Trail running in France - Mercantour Station de Trail.....

 

The Mercantour continues to put itself on the map with its innovations in sporting trends.  After initiating the outside ice climbing structure in Le Boreon - which becomes a summer climbing attraction in the summer months - the area has just launched a new "Station de Trail" in the Vesubie.  The new trail running centre is only the third in France - following in the footsteps - no pun intended - of the Chartreuse and Vercors regions.  

Of course the Alpes-Maritimes department has tremendous diversity, and the Mercantour is perfect for trail running.  

The centres have four objectives

1) To provide waymarked circuits which are graded in the same way as ski runs - green, blue, red and black.

2) To offer a training ground for the "die hard" devotees of the sport where they might train to take part in such events as the Vertical Kilometre - next planned for June 2013.

3) To advise interested visitors of what they may care to do on the trails.

4) To have a hub site - www.stationdetrail-vesubie.com - which runners can become a member of, to post their times, chat to other fitness keen folks etc.

The training aspects also cater for beginners and aerobic champions alike!!!

There's plenty of information on the Station de Trail website - in German, English, Spanish and Italian no less, plus a useful brochure which I'm sure could be ordered from the Saint Martin Vesubie tourist office - 00 33 (0)4 93 21 28. 

To enjoy your holiday in the Mercantour - get in touch with spacebetween walking and adventure holidays - they don't have trail running as part of their holiday programmes as yet, but they do have great accommodation for you to stay in if you want to come and do your own thing.  Bit of a no-brainer - just an hour from Nice....and good weather!!!!

Holiday in France - you have to eat well!!! Enjoy local produce and a laugh!

Roquebillière has a busy little rural market with colourful stalls from March to November on the central square of the village.  It has become an indispensable treat for both regular or occasional visitors. Almost 100% of the produce is local and organic!!.    

Established in 2007 to meet local's demand, the market is now organised between a local association of producers - GEDAR and Vesubie Decouverte.  

It is mainly fruit and veg, with some fish, and plants and then..... local cheeses, scrummy home made syrups, olives, not forgetting some organic beauty products, and local crafts - hand made pottery and baskets.

There is also a six yearly larger market which attracts people from further afield - a must for your hunting gear, crimpelene tabards (remember those?) and all manner of charcuterie and other finery.

A great opportunity to go down and browse, admire the view up to Belvedere and indulge in a load of local chit chat.  If you are staying with spacebetween in one of their gites in Berthemont les Bains get down to the village to practice your French!!!

With the summer arts festival organised by the Gens D'Aqui, and the Wednesday evenings free "hops" in the village square - where local favourites Lu Rupau Capeu will have you whirling around as you haven't done since Scottish country dancing at school!!!

Roquebilliere is coming into its own and over shadowing its "big sister" Saint-Martin-Vesubie.  

Bravo Eric, Annie, Jerome et al......

 

Non-exhaustive list of exhibitors

   Annie and Gerard SIC (Sheep; Goat Cheese)
   Lily Creation (pottery ceramic art)
   Philippe RAYMONDO (jams, syrups, eggs)
   MICHEL - fish (shark, whale  ;-)
   Angele CORNILLION (Tome)
   Alex ACTIS (organic vegetables)
   Gilles & Hassina AUBURTIN (organic vegetables)
   Joel CORNIGLION (fruits and vegetables)
   Elise (syrups and jams, gift basket ..)
   Jérôme Payen (mountain honey)
   Vizzone Giuseppe (Italian specialties)
   Isa (fruits and vegetables)
   Sylvain (olives, olive oil &; olive puree)
   Allari Véronique (beads and Murano glass jewelry)
   Audrey (dry grocery organic cosmetics)
   Mauro (Plants and Plant seasons

In French/en francais

Seen a wolf in France - what to do.....

Hey you have been very lucky - usually you can be sure of a wolf in the Alpha Wolf Park in Le Boreon, but you can see wild wolves as our friends have recently on the Col de Turini - alerted to the presence of their lupine "friends" by their patou dog - who only barks at wolves - never at dogs!!!

