Saturday 6 August 2022
| Distance (km) | 13 kms | |||
| Distance (time) | 6 hrs | |||
| Climb / Descent | 1185m / 970m | |||
| Hard / Soft surface | 30% / 70% | |||
| Landscape |
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| Weather |
 32° 1 Bft
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Yresterday was a looong day bringing the car to Barcelonnette and returning to Ceillac. And stressful too... We had to grab the 11:30 bus from Barcelonnette to Gap and since it is a 1 hour drive from Eygaliers to Barcelonnette we decided to leave at 9:30 to be really on time. Well, it took a bit more time to drive, but the biggest problem was finding a parking spot in Barcelonnette. We couldn't use the big parking in the center as that is forbidden on Saturdays because of the market, and we needed to park Friday to Monday. So we went for a parking east from the center and it was full and it didn't look there was much movement going on, so we went to the parking close to the hospital. That one was full too, but here we so cars leave and go, so we went around a few times until a car left and we could park. Very tight, but we had a parking. We grabbed our backpacks, walking poles and hats and started to walk to bus stop when another car left leaving behind a more spacious area. So Lupita blocked that space while I grabbed the car and moved it to this more "luxurious" parking spot. But now we really had to hurry to the bus stop on the central square. Arriving there the bus was already there as well with a queue of people to step in and off we went. The bus arrived 13:00 sharp in Gap, unfortunately the train to Briançon leaves at 12:57 and so we just missed it and had to wait for the bus at 15:25. Almost 2.5 hours to pick our noses, scratch our bellies etc. The waiting room of the railway station had no air conditioning (new government energy saving rules) and so we were happy when the bus arrived since the bus did have air conditioning. We arrived at the sation of Montdauphin at 17:15 and now had to wait 1.5 hours for the 18:40 bus to Ceillac, arriving at 19:20 in Ceillac. The whole day it had been warm and sunny, but of course at the end of the afternoon the inevitable thunderstorm came and it started bucketing about 10 minutes before we reached Ceillac. Hence, we had to walk in the pouring rain to our accomodation (thankfully we last minute packed our rain coats). But we made it ... And now it is morning again. Breakfast was promised at 6:30 so we set the alarm to 6:00 to have early breakfast in order to catch the 7:45 free shuttle to Pied du Mélezet and start walking. At 6:30 we're in front of the restaurant .... but everything was dark. We waited 10 minutes but nope, nobody. So back to our rooms then and pack everything so that we can return to the restaurant a bit later and ready to go. We wait until 7:30, but though we think we see some movement inside the restaurant remains closed. If we want to have the 7:45 bus there is only one option: forget about breakfast and hope there is a bakery open close to the busstop. And so we decide to do: we half run towards the bus stop, hop in the bakery we pass for 6 chocolate breads and a baguette and grab the bus. I now realize I still have the keys of the room in my pocket. Too bad...I paid already yesterday evening so I don't feel guilty about it. In Pied du Mélezet we sit down next to the ski lift to first eat our chocolate breads and then start to walk. It is a 4 hours climb today to 2700m altitude; the second highest pass on the GR5. Halfway the climb is Lac Miroir (Mirror Lake) which is a popular destination for a day walk, and that is clear also from the quality of the path which is rather wide and not too steep. It goes winding up the mountain through the forest, sometimes a bit steeper and sometimes almost flat. But all together a pleasant walk and what is more important: there are no flies! Maybe it's because of the rain yesterday evening or something else, but it is soooo nice and quiet without flies. In just under 2 hours we reach Lac Miroir and we take some pictures. Usually we would have stopped here for something to eat but we're both not feeling hungry and we decide that it can wait until our next lake: Lac Ste.Anne, which is 1 hour from here. When I slightly coincidentally look down I notice that on my left shoe the sole that is folded and glued around the toes is slightly loose; I noticed before that the very edge was not glued to the shoe anymore and now it seems that little edge coming loose is a bit larger. But it has to hold today and 2 more days so that we can fix it at home. That shouldn't be a problem as I had this problem several times before for days, sometimes even weeks, before I had the chance to fix it. So we continue, and only a few hundred meters beyond Lac Miroir I trip over something and looking down I see that the sole of my left shoe is completely hanging loose from the toes until the middle of my shoes. Bloody hell, how did this happen? I sit down and stare at my shoe in disbelief. What do we do now? Return to Ceillac? There is not much there, so for sure I can't get my shoe fixed there nor buy new shoes. So we would have to take the shuttle to Montdauphin and probably the train to Briançon then. Or should we continue to our first overnight stay? Maljasset is on the very end of a tarmac road that leads to Barcelonnette where I can probaby have my shoe repaired. Or maybe the refuge has material to repair it. While we're still debating an elderly French couple passes and they also look at my shoe. We share our thoughts and they agree that if it is possible to make it to Maljasset I have a better chance on getting it repaired than when I return to Ceillac. But of course I first have to get there. Thankfully I always carry around a set of spare shoestrings; funny enough I never use them to replace a