Holidays Among Mountain Lakes and Marmots, hiking stories from the Bonneval-sur-Arc

From the pass Col d l'Iseran, we made our way down to the lovely little village of Bonneval-sur-Arc. Thanks to its beautifully preserved traditional mountain architecture, stone houses and slate roofs, it’s considered one of the prettiest villages in France. And honestly, it’s easy to see why. We wandered around the narrow streets, checked out the old stone houses and little courtyards full of flowers.

Iz prelaza Col d l'Iseran sva se spustila do prikupne vasice Bonneval-sur-Arc, ki je zaradi zelo dobro ohranjene tradicionalne gorske arhitekture, kamnitih hiš in skrilastih streh uvrščena med najlepše vasi v Franciji. In res je simpatična. Sprehodila sva se po ozkih ulicah, si ogledala stare kamnite hiše in dvorišča, polna rož.

While you’re in Bonneval, don’t miss the lovely walk along the Arc River to the little hamlet of L’Écota. It takes just over an hour and is an easy, relaxed walk. There are lots of lovely spots by the river along the way, so we found a nice one to stop for a snack and cooled our feet in the water. We also made a short stop at the old Roman bridge, Pont de la Lame, which is another little highlight along the way.

Ko si že tukaj, je skoraj obvezen tudi sprehod iz središča Bonnevala ob reki Arc do zaselka L'Écota. Pot traja malo več kot eno uro in je ravno pravšnja za sproščen sprehod. Ob poti je veliko lepih kotičkov ob reki, zato sva se na enem od njih ustavila, pomalicala in si ohladila noge v vodi. Ustaviti se je vredno tudi pri starem rimskem mostu Pont de la Lame, ki je še ena zanimivost na poti.

We started our last proper hike at the Pont de l’Ouilletta, near the Col d’Iseran, where we had spent the night. It was going to be a fairly long day, with the trail winding its way across the mountain slopes and past several small lakes, including Lac du Pys, all the way to the Refuge du Carro.

Najin zadnji večji pohod sva začela na izhodišču Pont de l'Ouilletta, v bližini prelaza Col d'Iseran, kjer sva tudi prespala. Čakala naju je kar dolga pot po gorskih pobočjih, ki je vodila mimo več manjših jezer, med njimi Lac du Pys, vse do koče Refuge du Carro.

The refuge Refuge du Carro located at around 2,760 meters, between Lac Blanc and Lac Noir, surrounded by proper high-mountain scenery, with glaciers not far away. Once we reached the refuge, we could finally take in the views of both lakes and the mountains around them. And after all that climbing, the view definitely made it worth it.

Koča Refuge de Carro stoji na približno 2.760 metrih, med jezeroma Lac Blanc in Lac Noir, v pravem visokogorskem okolju, z ledeniki čisto blizu. Ko sva prišla do koče, sva lahko občudovala obe jezeri in razgled, zaradi katerega se je ves vzpon še kako splačal.

It was quite a long hike, with around 800 meters of elevation gain, and once again we spent pretty much the whole day out on the trail. What surprised us was how few other hikers we saw. September is obviously a much quieter time in these mountains. And we really liked that. The trails were quiet and uncrowded, and with so few people around, it was easy to stop and have a quick chat with the hikers we met along the way.

Pot je bila kar dolga, naredila sva okoli 800 višinskih metrov in spet hodila praktično ves dan. Zanimivo pa je bilo, da sva srečala res malo planincev. Septembra je v teh krajih pohodnikov očitno precej manj. Nama je bilo to čisto všeč – na poteh ni bilo gneče, hkrati pa si z redkimi pohodniki, ki sva jih srečala, veliko hitreje izmenjala kakšno besedo ali malo poklepetala.

On our way home, we crossed the Col du Mont Cenis, where we obviously had to make one last stop. First, we took a little walk along Lac du Mont Cenis and then climbed up to Fort de Ronce, a historic military fort built around 1880. The views from up there are beautiful, with the whole lake and the surrounding mountains spread out below.

Pot proti domu naju je vodila še čez prelaz Col du Mont Cenis, kjer sva se seveda morala ustaviti. Najprej sva se malo sprehodila ob jezeru Lac du Mont Cenis, potem pa se povzpela še do zgodovinske vojaške utrdbe Fort de Ronce, zgrajene okoli leta 1880. Od tam je res lep pogled na celotno jezero in okoliške gore.

And just like that, our trip was slowly coming to an end. All that was left was the drive home. We came back with several days of exploring the Italian and French Alps behind us, plenty of kilometers on our feet, lots of climbs, lakes, mountain passes and, of course, amazing views. Some days we had the mountains almost completely to ourselves, while on others we stopped in tiny villages along the way. And pretty much everywhere we went, we spotted cute little marmots.

In potem je bilo počasi zares konec. Sledila je samo še vožnja proti domu. Za nama je ostalo kar nekaj dni potepanja po italijanskih in francoskih Alpah, precej prehojenih kilometrov, vzponov, jezer, prelazov in čudovitih razgledov. Nekaj dni sva bila čisto sama sredi gora, drugič sva se ustavila v majhnih vaseh, povsod pa sva srečevala luštne svizce.

September turned out to be a really great time to visit this part of the Alps. There were fewer people, peaceful trails and still plenty of good weather to spend most of our days outside. And, as always, we were already thinking about our next trip on the way home.

September se je za obisk teh krajev izkazal za odlično izbiro. Manj ljudi, mirne poti in še vedno dovolj lepega vremena, da sva lahko večino dni preživela zunaj. In kot se pri takšnih potovanjih rado zgodi – preden prideš domov, že razmišljaš, kam bi šel naslednjič.

There are still plenty of hikes we saved for another time, and so many little corners of this part of the Alps left to explore. Looks like we’ll just have to come back.

Ostalo je še veliko pohodov, ki sva jih imela za rezervo, in ta del Alp ima še ogromno kotičkov, ki jih bova morala raziskati. Očitno se bova morala še vrniti.