Roya

3 September 2015:  The GR5 climbs from Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée (1144 m.) to Auron (1602 m.) – a two-hour hike, much of it straight up a steep slope.  The reward for all that effort is a large station de ski (ski resort) that is utterly lacking in charm and animation during the off-season.  Auron did have one useful thing to offer (besides a couple of cafés that were open): a good 3G mobile telephone network.  It's rare to have any network at all in the mountains; and where there is a network, it's often inadequate for such vital tasks such as uploading posts (with photos, of course) to my blog.  

The blog had to wait today, however:  I used our pause in Auron to correct a mistake that I had made in buying a train ticket online for Chloé.  She will travel back to Paris on Sunday in order to catch her flight to Boston a couple of days later.  Her final semester at RISD begins next week. 

The GR5 continues to climb from Auron up to the Col de Blairon (2011 m.).  We walked mostly on a dirt road – another charmless section of the trail.  Finally, after the pass, we re-entered beautiful mountain terrain for the hike down to Roya (1500 m.), a small village squeezed into the bottom of a narrow valley.  No mobile telephone network there, needless to say!

We spent the night at a gîte d'étape formerly called Ma vielle école (it has no particular name now, it seems).  Recently renovated, the gîte is a comfortable place.  We enjoyed dinner with the Savoyards, as well as two friendly and interesting Belgian women whom we have met several times on the trail.

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Departing from Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée, we noticed this interesting fence, made from old skis.  Good re-cycling!

Adjusting poles for the hike uphill to Auron:

Auron:

Hiking across and up ski slopes above Auron – not the most scenic section of the GR5!

Col de Blairon, with relaxing hiker:

Descent to Roya:

There were many stone cabins in various states of ruin on this mountainside. 

We encountered lavender beside the trail.  The Mediterranean cannot be far!

The gîte d'étape in Roya:

Another convivial dinner!  Our Belgian friends are sitting in the left foreground; the five Savoyards are sitting at the far end of the table; in the middle is a French couple.