Hi everyone, I hope this finds you well. I'm fine. I'm in the Alpes. I've been travelling around southern France for a little over 3 weeks now and it's hot! I'm now in the small mountainous town/city of Briancon, France's highest town. It's a historic place, with lots of fortrees and old city walls surrounded the Alpes, well, actually built into the mountains. Streets are steep, as I discovered yesterday whilst hiking up to a couple of its fortresses. It's a fortified city, designed and built by a French Royal Army officer and engineer, Sébastien Le Prestre, Marquis de Vauban (1633-1707) I reached Briancon by train from Toulon, with a change in Marseille. That took 6 hours, on Sunday 15th June. I stayed in the lovely Pension Saint Antoine, run by a lovely, kind lady. The following morning, Monday, the lady put me on a local bus, which dropped me just outside the old city walls. I met a nice guy from Canada, now living in Briancon with his wife. he helped me through one of the large gates and gave me rough directions to the main bastian – Fort des Trois-Têtes. I followed a rough gravel trail and used my cane to negotiate the many switchbacks. I crossed the famus bridge, Pont d'Asfeld: an engineering gem from the 17th century, this stone bridge spans a vertiginous gorge at a height of over 50 meters (170 feet). Without realising it, I crossed the bridge! I was expecting something made of hard stone and bigger/higher. Continuing to hike, took me into the woods, which meant hiking for longer. I slipped and fell many times on the loose gravel and stones, but had fun. Eventually I met 2 English guys coming the other way. They helped me find the bridge. Once back across the river, I turned left and struggled up a steep rocky hill, which lead me into the start of the fortress area, city walls and the main part of Briancon's medieval town. The guys explained the layout in front of me and told me what was to my left and right. The main fortress was to the right, uphill, so, of course, I headed up. The road was steep and I bumped into many parked cars, but finally found the fort. It was a little confusing to me and I couldn't really find the entrance until I heard an echo. I followed a rail and this took me higher. After some time searching, I discovered a rock tunnel; went through and found some of the fort's walls on the other side, plus a couple of small rooms with stone walls. Descending several stone steps lead me to another stone room with views. I was unsure which way to go, so retraced my steps, eventually returning to the main town. After a coffee and an ice cream, I set off to find another fort. This time I hiked to Redoute des Salettes. However, this took a lot longer to hike than I realised, with me carrying my backpack with my laptop! Loose rocks everywhere and a steep gradient that, seemingly, continued up forever. I struggled, sweatted, fell, and grunted my way up. finally making the top around 4 pm or something. Of course, it was closed, so i took some picts and headed down. I probably took a diferent trail down as there were not the bolders I encountered on the climb on the descent. Instead, it was steep descending gradients of loose rough gravel and stones. returning to the bottom took even longer and I missed my 5 pm bus to Grenoble! fortunately, as I neared the end of the trail, I met a nice local guy who gave me a ride to the train station, established there were no trains/buses to Grenoble that night and found me a cheap hotel near the station.
This morning, Tuesday, 17th June, I'm still in Briancon! I thought there was a train departing at 10:51, but I missed it. No bus until 14:45 this afternoon. SoI'm sat in a cafe typing this in the heat and sun and drinking coffee and waiting! :).
The life of a travellller. Cheers, tony.
.
This morning, Tuesday, 17th June, I'm still in Briancon! I thought there was a train departing at 10:51, but I missed it. No bus until 14:45 this afternoon. SoI'm sat in a cafe typing this in the heat and sun and drinking coffee and waiting! :).
The life of a travellller. Cheers, tony.
.