Wild camp night #1 wasn’t wild, as we stayed at a winter motorhome car park at a ski village, Pra-Loop. It’s not totally deserted but the car park was.
It was rather surprising to find an unlocked door to a big building, in which there was a snowplough vehicle, plus a toilet and sink. Very handy (although we don’t need them).
This ski area is above Barcalonette and afforded a nice view back down and no noise at all overnight.
We parked in a car park in order to visit a car-free village and paid €4 which would have lasted 24 hours but to sleep we would have only had to pay €8 and that would have been to park at the far end in one of those controlled aires.
We don’t tend to park in aires unless we have to. Here however, in the mountains, the attraction of places high-up, that have early and late sun, has meant that we have wild camped for three nights so far in the last four. It is a little addictive.
Our tour took us to the huge lake, Serre Ponçon, intending to have a look at coffee time. We pulled off the road and down a very short track leading to the water but there was a French van there already. We made our apologies but the nice people said there was room for two.
We made coffee, stood at the water’s edge to drink and then the Frenchies came down ready to swim and she got in quite quickly. He took a little longer but they had a dip.
Afterwards she told us that they were from Morlaix and she swims each day in the ‘channel’ (I had to check that she meant the English Channel) and that she is used to cold water.
Well the opportunity was too good to miss and so we also went in and it was surprisingly warm. All the rivers are raging torrents of snow melt but somehow the lake is warm already.
It’s an amazing stretch of water and as with most places, the holidays haven’t yet started. Everywhere is geared-up for July/August and so boat rentals are closed and car parks empty.
Later we pulled off the road higher up and drove a stony track to a suitably nice lunch spot.
Driving in these southern alps is altogether different from the busier parts. The mountains are stunning, the roads more rural somehow and the villages seem less developed. Gear changes never stop, the roads are really twisty and narrow and the rocks overhang with protective netting in places, yet still there are lumps on the road. I’ve lost count of the hairpins!
Wild #2, near La Condamine-Châtelard, was found on Park4night, otherwise we would never have known it was there. A narrow stony track was just wide enough to get up and over a rise and there we were on a sloping open area, out of sight.
A previous wild camper had left a load of bio degradable waste behind a tree. It was half heartedly buried but animals had happily dug it back up and it was spread around. I got the shovel off the roof rack and put it all in a bag which was disposed of the next day. Included in this mix were a lot of egg shells which I know from experience do not degrade at all.
Lots of sheeps have been squeezed onto here in the recent past and their evidence is all around. The flies that would have enjoyed their company were happy to find ours that evening. It was the only thing to mar an otherwise peaceful night.
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