broken shoestring, but I have done backpack repairs with them and now I need to do a shoe repair. I wrap the shoe lace twice around the toe of my shoe to force the sole against the shoe again making sure the lace goes nicely through the profile of the sole so that it cannot easily break on the sharp stones on the path. Then I tie the ends of the shoe lace behind the heel of my shoe. As the finishing touch I use some sports tape to tape the entire front of the sole to the shoe. Let's see if that works. Lupita and I agree that I will try to walk to Lac Ste.Anne like this. If it fails we go back to Ceillac and if I make it to the lake we judge the status and wear of the shoe lace to decide whether we should go back or forth. And so we continue. I try to keep my foot as flat as possible without bending to not cause any stress on the sole. We walk out of the forest onto a ski slope that is very steep and so carefully and slowly we go up. Closer to Lac Ste.Anne there are more daywalkers coming from a parking down in the valley - that might actually also be a good emergency plan: walk to that parking and try to hitchhike to Ceillac if needed. But we make it to Lac Ste.Anne and we inspect my shoe. It seems the fix holds and the shoe lace got dirty, but looks in perfect condition. So we decide: we'll try to make it to Maljasset. We are still not hungry, probably the stress, but we force ourselves to eat something since we cannot keep walking on just water. So with some reluctance we eat a cereal bar and some little tomatoes that we have been carrying around for a while now and off we go to Col Girardin. It is a very rocky climb going up, but very doable. Lupita normally suffers from the altitude but now seems to be going up like a steam train. It must be the adrenaline from the whole situation. And so we reach Col Girardin in less than 4 hours in spite of having a shoe repair on the way. We definitely need a break here.... While checking my shoe again (by now I notice that also the sole around the heel of my shoe starts delaminating) a girl with a big bagpack passes; we had actually seen her at the bakery in Ceillac this morning. She also recognizes us asks what is up so I explain about the shoe. Not much she can do about it and she wishes us good luck, but not after taking a picture of us at the col - we don't have that many photos with both of us on it. The descent is described by many as horrible, steep, dangerous etc. But actually we find it pretty good: again it goes down in hairpins, is not so steep and not so difficult. After the first descending section we enter a pasture where we encounter the elderly French couple again and they ask how I'm doing with my shoe. I explain and they wish me good luck, we'll meet again in Maljasset. There is one little nasty passage at the the extremity of the pasture to get us down to a pasture a bit lower, but nothing too difficult so far. But according to the reports the terrible, horrible part is after the split between the GR5 to La Barge and the direct path to Maljasset. We arrive at the split and the direct path to Maljasset looks easy and friendly, but many have warned this is just the first part as further on it becomes steep going down a loose gravel slope. The GR5 on the other hand looks narrow and glued to the mountain side and passing over some outcrop a bit further on. I can imagine people with vertigo find that terrifying, but the GR5 is said to be the easier descent and so we take it. And actually it is not bad at all. Yes it's narrow and glued to the mountain side but once on it it is not scary at all and the outcrop is like 5 meters to get around without even needing the hands. After that it is just a looong balcony path going gently down. Only the last few hundred meters are steep and in hairpins with lots of loose gravel on the path. Since it was a long day this is actually the most difficult part, but then we reach the tarmac road close to La Barge. You have no idea how happy we are to get there with my shoe fix still in place. It is a kilometer along the tarmac to our accomodation, but if needed I can do that on my flipflops (that I indeed do carry around). We reach the accomodation without a problem and I explain to the owner the situation. I realised on my way here that I have my regular shoes in the car in Barcelonnette and they are also walking shoes. Lighter than the ones I'm currently using, but good enough for the last 2 days. So ideally I should find transport up and down to Barcelonnette. So I ask if she can help us finding a taxi to pick me up, bring me to the car for me to exchange shoes and then bring me back to Maljasset. She can, but she claims it will be very expensive, possibly more than 100 Euro. And so she starts trying to find alternatives like hitchhiking to Barcelonnette and then drive back by car until halfway so that her son can pick us up and we can later retrieve the car. It all sounds very complicated and so I explain I'm willing to pay for the taxi to keep it simple. Then one of the guests that was listening to the whole story interferes and explains he has a car here so he can drive me up and down to Barcelonnette to get my shoes. Wow, that is so very nice! So we take his offer and he tells us to just first get our rooms sorted out, take a shower if we want and meet him at 16:00. And so we do... At 16:00 we meet him again, he's called David and he's from Marseille, and drive to Barcelonnette to our car. The car is still there (that would have been a little disaster) and I change my shoes after which we drive back again so that we are around 18:00 back in Maljasset. David already explained we don't have to give him anything, but we convince him to let us at least pay him for the petrol. And then we can relax until dinner. It was a stressful day. |
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