Rugged scenery, an insight into shepherds’ culture, delicious food and remote mountain stays make for a memorable few days hiking in France
igh above the Champsaur Valley, in the southern French Alps, the plateau is shrouded in cream-coloured froth. But it’s not clouds I’m surrounded by; it’s sheep. Transhumance – the driving of animals from winter valleys to high summer pastures – is still practised here, and thousands of animals are swirling around me as I stand with the shepherd who will care for them, alone, for the next four months. The size of the flock is dizzying. I step backwards, to steady myself. And hit a wall.
Drawing closer, we’re met by the refuge’s charismatic owner, Stéphane Chevalier, and an Alpine panorama so magnificent that even a VR headset would struggle to convey it. Inside, an elderly hiker is sitting by a wood-burning stove with a glass of beer and board of charcuterie, after a morning’s hike up to the spectacular Cascade de la Pisse.
The following morning, over a breakfast of cheese, ham, bread and homemade bilberry juice, I ask Stéphane how he pulls off this hospitality magic trick so far from civilisation. At the beginning of the season, he tells me, he brings in eight tonnes of dry goods by helicopter. Then a friend, Pascal, carries up fresh produce on his back once a week.
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