I spend a week on the mountain during my holidays just after my final exam (in order to blow off some steam from our harsh semester). Puy Chalvin is a French village located near Briançon. It is in the Alps. It was a really enjoyable week I spent with friends ♡ I'll share it with you and I hope you'll enjoy reading all about it! (PS : Here the link of the video)
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I had quite a lot of trouble to organise this little week and to get there! For instance, the day before our departure, I discovered that my car had a mechanical problem... My friends and I decided that it was too dangerous to journey with it. In an instant, our vacation plan broke down (our hopes of enjoying a week together crumbled in front of us). We were so sad... Fortunately, the parents of one of my friend agreed to lend their car (a tank -so big-). Such a great news! The next day, I tested that big car and that was ok, so we were able to go on holidays !!! :D
I drove for about 8 hours (I'm a young driver so that was a pretty big challenge). I was sooo exhausted! I took a break before driving into the mountains. That was my first time; I was terrified! By accident, we took the tunnel called tunnel of Frejus and it cost us €43.50 !!! To come to Puy Chalvin from Briançon, I had to drive in a ravine (I have vertigo and we had to drive pretty close to the void ...).
The chalet was really great and picturesque. It seems like Heidi's book. I really would have liked to where a dress like her and sing into nature! Even if the chalet was old, it was well furnished. The bathroom was spacious, super clean and brand new, my bedroom convenient, the living room welcoming and the kitchen well equipped. Moreover, we had a computer/TV to play video games (no internet though).
Just behind the house, there is a chapel called Chapelle Sainte-Lucie. This church was built on 1507 and is really cute. Inside, there are several drawing. You can't visited it by your own. There are several special days for it.
In the village, there is also a goat farm. The woman sold organic food. I bought a yoghurt and two kinds of cheese: Tomme with basilic and pimento + a camembert but with goat milk (normally a Camembert isn't made with goat but cow milk). Both are delicious. I'm crazy about cheese, in particular, the goat cheese so it was such a pleasure to be there and taste all cheeses haha. The woman was really jovial and nice. She explained how the taste is, how she prepared the cheese, etc. She was pedagogue and patient.
We did several hikes during our vacation. We visited Briançon with Vauban's fortification. The old town of Briançon is really pretty. It was not the idea I had of a mountain town. In the old town of Briançon, there is a restaurant that I recommend, called Le Gavroche. I ate a delicious cheese fondue with my family there once. The setting is very friendly and the staff pleasant. We also found an old-fashioned French candy store of very good quality and a shop selling exclusively soaps, most of which are handmade in France and with good products. We went around the fortification and saw a bridge. It is very impressive to see a stone bridge so imposing suspended between two mountain sides. I was impressed by the technical capabilities and I still wonder how the workers built it at the time.
On the first day, we did a very small stroll to get us started.
The next day however, we went for a long walk; we went to the Col de la Pisse, which is in a protected area. I really enjoy the concept of these protected areas; they allow flora and fauna to flourish. We first walked 6 km to get to the entrance of the park (and therefore of our hike). We had lunch on a picnic table where we were harassed by flies. We ate a "pasta salad" (it was pasta with mayonnaise ... nothing really good ^^ ', but luckily we had thought of bringing sausage). After the meal, we started the walk. The path was very steep but the scenery was breathtaking. It was really beautiful and soothing. It is pleasant and re-energizing to walk in such places. The purpose of this hike was to see groundhog. We walked a lot and made a first stop at a place where we were supposed to see them. Unfortunately, the weather changed (the weather on top of the mountain was different due to the high altitude and) . It started to get cold and the wind projected our smell towards their direction... They hid before we could see them :( So we decided to continue our route higher in the hope to see some of them. We were not lucky because we did not see any groundhogs that day but we were lucky to admire the scenery and enjoy the silence (or almost because we heard in the distance the sound of eighth notes of cows grazing near the lake and Elodie was talking all the time OMG!!!!). On the way back, I fell on the ground haha. I learned that snakes are hidden into rocks so I had to be careful and not seat on rocks directly (these snakes are not dangerous but still hurt if you are bitten).
We had a very sharp change of weather that made us cancel our hike to the pass and go see some Edelweiss (a local and rare flower). In order to not foolishly stay at the house and play video games, we still decided to walk a bit. We took the same route as the first day but on the way, we took another turn at an intersection. That's how we found ourselves far from the trail, lost and by the river. It was very fun! We were not at all equipped to walk: no water, no bag, no first aid kit, nothing. Fortunately, Momo always has hunter knife on him. We made walking sticks. The ride was very fun and I felt like a warrior or explorer (even if it had absolutely nothing to do with what hunting or exploring really is u.u). Along the way, we stopped near the pigs' enclosure and spent some time giving them grass to eat. We wandered quite far, but at one point we were forced to turn around because the "path" had collapsed and was no longer practicable. In addition, the walk that should take only 1h took us in real 3-4h at the end. Once again on the road, we found a line of caterpillars. It was very interesting. As good biologists as we are, we observed them for almost half an hour and conducted some behavioural tests: what happens if there is an obstacle? What does a caterpillar do if it is taken out of the line? How do they defend themselves? What happens if you remove the first caterpillar? Can any caterpillar become the leader of the line? Pretty interesting (We did not kill any caterpillar !!!).
During these holidays, we ate like kings: raclettes, cheese fondue and barbecue. I prepared myself some meals (I'm a bad cook and I don't like it). But I mostly ate what my friends prepared lol. We also played video games: Sim's for me and Super Mario Sunshine for the boys. I would like to point out that there was no memory card. As a result, the game cube remained permanently on and they finished the whole game in 3 days! No need to tell you that they have not been idle. In the evening, we all watched a cartoon called “Avatar, the Last Airbender”. It was pretty good. Appa invented an drinking game: we all have a word and when they said our word, we had to drink. For instance, if I heard the word fire, I'll drink. Every video we changed the word.
On our way back home, we listened to Harry Potter. Just 30 minutes before arriving, we avoided an accident. I ate a chocolate donut and laughed with my friend when I saw a message on the road: "Warning, obstacles/barrier". I stopped laughing and took more attention on the road. Suddenly I saw the obstacle! It wasn't just one but several! There were two ways and the third one was full of trucks!! I fully press the brake pedal. I saw the obstacles approaching at full speed and horrified, I saw the car behind me approach dangerously. At the last second, I was able to slip between two trucks! What fright! Fortunately, we came out unscathed. I stopped shortly afterwards on a resting area because the adrenaline had fallen I began to tremble of all my members. It is important to stop after avoiding an accident, otherwise, it may cause another.
It was a great week! I hope you enjoyed your reading! Feel free to share, like and comment :D I will be pleased if you have any recommendation or comment!
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