This beautiful stage begins with a short climb to Col de Crousette at 2480 meters and then descends through a long descent to Vognols. This goes over extensive grasslands and along jagged rocks. The trail then climbs to an upper valley and later bends slightly off the GR5 and passes Mont Autcellier towards Roure.
It was bitterly chilly last evening and night. We didn't have a thermometer with us, but no doubt it must have been -5°C. But with a lot of extra clothes to keep us warm and our fleece blanket, we slept well. When we wake up this morning, there's even a layer of ice on the inside of the inner tent! The snow that fell towards evening yesterday, is melted on the tent. All the water is now frozen to the canvas like slices of ice. We had hopes that the sun would soon come out over the mountains to thaw our tent, but it's around 9 a.m., already 2 hours later than we woke up and the sun is not over the mountains yet, so we decide to pack the tent frozen.
When we arrived last night it was so foggy that we couldn't see the col in front of us. But right now we can clearly see something of a path against the gray rock slope, which will take us to the pass. It's a steep climb, so we warm up pretty quickly,l. Only our toes and fingers remain numb for quite a while. So it's wonderful as we walk into the sun towards the summit; immediately several layers of clothing come off. From above we can see that on the peaks behind us, the snow has remained. For the first time this trip we see fresh snow on the mountain slopes!
In front of us the peaks are a lot greener and also a lot lower. It looks like we've had the last high col, and each ridge in front of us seems to be getting a little lower. We enjoy the view and then take another look. Beyond the last mountains, we see one long horizontal line, interrupted only by a few peaks. Below the line, right below the sun, we see a golden glow. Wow, that must be the sea!!! That really is a milestone... But as magnificent as it is to see the sea, this is also our destination. And after walking more than 1800 kilometers, it comes a bit of a shock.
But we still have some way to go. Taking a look at the next valley we'll walk through, it promises to be some very beautiful parts. Walking in full sunshine, we descend over a wide ridge, overlooking a green valley with lots of grass. There have been many sheep here all summer, now it's quiet and becoming the territory of ibexes and chamois again. We see them standing together in large groups, grazing quietly. During summer these animals can only be found high in the mountains, now that it's getting colder they move to the lower grasslands. What a beautiful animals. Two groups of about 20-30 of them are walking down the slopes through the valley.
The sky is clear, the sun is shining bright and the tent, which did not fit in the cover this morning due to ice and was tied loose on Mark's backpack, is starting to thaw. Time for a break! We shake the ice off of the tent and quickly pitch it. It takes a while for it to dry, so we calmly enjoy coffee and noodle soup. The first break with a view of (although very distant) the Mediterranean Sea!
The descent that follows takes us across the beautiful golden fields to the valley of the river Le Démant. We have descended from almost 2,650 meters to below 1,850 meters and from here we continue to follow the valley for a few kilometers. We walk past a shepherd's winter home with a large flock of sheep next to the house, and a bit more below in the valley we see a number of cottages together. But before we get there the trail turns uphill again, a steep climb along sandy cliffs takes us to a higher valley. This one, unlike the golden slopes we walked over today, is still beautifully green and there are cows grazing. Along the path lies a skeleton of a cow. Farmers are increasingly leaving the deceased animals for carrion-eating animals, mainly vultures. We continue our route through the valley, and a little further on the signage becomes a bit unclear. We turn right into a path that rises faintly. We have climbed for quite a bit when we realize that we should have taken the path down in the valley. Oops, what do we do now... We decide to follow the alternative route, it should lead to the same village a bit further on. The only drawback is that we won't reach our "planned" overnight spot, Refuge de Longon, but walking back is too far now. Besides, it's a beautiful area we're walking through, so we're sure we'll find another spot for our tent. The detour unexpectedly treats us on one more final climb to a mountain peak. From up here we see a huge red deer running in the valley below. For the past hour we have heard many heavy, humming sounds that we couldn't quite place. It sounded somewhere between a wounded cow, a donkey in stress and a roaring engine, but it turned out to be burbling red deer. What fierce sounds those animals make!
We walk into the valley where we just saw the deer and a little further on we come across a sheltered spot on a ridge, far enough off the trail.
It wasn't a long hike today, but we're both pretty tired and decide to spend the night here. We make a cup of coffee, and by the time we finish it, it's getting close to 7 p.m. and we can pitch the tent. Here in the Mercantour, you are also allowed to bivouac between 7 p.m. and 9 a.m. With the heavy cries of the deer still around us (sometimes véry close), we pitch the tent. The temperature has risen quite a bit during the day and sitting here in front of our tent in the last light of the setting sun, it's almost impossible to imagine that we woke up this morning with temperatures well below zero. It changed so fast, up here in the mountains.
What a beautiful hike and what a nice place this is again. It remains special to be out in the wild like this, just in the middle of the woods somewhere.
