The bear went over the mountain,
The bear went over the mountain,
The bear went over the mountain...
To see what he could see!
And what d'you think he saw?
And what d'you think he saw?
He saw another mountain,
He saw another mountain,
He saw another mountain...
And what d'you think he did?
He climbed the other mountain,
He climbed the other mountain,
He climbed the other mountain...
To see what he could see!
And what d'you think he saw?
And what d'you think he saw?
He saw another mountain....
(ad infinitum)
- traditional campfire song, to be sung to the tune of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow", or, if you're French, "Malbrough s'en va-t-en guerre"
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| Looking back at some of the mountains I have come over |
I keep thinking I'm going to be out of the mountains soon, but there are always more of them, around the corner, over the hill... on the other side of the mountain when I get to the top!
Leaving Nôtre Dame du Laus after a hearty breakfast, I followed the hairpin bends in a little road through the forest, climbing at a steady gradient up to Col du Tourrand at 1048 metres.
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| Apple orchard, protected from birds |
Coming down the other side of the pass, I found myself again at the bottom of the Durance valley, among vineyards, apple orchards and cultivated fields. I crossed the river and began to climb up the other side, coming to the village of Les Tourniaires, where I had originally planned to end this stage. It's good that I didn't, because it was only noon when I got there; I sat on a bench outside the Mairie and ate some of the food I had bought at the market in Chorges, and hadn't eaten because I was so well provisioned at the sanctuary. Right next door to the Mairie (town hall) is Halte Dodo, the pilgrim gîte where I had enquired about staying; it was shut because the owner was not well. Dodo is French baby-talk for sleep, while Miam-Miam means eat (it is pronounced almost like "yum-yum"), hence the name of the popular series of French guidebooks to pilgrim accommodations, Miam-miam-dodo. The first time I heard these guidebooks mentioned by a French pilgrim, a decade ago, I couldn't figure out why the funny name! 😅 I would have thought that these guidebooks, which have been published for 25 years now and are almost as thick and heavy as a telephone directory, would be pretty much obsolete now that one can find all the necessary information on the (weightless) internet; but actually they are still being updated annually, and can be ordered from the publisher at this link.
Lunch break outside Halte Dodo over, I continued on my way up the next mountain. I should mention that today I was not following the GR 653D Via Domitia trail, which would have taken me to Gap, but following a shortcut devised by a German pilgrim and shared on Outdoor Active here, which cuts out Gap entirely and goes directly to Venterol, saving a day. I was a bit nervous about leaving the official GR trail, which comes with a sort of guarantee that it will be maintained and waymarked (by the Fédération Randonnée) and will not take you onto private property, a dangerous road or a dangerous cliff. Well, this route did all those things... briefly. It was in some places waymarked in yellow, which in France means a secondary trail, but I could never be sure that the yellow markings actually corresponded to the route I wanted to take, and had to keep checking the GPS track downloaded from Outdoor Active. For most of the day the route was absolutely fine, but just when I was thinking how clever I was for finding this shortcut, the iffy bits came along.
The route went down the side of a major highway, but only for a few hundred metres, turning off at the first available opportunity. So far so good. Then it went up a dirt road marked "Private property" and "Beware of guard dog". Not so good! There turned out to be two farmhouses on the road, each with a "guard dog"; but one of the dogs was too elderly and lame to be bothered chasing strangers, and the other barked but let me pass. My strategy if it had caused any problems would have been to call out, hoping the owners would hear me (or hear the dog), apologise for "mistakenly" being on their property and ask them to hold the dog until I got off it again!
The last difficulty was the worst, and the one I would encourage future walkers to avoid by taking a longer route by staying on the gravel road. At the end of the day, when I was only a couple of kilometres away from my accommodation "as the crow flies", I couldn't find the path through the woods suggested by the Outdoor Active GPS track, and was resigned to walking the long way around the base of the next mountain - five and a half kilometres instead of two or so. Then I spotted a path going off into the woods, marked in yellow and going in the right direction, though not in exactly the same spot as it was supposed to be. Paths get moved, I reasoned, due to changes in property ownership, landslides and so on. And the yellow marking suggested it was an official path, and would lead somewhere. It was, and it did - joining up with the path shown on the GPS track - but it included a hair-raising scramble over a sheer slope of loose shale, on a path about six inches wide. There was a sort of metal cage to stop the gravel from shifting, and I hung onto that for dear life with my upward hand as I picked my way slowly and carefully across the slope, holding both my trekking poles in the other hand (on the downward side) and practically crawling across. I must admit I called upon the assistance of Nôtre Dame du Laus here, hoping she would appreciate the fact that I had visited her sanctuary, and get me across safely! And she did 🙏
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| Pretty scenery, but.... |
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| Um, yeah.... |
Once across this crumbly slope, the rest of the way into Venterol was easy. I got to my gîte early and let myself in through the garden gate, but as check-in time was not supposed to be until five, and nobody seemed to be around, with no doorbell to ring, I put down my pack and poles in the garden, beside the door, and went out again to explore the village.
This took only a few minutes, as there was not much to explore! I came back to Gîte l'Asphodele and this time, I could hear people inside. I tapped on the glass door and the owner came to let me in, saying he hadn't been expecting me until at least four. I told him I had walked too fast! 😅 He showed me to a large room with one double bed and four bunks, with wooden cupboards to put all your possessions in, which is used as either a family room or a pilgrim dormitory, he said. It has its own toilet and shower, though I was advised to wait an hour or so for the hot water to heat up before attempting to take a shower.
I think I'll do that now!
Sanctuaire de Nôtre Dame du Laus - Venterol 19.5 km
The unofficial shortcut (in yellow) as compared to the official route of the GR 653D through Gap (in red). The red dot marks the location of the Sanctuary, where the two routes diverge, while the blue dot is Halte Dodo, a possiblestopping-place. The two routes converge again at Venterol.
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