Fuelled by coffee, croissants and a good audiobook, we zipped smoothly south through the plains of central France and up into the alpine regions after a very brief sleep at the town of Troyes.

As temperatures peaked at an outrageous 38°C we were glad to be in the car with air-con rather than an oven of a van. As we climbed up to La Grave, the temps dipped a little and after passing Briançon, a big thunderstorm helped to do the same.

This summer’s alpine residence, is in the little village of Pelvoux. There’s a very pleasing outlook from outside our new front door.

I slept soundly for a full twelve hours, before staggering out into the sunshine to see where we’d arrived to! Incredibly, two friends are in the area and tried to convince us to climb the local via ferrata with them – we almost went for it, but decided that something a little more gentle might be a better idea for our first morning here! We went for a short walk down to the rivers (across the road from the house), to check out the local views, then entertained our first guests after their climb….

The river is glacial fed, so freezing cold! But bearable in the heat. A bit too wild (class IV rapids) for swimming though!

It’s early days but so far, a very stunning area and a nice little village. There is a little shop, so fresh baguettes are available each morning! Most importantly, the apartment is in an old chalet which is gloriously cool inside, compared to the heatwave weather outside!

All in all, it’s great to be back after our last summer here in 2011. Nice to have the upgraded the accommodation situation, as last time we had 6 weeks or so camped at the end of the valley in Ailefroide, in the Escort Van, with a B&Q value gazebo up for sun and rain protection! So luxurious!