Something a little bit different today – our first via Ferrata of the trip. There are a couple to go at in the valley up above Arvieux – we chose the more mellow of the two as that’s what we fancied for the day, but also it came into the shade quicker.

We stopped off at the campsite to hire the lanyards needed to attach ourselves to the cable that leads up the mountain cliff, then hiked up to the base of the rock face.

There was another team, who we let go ahead while we had lunch under a shady tree before setting off, but we soon caught them up. At a ledge area, they very nicely let us overtake.

The staples led us up through some ever more exposed ground.

And happily, into the shade!

Just under an hour later, we reached the summit.

Under the shade of a pine tree, we relaxed in the meadows and took in the views. We’d toyed with the notion of continuing upward on to some of the nearby peaks, but the heat was energy sapping, so neither of us felt the need. A gentle walk back to the car was much more appealing.

Especially as the nearby village and bakery of Arvieux beckoned! We took a walk around the village, checked out the old communal baking ovens, found a cool old can and a drink and a tarte du pomme.

Then to top things off (and cool us off), went for a swim in the Guil but the old bridge stanchions. Floating downstream towards the rapids was bliss.

An after dinner walk through Eygliers, finished off a lovely day in the mountains.