge and a bar there too. We had a drink in the bar after making sure there was a table in the shade.

We then drove home. We stopped at the Lombardy Pass for a look. While we were there a walker/hitchhiker asked us for a lift into town so we obliged.

Later we had pasta bolognese for dinner.

France - Day 4

After breakfast we walked from the hotel up to the Tourist Information office. We didn't get very much from there, though they did confirm that the Telecabin chairlift thing was running from 9-5 every day and was free.

We decided to take it up to the top of the slope and walk round the valley. It took us up to a height of 2349m.

From there we walked round and up to the ridge, and went to the top of Tête Mercière at 2491m.

There were some wartime lookout posts at the pass at the end of the valley.

We walked to the north side of the valley and to a set of lakes called Lacs de Terre Rouge.

As we walked down it clouded over, then we had a sudden downpour of rain and hailstones, so we sheltered for a bit.

It only lasted for about half an hour though, so we walked back to the apartment, via the supermarket for some more provisions.

Later we made chicken curry for dinner.