If you do have the chance to observe a wolf in the wild, take pictures if you can or at least photograph hair, scat, footprints or evidence of kills or their lairs.

Use the size reference of your hand to provide a guideline, and if you are equipped with a plastic bag do take samples with you for presentation to either the National Park office here in the Mercantour, or to the Ferus site.

We space-between once had a horse riding customer, who was sure he had seen wolves in the mid distance, when out doing the Transhumance, but said nothing because he thought it was a regular occurence!!

Please be vigilant and report any useful sightings to those who are lucky enough to earn a living working with these fabulous animals!!

The picture is of Christian Lorenzetti - local wolf enthusiast and friend who runs a lovely gite in Valdeblore,

Or you could also stay next to the Alpha wolf park at Denis the Horse's chalet and enjoy great food at O a la Bouche!!! 

A little chi chi anyone???

After this rather mixed bag of weather over Easter - here in Berthemont les Bains in the Mercantour it started out warm and sunny and now there is cloud and a nasty Northern blast to the wind - you may well be starting to think about your next walking holiday in France or Italy.

Don't delay if you wish to come and visit your chums Liz & Mel - as their accommodation is already getting pretty full.....but don't forget that over and above the delights of the Mercantour National Park, there is much fun to be had on the coast.  You may wish to avoid July and August in Nice but for most of the time you can enjoy the Alpes-Maritimes without the revenue of Prince Albert of Monaco.   There are plenty of good value hotels and restaurants - ask for more information by all means, and it is always possible to fill up on pizza and icecream if you must!!!!  The Saint Exupery hostels comes highly recommended, plus the €1 bus anywhere* in the Alpes-Maritimes means that your dollar/pound, whatever, can go a long way!!!   * Note that to get a €1 ticket from the airport to town, all you need to do is take a 5 minute walk onto the Prom des Anglais.....otherwise it is €4 for a day pass!

A nice way of wiling (not sure about the spelling of that!!) a morning is to take a glass of rose in the Nice flower market - lots of scrummy things to buy but if you have the opportunity to cook for yourself get to the section where local growers are selling their freshly pulled produce.....and thank heavens it is not UK supermarket beautiful - but the fruit and veg taste great.

With your rose, enjoy a plate of socca if you can......if you've never heard of it - go for it - it's a chick pea flour type pancake which is cooked on a flat griddle pan and then served with enough freshly ground salt and pepper to make you really want to get your face into it!!

To make it at home is simple - it's a mix of chick pea flour (farine pois chiche) 250g, 4 tablespoons of olive oil, 500ml of water - all beaten together, left to rest for 30 minutes and then cooked in a heavy bottomed pan to achieve a crispy base - and (at home at least) easiest to finish it off under a hot grill.....  French style is thin and crispy - Italian style a bit thicker and more stodgy - I'm saying NOTHING!!!

It's easy but you have to stand sentinel over the grill but it's a perfect tear and share type nibble with your early evening apero whilst admiring the sunset or playing boules!!!  and of course it's perfect for vegetarians.

Ask spacebetween to make you some when you are having a break in the Mercantour.....a bit of spice may be thrown in - but that's not unusual......

Holidays in the South of France - rarely disappointing!!!

Bonne fin de Paques.....


Thanks to Lindsey of Sinclair Exposed for the images....

Easter in the Mountains in the South of France?!!

Need a last minute holiday in France? - Easter is VERY early this year for sure - in Northern Europe we all seems to have suffered a severe dousing of rain and snow - and once the sun does come out we are looking for a bummer crop of grass for our hungry horses!

However one thing at a time - while it might have been raining here at 861m - up higher - and we do have higher! - the snow is astonishing - which has lead most of our ski resorts here - including La Colmiane, Auron, Isola 2000 etc and of course Le Boreon - for the wolf park and cross country skiing - never mind the perfect untrodden opportunities for snow shoeing in the Mercantour!! - staying open for the Easter weekend,

It seems as if people both here and in the UK have rather been hedging their bets - and there does appear to be accommodation available at this late stage in the game - including for our gites in Berthemont les Bains ......

