As we’re going to be staying in this new area for the next month, and having both conceded that were actually pretty tired and fending off colds, (probably brought on by an exhausting June), we decided to take a couple of days of rest to explore on foot, taking in the local area while keeping cool at the same time.

As luck would have it, a short distance down the road is an alluring little cooling eddy on an otherwise rapid river. It’s definitely a ‘cooling off dip’ rather than a place to swim as the water is glacially cold and the current very strong!

Much more inviting is a lake, just a twenty minute drive away in the lower valley, where the water felt blissfully warm. We’ve swum here plenty of times on previous visits to the area. It’s always busy, but so nice to swim in!

It was late afternoon when we went down and rather than race off, decided to stay and have dinner at the lake side restaurant, which is right on the far shore and made for a brilliant evening. Delicious food, amazing views and live music as well from two women who sung, while playing the double bass (very cool) and accordion (very French). Fantastic! We had planned to call in on our friend John who’s working a little further down the valley, but fatigued from the day’s efforts decided to do that another day.

Sunday strolling was the order of the day today, after a long, long sleep and another slow start.

We did a loop trail down to the village of Valloiuse, which was relaxing, quiet and very stunning. The views were great, the trail shady and the village is a French classic, with bell tolling church, ancient chalets and a classic ‘tabac’ in the centre.

We sat a while in the shade of the church while I made a few phone calls, then had lunch down by the river. A kayak was being chased downstream by two paddlers and later a kayaker limped past holding his shoulder. Oh dear….

There’s a mural on a wall of Edward Whymper (of Matterhorn fame), as he was also the first to climb the big peak of the area – the Barre des Ecrins, 4102m. (One that I’ve been tantalisingly close to the summit of before retreating back in 1998!).

We took a lower path out of the village back to the swim spot of yesterday, where a brain chilling dunk refreshed us enough to get home feeling energised.

A bit of book reading and guidebook planning on the terrace took us to sunset. All a rather lovely pace having been going at what’s felt like a hundred miles a hour recently! Amazingly, it’s almost a week since we left home already!

The days are just packed!….