{"id":29427,"date":"2018-06-19T13:55:05","date_gmt":"2018-06-19T12:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/?p=29427"},"modified":"2020-09-12T10:15:48","modified_gmt":"2020-09-12T09:15:48","slug":"alpine-majesty-at-the-col-du-lautaret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/alpine-majesty-at-the-col-du-lautaret\/","title":{"rendered":"Alpine Majesty at the Col du Lautaret"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zagan the motorhome’s surrounded by sheer rock and ice, a simply beautiful place, at the Col du Lautaret in the French Alps. We’re in a free, tolerated parking area set back from the main road with ten or fifteen other motorhomes (N45.03250, E6.40758<\/a>). To the south of us stands the Parc National des \u00c9crins, devoid of roads, a mass of rock and glaciers. A short walk (about 60 seconds) from the van we can see the glinting Glacier de la Meije, and to the north winds the almost-invisible Col du Galibier. This is a special place, very beautiful.<\/p>\n

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We’ve been here since Sunday and, given the facilities (of which there are none) and time, I’d stay a month. The natural beauty is a wonder. The sun’s shining, but the air’s cool. Marmots are squeaking on the hill along side us, mostly invisible but for a couple of hours when two of them pop up, staring down at us all, comically bounding up and down the slope. The patches of icy snow which had survived this long down at the parking level have melted since we’ve arrived, and it’s now a run up the Galibier if you want to grab some for your G&T!<\/p>\n

Picking up from the last blog post down the valley, we had that raclette and it was delicious! Toasted cheese, meats, pickles, bread, potatoes and a bottle of ice-cold local white wine went down a treat. It was a bit of a blow-out in terms of both calories and Euros, but well worth it! Having not used the cheese-melter device for a few years, we got a bit of training before being let loose, and managed to return what was left of the half wheel with it in reasonable-ish shape!<\/p>\n

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Having dragged our full bellies back to the van and had a silent night’s kip, we decided to roll off the hill and head over here the next morning. I’d been a bit nervous about the 9 mile-long descent down to the main road in the valley, and cautiously headed back down in second gear, forced into first for a couple of miles to avoid long periods on the brakes. Thankfully the road was almost devoid of traffic, or we’d have a 20 car tail behind out 10mph rolling roadblock selves.<\/p>\n

Onto the main road running along the valley, the scenery grew more and more dramatic as we headed east towards Brian\u00e7on. Ju leaned out and grabbed some photos, as I cursed the TomTom for deciding the main road didn’t exist, or was closed, or for some other reason lost favour to a tiny twisting thing on the other side of a lake. Thankfully Ju was, as usual, well on the ball and over-rode the blasted thing to keep us on decent-width routes (with the exception of the tunnel below, where we narrowly avoided facing off to a motorhome coming the other way).<\/p>\n

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Finally rolling in here, we pulled up alongside what’s since been named first ‘Ju Hill’, after Ju scaled it to get some cracking views, and later on ‘Ju-Marmot Hill’, as it turned out the furry creatures had already staked a claim to it!<\/p>\n

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The view from part way up ‘Ju-Marmot’ Hill – video to follow from the top when we get wifi<\/p><\/div>\n

But for getting onto the ramps, we’ve not since moved the van, but have managed a few bits and bobs:<\/p>\n