After exploring the lower altitudes of Mercantour National Park it is time to explore the alpine peaks and roads that sneak through the alpine meadows. We are now quite high up with snow patches from time to time that lead us to stop and do a few snowball fights. Quite early in the season for that….
The attractions on this road that we want to visit are close to the road, in fact the road passes right through the first one of them, the Camp des Fourches. It is an abandoned military camp that was protecting France from attacks from Italy across the mountain ranges.
The abandoned buildings are quite fun to explore and with no one else around we really like the feeling of discovery as we move from building to building.
Next is a short stop at a stele commemorating a French General that was killed during training exercises. However we stop more to enjoy the views of the many switchbacks we have climbed on. In fact our relatives start to become carsick at this point as they are thrown from one side to the other in the back as we navigate the tight switchbacks.
And it is up and up still, we now understand what it means to be on the highest through road in Europe. At least there is no snow, we are really happy about it as otherwise any detour would take hours.
And then we reach the high pass, the Col de la Bonette. From here a short loop road/trail leads to the Cim de la Colette, the nearby peak of 2,860m. It is higher than the highest mountain in Romania so our relatives are impressed and we take some time to explore the area.
The views especially are beautiful in the late afternoon side that illuminates the mountain ranges artistically. However it is also quite cold at this altitude as evidenced by the patches of snow so soon we are retreating to the car and are ready for the descent from this high point.
As we descend there are a few more stops and highlights, including an old bunker built to protect the mountain passes from invaders. We assume that the herd of sheep protected by a few dogs, some of which that don’t appear to be shepherd dogs really, are not invaders and are simply moving along and doing their best to block the road and stop us from continuing on.
We arrive in Briancon quite late in the day but we are hoping we can still find something to eat in town as we are hungry and the provisions are quite low. As we start to explore the downtown it doesn’t really feel hopeful though, everything seems closed and boarded for the night.
However we do find an open restaurant, yay, and order some local specialties that are quite welcome after our day in the crisp high altitude mountain air with only a few snack to sustain us. And then it is time to sleep as tomorrow we are going to explore Briancon before continuing north.