We're also running a snow shoeing week from April 6th - once the holiday flights prices have subsided...this was meant to be a Mercantour Reflections week - but hey ho - let's not put those snow shoes away as yet.....it's perfect - as when the sun does come out it has been close to 20 degrees in the midday sun - just about okay to enjoy a tartiflette in the sunshine......

A last minute walking break in France - get it booked - fly to Nice and let us do the rest!!!

Vegetarians are very welcome......

Hope to see you soon.....

Liz
spacebetween

Wolves in the wild in the Mercantour

Mollières – the only village in the central core of the Mercantour.  It remains a magic place accessible on foot by the Tinée valley – or from Millefonts via the Col de Barn or Col Ferier.   

The “authorised” – those who live in the village may take the 15km untarmaced road from Le Boreon in the summer months – in the winter it is strictly snow shoe or ski mountaineering access for the hardy.   

The village opted to be Italian in the 19^th century and regained its “Frenchness” after WWII, at the end of which the village was razed to the ground by the Germans.  Imagine then that the village isn’t Alpine pretty but its isolated location make it magic.  

 It is one of the areas in the Mercantour where wild wolves are most often seen, and if you are not lucky enough to see a wolf you are almost guaranteed to see deer and chamois.

The experience is heightened by a stay in the private refuge which is run by local piano and professional pianist Fred Chauvel – he and his wife Sarah are always delighted to share their passion for the village from their house here – the former presbytery.   

Don’t expect luxury – there’s no mains electric  but you can expect a hot shower and a home cooked delicious meal – followed by a glorious nights sleep….aided by a glass of genepy!!!

Descendants of the original house owners are gradually drifting back to the village to renovate their homes and to fish, nurture a veggie patch – plus if you go there - look out for a garden with a beautiful English style flower border which is alive with insects and even a hummingbird moth since once or twice.

To stay in the refuge you need to call Fred or Sarah – they will arrange to welcome you if you are say more than 6 people – the refuge sleeps about 16 in total. Contact spacebetween for more details.

Spacebetween walking holidays in the Mercantour – include a stay in Mollieres as part of their wolf holiday short breaks, or it can be an overnight stay on a horse trek.

The other side of the Mercantour

Thank heavens there seems to be more of a willingness to co-operate – between the French and Italian side of the “Mercantour” that is!!  The Mercantour spills over into the Parco Naturale Alpi Marittime ...which even on cross border maps has been a big “void” the other side of the border.  The PNAM was created in 1995, thanks to the merger of the Argentera Natural Park (1980) and the Riserva del Bosco dei Laghi di e Palanfré (1979 ).

It is a parc sans frontières for sure which shares many economic and cultural ties. Since 1984 there have been efforts to work together across the 35km border to jointly protect and develop the beautiful mass of over 100,000 hectares.  It is one of the largest National Parks in Italy with of course the same natural beauty and richness of flora and fauna that is found in the Mercantour, and climbing Argentera at just under 3300m is not to be sniffed at. 

The Park was given a slightly different flavour thanks to the hunting exploits of King Victor Emanuel II, with much of the terrain criss-crossed with mule tracks.  These mules carrying the “support” team of up to 200-300 trackers - the entourage of the King.  

In later times, the old paths of the Salt Route were bolstered with military installations as Italy sought to beef up its border prior to WWII.  The legacy of this is not pretty but interesting in military history terms. 
The frontier is easily reached from the French side via the Col de Fenestre and you can be rewarded for your exploits in reaching the “divide” by dropping down for a well deserved dip in thermal baths at Termi di Valdieri, or enjoy the wolf park at Entraque.

Spacebetween run short break holidays on horse and on foot across the border into Italy.

Website - http://www.parks.it/parco.alpi.marittime