Thursday 21 September 2023
| Distance (km) | 10 kms | |||
| Distance (time) | 4 hrs | |||
| Climb / Descent | 400m / 440m | |||
| Hard / Soft surface | 30% / 70% | |||
| Landscape |
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| Weather |
 →  23° 1 Bft
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Yesterday it continued raining for a long time, but finally in the evening it cleared up again. For today they said that it would again
be nice in the morning but with showers in the afternoon. Well, since we have only 4 hours to walk and no tent or so to pack we can
do 4 hours before it starts raining again. But this morning reality was different of course. When we opened the curtains it was already overcast and shortly after breakfast it started raining again. Thankfully we hadn't started walking yet. The weatherforecast claims that after midday it should improve so we will just sit it out and walk in the afternoon. It is only 4 hours, as said before. So we do bring a car to Aspremont already and on return we just wait... And indeed, close to 12 the sky becomes brighter and it stops raining. We don't completely trust it, so we will first have lunch from the local bakery and then see what it looks like. Well, it looks fine, it seems to be clearing up more and more and we prepare for our walk. At 13:00 we leave, probably the latest departure of this last GR5 year. We cross the Grand Pré, the big central meadow, because the GR5 passes on the opposite side. We follow the edge of the meadow a bit and then the GR5 squeezes between two houses climbing the hill behind. It is a short steep climb and we are immediately back in nature. The path drops a bit, crosses a unpaved road and climbs again, but briefly. From here we get a serious descent that is steep and really eroded so we have to be cautious. Deep down we see a village and for a moment we think that is Ste.Claire, which would mean that we have to go all the way down there. But when after the steepest part of the descent the path turns left and even climbs a bit we realise it is not Ste.Claire, but probably St.Blaise and we don't have to go there. The next kilometer or so is easy to Ste.Claire. We only pass through a tiny piece of the village and leave again over a tarmac road. It gently rolls up and down until we have to turn left into an unpaved road going to Colla Partida, or as the signs say Rocca Partida. This is actually the second-last official mountain pass (as far as something of 565m above sea level can still be considered a mountain) of the GR5. Here we turn right onto a trail that passes underneath an impressive vertical rock wall after which with a short steep climb we return to the unpaved road that just went around. We're at a crossing of unpaved roads here, but we take none of them. We have to take the stoney path in the middle, which happens to be also by far the steepest option. How lovely. In 4 short very steep climbs with flatter parts in between we climb to just over 700m altitude. The first of the 4 climbs is the longest and steepest. At the signpost we keep left to Aspremont as we have no intention to go all the way up to Mont Cima. The path stays pretty much on 700m but becomes muddy here and there because of the rain in the morning. Some ponds are quite big and it takes some tactical effort to pass them. Then the path dips to cross a small stream and climbs again to another unpaved road. We follow the unpaved road for a few hundred meters and then turn left onto another path. It's a bit tricky here, but we have to turn left and then immediately right again. Within 100 meters or so we can now see Aspremont and actually it is not really that far. We keep descending over this until we reach the first tarmac road of Aspremont. We cross it and now we follow stone stairs further down until we really have to follow a tarmac road that brings us to a viewpoint. Since we have plenty of time we enjoy the view and then see 3 guys with backpacks coming up. They appear to be from Belgium and they're doing the opposite direction of us. That is, they still want to go to Levens today. Since it is 16:00 now and it is about 3 hours walking to Levens it is going to be a late afternoon for them. Apparently they have been struggling to find water, but since we still have an extra untouched litre of water we didn't use at all we're happy to donate it to them since we're close to the car now anyway. We wish them good luck and continue to descend. It is only a bit further that we are in the centre of Aspremont after 3.5 hours walking. As it is the second last day we decide to enjoy the moment and have something to drink outside the bar/tabac before returning to our hotel. It is hard to believe tomorrow is our last day on the GR5. We saw the Mediterranean several times today so it should start sinking in, but it doesn't really do that yet. |
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