On the most recent outing with our hiking group, we went to the Vallée de Saint Pons and hiked to the foot of the "Pic de Bertagne"(in the photo above) which is the highest peak in the "Bouches-du-Rhône(the district we live in in France)!! Only a 45 minute drive southeast of Aix, once off the autoroute we passed through the small town of Gémenos and found our way to the parking area for "Parc de St Pons".
Our route commenced at the magnificent Parc de St Pons, with an old chapel from the 13th c, abbey and mill...
Our route commenced at the magnificent Parc de St Pons, with an old chapel from the 13th c, abbey and mill...
Having just had a huge snow storm of historical proportions the week before, there was lots of water coming down off the mountains. The waterfalls were everywhere and beautiful!
Along the valley floor we went under bridges...
and passed more rushing waterfalls...
We proceeded up(of course that always has to happen!) toward the foot of the Pic de Bertagne. There were gorgeous views all the way to the top!
A bit futher along we got to see a “Glaciere”. This is not an ice cream store or a glacier! A glaciere looks like a Jolly Green Giant-sized well at the top of a mountain. A technique used since the 1600’s, these deep ‘wells’ held enormous quantities of blocks of ice to be used in the summer months. This particular glaciere supplied ice to the Marseille region.
We enjoyed our picnic lunches basking in the warm, winter sun before making the return trip down the mountain.
No comments:
Post a Comment