The second week in France, part II
The following Monday, a major undertaking was on the schedule. We would drive all the way to the other side of the Parc des Ecrins (which is the reserve we’re in by the way) to La Grave. A two hour drive from our general direction, leading us through the best parts of the Parc, showing us the best the Parc could offer. Or so we’re told.
Long story short: the road up to La Grave as pointed out to us by TomTom was twisty , bendy, narrow and heart-stoppingly beautiful all in one. I most certainly loved it, even though Kirsten does not agree with me on at least several occasions in our memory. (These do include very narrow darkish twisty downhill roads, with another car coming from the opposing direction at death-defying speeds.)
La Grave is apparently filled with Dutch people at this time of year, and so we went up the ‘Téléphérique des Glaciers de La Meije’ with another Dutch couple to 2400 and even to 3200-something meters to be immediately peppered with snow and other icy stuff. Luckily, this only lasted for a few minutes after which we could marvel at the grandeur of the view available at that height. The ‘Table d’Orientation’ showed us the fact that Les Deux Alps was only a short distance away, as was the Alpe d’Huez and the view also included the Mont Blanc. The nearest rock was the La Meije at nearly 4km’s of height, after which the site has been named.
After some time of marvelling we decided to go down to the middle-station to go for a stroll to a nearby lake, which we did. Back down, we thought it would be nice to go the other way around the parc (generally speaking, one could drive from South to North through either the West or the East. We did the first on the way there, and did the latter on our way home.)
It was a great, yet exhausting day. Great!
Warning: lot’s of pictures. 🙂
UPDATE:
The maps below kind of show our route to and from La Meije. It’s quite a distance. Please note the D212f on our way to La Grave. It’s tiny!
From:
Grotere kaart weergeven
Ziet er allemaal erg mooi uit. Ik krijg zin om te komen. Hier zit alles op laagland niveau en dus heel wat minder dan deze prachtige bergen. Onherbergzaam en heel helder (luchten en lucht). Overigens wel heel luxe als je met z’n vieren op de berg staat. Waar zijn alle nederlanders. In de kroeg op de camping? Gaan die niet de bergen in?
groeten
Aart