Pete's Blog - Week 5(b)
We made an early start, climbing out of Névache through larch woods which opened out to larch pastures and passed the Lac du Cristol ( 2483m ), full of small fish. We eventually hit a large track that took us to the col de Barteaux and an exciting/scary view of our ridge! After a liitle discussion we started the hot climb up onto the ridge at 3pm. The first part to la Croix de la Cime ( 2606m ) was great, with superb views all around us. It would be almost 3 hours, however, before we came off the ridge with the exposure getting much greater towards the end. Great stuff! ( especially for Ivan who suffers a bit from vertigo! ). Our gîte for the next two days was in La Vachette ( 1356m ) near Briançon and it took us 11 hours to get there. We arrived just in time for dinner! We caught the shuttle bus into Briançon the next day and joined the crowds for the arrival of the Tour de France. It is a magnificent town built around the forts designed in the 18th century by Vaubon, who designed forts all over France. We had a great time watching the 'caravan'
( throwing gifts to the crowd ) go through and the riders flying uphill to the finish! Cont - 5c