Last week we set off in the direction of Salette and Laffrey on an exploratory tour in preparation for the impending inter-season, when both resorts all but close and it’s great to get out of the ghost town for a day or two. This weekend, we decided to explore a little more in this direction, heading-off to La Mure and Drac.
La Mure is one of the major towns on the Route Napoleon, the path of the march from Elba in 1815 that ended with the Battle of Waterloo. On the way, just outside Laffrey, you pass a statue of Napoleon on his horse, which marks the plain on which the troops camped en route. La Mure too has its reminders of Napoleonic times. The outside of the town is marred by the industrial estates and hypermarches that line the road, but if you persevere you soon find yourself transported back into old France.
Right in the centre of La Mure is a beautiful government building, imposing and intricate, it stands in contrast to the plainer, traditional houses and shops. Wandering round the back streets you’ll find the old marketplace, whose original structure was built in the 1300s and updated in the 19th Century. It’s a quaint town and worth a stop.
From La Mure we drove towards Drac in search of the Lac de Monteynard-Avignonet and it’s Himalayan-style suspension bridge. The bridge is barely signposted from the road, so you need to keep an eye out for the small wooden signs for ‘Passerelle’. We overshot the signs the first time, spying the bridge through the trees, and decided to stop for lunch at one of the campsites that line the lake.
We ate overlooking the lake, watching windsurfers and kiteboarders make the most of the windy day. It’s possible to rent sailing boats too and the campsites are lined with trees to protect tents and camper vans from the summer sun. There are lots of hiking routes here too, but it’s just too hot to walk far at the moment unless you start at around 7am. After lunch it was back to the passerelle to confront my fear of bridges over water.
The bridge is unique in Europe and was built in 2007, spanning 220m, between 45m and 85m above the cyan lake. The structure is suspended on cables and no harness or safety equipment is required, although at first I did consider getting mine out of the car as a precaution. Our first trip across was hesitant and I didn’t let go of the handrail at the beginning. Walking across the bridge a few metres above the ground wasn’t too scary, but as soon as I hit the cliff-edge it took a lot of mental reasoning to make me continue.
The bridge has a capacity of 800 people so wasn’t under any strain as maybe ten of us made the crossing. However it was a blustery day and the strength of the bridge lies in its ability to move. I lived on a boat for a while so the slight movement didn’t bother me too much, but The Boyfriend was unnerved by the way the walkway shifted underfoot. After our first crossing the nerves disappeared and I felt quite secure moving backwards and forwards to admire the spectacular view.
Heading back to the mountains, we decided on a quick detour to the abandoned alpine resort of St Honoré 1500. Work on the resort started in the early 1990s and quickly came to a halt when the developer was imprisoned for fraud. It’s never been completed and there are just a few buildings, most of which are residential.
The south-west facing slopes historically suffer from bad snow as the resort just isn’t high enough to maintain the necessary low temperatures. There is just one lift running in the winter and it’s a pretty spooky place to visit, although it does look like there are some people living there. The views down into the valley however, are spectacular and it’s a good base for a walk or picnic. Once again, this is an area to be explored in the winter as the early-season freeride possibilities look interesting. I’ll keep you posted!
So that’s it… Summer 2009 is almost over and the resort closes on Saturday. But do keep logging-on as I’ll be reporting each week on the local news, weather and snow conditions as autumn turns once again into winter… Winter 09/10…
