It’s been a while since we’ve seen our good friends Ollie and Raphaelle. Ollie and Rafa are Paris based, but Ollie’s parents have a very nice house in Greolieres, a pretty village (the prettiest in France, if we are to believe Ollie) not too far away from Cagnes. So when we learnt that they would be in the South this weekend, we decided to meet up with them on this sunny Sunday.
Greolieres is rather dramatically located in the Loup valley, so there are plenty of nice hiking trails in the surrounding area – so we decided it would be a good time to dig out them dusty hiking boots and do a bit of walking – something we’ve been a bit lazy about lately. We opted upon a walk called “le traversee des mirroirs” – a walk from Greolieres, along the Loup valley, finishing in the tiny hamlet of Saint-Pons. We even told ourselves we could perhaps continue to Coursegoules (a nice village a few kilometres further) for a nice relaxing lunch, if we were quick enough.
The walk first took us up to the ruins of“ Haut Greolieres” (the “old village” located a bit higher than “Basse Greolieres”, which is the “new village”). Having checked out the old monastery and the other ruined buildings, we carried on climbing towards the top of the valley. Climbed and climbed… Until one of us thought we ought to double check where we were supposed to turn off. I double-checked the instructions for the walk – and noted a comment about a stream – which we’d actually passed about 200 meters lower. So we decided to walk back down to the stream, only to realize there was no path there. So I checked the walking instructions – and suddenly realized we were supposed to start the walk at Saint-Pons – not Greolieres! (note for the future – check at which end of the walk the written instructions start the next time you do a one-way walk – or simply look at where the letter “D “ for departure is on the map).
Turns out the turning point for the path was about 20 meters from where we decided to head back down the path. Argh! Oh well, just meant we got a bit more exercise then, I suppose (always look on the bright side of life, as the Pythons used to say!)
After finding the correct path, the foot path levelled off, and the hiking got easier. Well on the right course now, we made our way to Saint-Pons (after missing another turning on the path – thankfully quickly spotted by Mathilde). Unfortunately, due to our little detour, it was way too late to continue to Coursegoules as we had originally (rather optimistically) hoped. So, we decided to call Ollie’s dad instead, who came and picked us up. We ended up having a delicious BBQ lunch at Olivier’s uncle’s Alain’s house – so things turned out pretty well in the end then! (I even got to try horse meat – a first one for me. Tastes a bit like beef, actually).
All in all, a brilliant day out in the countryside, then!
Greolieres is rather dramatically located in the Loup valley, so there are plenty of nice hiking trails in the surrounding area – so we decided it would be a good time to dig out them dusty hiking boots and do a bit of walking – something we’ve been a bit lazy about lately. We opted upon a walk called “le traversee des mirroirs” – a walk from Greolieres, along the Loup valley, finishing in the tiny hamlet of Saint-Pons. We even told ourselves we could perhaps continue to Coursegoules (a nice village a few kilometres further) for a nice relaxing lunch, if we were quick enough.
The walk first took us up to the ruins of“ Haut Greolieres” (the “old village” located a bit higher than “Basse Greolieres”, which is the “new village”). Having checked out the old monastery and the other ruined buildings, we carried on climbing towards the top of the valley. Climbed and climbed… Until one of us thought we ought to double check where we were supposed to turn off. I double-checked the instructions for the walk – and noted a comment about a stream – which we’d actually passed about 200 meters lower. So we decided to walk back down to the stream, only to realize there was no path there. So I checked the walking instructions – and suddenly realized we were supposed to start the walk at Saint-Pons – not Greolieres! (note for the future – check at which end of the walk the written instructions start the next time you do a one-way walk – or simply look at where the letter “D “ for departure is on the map).Turns out the turning point for the path was about 20 meters from where we decided to head back down the path. Argh! Oh well, just meant we got a bit more exercise then, I suppose (always look on the bright side of life, as the Pythons used to say!)
After finding the correct path, the foot path levelled off, and the hiking got easier. Well on the right course now, we made our way to Saint-Pons (after missing another turning on the path – thankfully quickly spotted by Mathilde). Unfortunately, due to our little detour, it was way too late to continue to Coursegoules as we had originally (rather optimistically) hoped. So, we decided to call Ollie’s dad instead, who came and picked us up. We ended up having a delicious BBQ lunch at Olivier’s uncle’s Alain’s house – so things turned out pretty well in the end then! (I even got to try horse meat – a first one for me. Tastes a bit like beef, actually).All in all, a brilliant day out in the countryside, then!
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