Il più grande alpinista al mondo è colui che si diverte di più.
(The world's greatest mountain-climber is the one who has the most fun.)
- Alex Lowe
A fantastic day of real Alpine hiking! And now we are in France, having completed the Vercelli - Mongenèvre branch of the Via Francigena and started on the Grand Randonnée path GR 653D, loosely based on the ancient Roman Via Domitia.
When we began our day at 7 in the morning in Cesana Torinese, the temperature was only one degree above zero! We braved the chill long enough to walk to the café in the centre of town for cappuccino and croissants.
Wrapped up warmly in our jackets, hats and gloves, we left Cesana Torinese behind, walking a couple of kilometres along the shoulder of the highway - where there was very little traffic early on a Sunday morning - until we reached the Gorge di San Gervasio trailhead.
Several pairs of rock climbers were either setting off up the trail or making their way up the cliff face and the Via Ferrata just past the start of the trail. We continued further, carefully picking our way over rockslides and crumbling sections of riverbank trail as we headed right into the gorge.
In many places the gorge is so narrow that boardwalks have been built for the trail. We repeatedly crossed the river on makeshift bridges made out of logs, while a suspension bridge, not currently in use, hung high above us.
At the top end of the gorge we climbed a steep concrete staircase beside a waterfall, coming out onto a grassy meadow below a ski chairlift line. Here we sat on a bench marvelling at the landscape we had just come through before continuing on through the ski resort of Claviere, where we might have stopped for a hot chocolate if only everything hadn't been closed for the season!
Just past Claviere we crossed the border into France, at 1865 metres above sea level!
The familiar GR ("Grand Randonnée) trail markings are back! After following them all across France from Menton to the Pyrenees in 2017 - 2019... and then again from Calais to the Swiss border in 2023... it's good to see them again. Those red and white stripes feel like old friends! And it was good to see the stone marking the start of the of the Via Domitia (or at least the French portion thereof), with the indication 2010 kilometres to Santiago! (Probably an underestimate.)
After the obligatory photo shoot at the start of the Via Domitia and the Napoleonic obelisk, we stopped for a picnic on a sunny bench opposite the golf course in Mongenèvre. On a Sunday afternoon off-season, everything in town appeared to be closed except for the Gendarmerie. With no particular interest in going there, we moved on, walking out of town along the highway and then turning off onto a woodland trail heading steeply downhill. Alternating forest trails with rocky gravel roads, we rapidly lost 500 metres of altitude, and the air became noticeably warmer.
This pleasant path took us into Briançon from above, and from the back, as compared to how one arrives by road. We crossed the bridge constructed in 1734 and climbed to the fortress at the top of the town before descending into the historic town centre, known as Cité Vauban.
Brigantium in Roman times, Briançon as we see it today was built by Vauban (1633–1707), a military engineer of King Louis XIV, to defend the region from Austrians. Because of the town's strategic position overlooking the road to the pass, a great number of other fortifications have been constructed on the surrounding heights, especially towards the east. Since 2008 the town has been included in the Fortifications of Vauban Unesco World Heritage Site.
I have already spent several days exploring Briançon, in 2019, so I could happily spend the evening enjoying the comforts of our large and luxurious room on the top floor of the Auberge de la Paix, the only hotel located within the walls of the historic town centre (there are many more in the modern town in the valley below). We got a special deal because it is low season in the mountains - in between the summer keep-cool-and-hike-in-the-mountains season and the start of the winter skiing season. Many of the restaurants and cafés in town are closed, but we found a small supermarket which was, oddly, open on a Sunday afternoon, and bought some dinner supplies and a bottle of Côtes du Rhône to enjoy in the comfort of our room.
Cesana Torinese - Briançon 20 km
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