Champsaur revisited

Juan and I seem to have got into an indulgent habit of revisiting a place that we have just discovered, and are excited about, the very next weekend. Taking advantage of Juan's long weekend, and a good forecast, we headed back to the Champsaur, overnighting in the same campsite at Le Pont du Fosse - and even eating the same supper - as last weekend. It was full holiday season, with families and elderly couples happy just to sit in the shade and recreate their home-sweet-home en plein air. We were seriously tempted to hang out for a while but wanted to explore the network of paths above the ski station at Orcières-Merlette, using the cable car to get us to a higher altitude than our late start would otherwise have permitted.

What a wonderful day. A lake, sufficiently off piste, to call my own...

and an extraordinarily unspoilt village, Prapic, in a dream setting for walkers - paths radiating in all directions...

The following day, laziness set in and we took the cable car up to 2654m. This is the walk for amazing views with minimal effort, well above the ski and VTT infrastructure that impacts lower down:

Juan was ecstatic to find androsace pubescens...

berardia subacaulis (endemic to dauphiné and maritime Alps)...

and other old friends...

including eritrichium nanum - that, since posting to Flikr, has earned him 347 favorites and more than 23500 views in one day. See http://www.flickr.com/photos/juan_sanchez/9431778632/ :

(Meanwhile, 3 people have viewed this post I'm just updating. It's a funny world!)

spot the botanist!

Walking above the Grand Lac des Estaris we had lunch just above the Col de Freissinières, an austere place by gad...

I then stomped on up to the Roc Diolon - just to say I had been to 3071m and to get some rather airy views into the eastern Ecrins.

By now the forecast clouds seemed to be closing in...

so we headed swiftly down, scouring the route we'd taken the previous day for any sign of my long-worn sunhat. Alas, no. A piece of history was lost. And I got to wear Juan's iconic model:

Two superb days, and a very welcome break from week-day angst (will anyone come to my shiatsu workshops? can I stay sane with Berlitz? will we find a way of Juan spending enough time at Vaulnaveys for our current lifestyle to stack up for him?)