Maritime Alps - Cime du Ters to Morga

Sospel

Sunday 1st September

We slept well on our private campsite. No noisy neighbours here.
The first col of the day was Baisse de la Liniete (1342m). We walked downhill all morning, mostly through pine woodland and mixed deciduous lower in the valley around Baisse de Figuera (750m) finally reaching a road and paths that took shortcuts into Sospel.

Sospel is a pleasant town with a river running through the middle and a distinctive old footbridge. We stopped for lunch and sat by the river to eat.

Dry rough terrain of the southern part of the GR52

The GR 52 is clearly marked out of town crossing a railway line and some short cuts across the road which is soon left behind once more. The path climbs steadily through shaded woods to l'Albarea and out into. Clearing by a water trough where we rested in the shade for a snack. This was the last water supply before Menton.

Our first view of  the Mediterranean

Some height is then lost to cross the Ravin de Roulabre and several side valleys; all dry. The path climbs steeply to Col du Razet 1032m with a view of the Mediterranean Sea in the heat haze. After the col the path levels out for a while before climbing up to Colla Bassa through dense trees.

The path takes a right turn down a rough track to a muddy bend where a narrow path turns off on the right at 969m. The path passes a small house in the left with a satellite dish. A little further on the route crosses to the other side of the valley where we camped on an abandoned field terrace.

Ascent 865m
Descent 1482m

Abandoned terraces make good camping spots
with the Med in the distance

Maritime Alps - Rifugio Soria-Ellena to Refugio Nice via Collette di Finestre

Tuesday 27th August 2013

Our route for today was to take us over the Collette di Finestra ((2474m) down to Refuge Madone de Fenestre, from there over Pas du Mont Colomb (2548m) to La Barme  (2173m) and Refuge di Nice (2232m).

Lovely room with a high level double bed and two bunks, to ourselves in Rifugio Soria-Ellena. The route up the valley towards Collette di Finestra (2471m) initially followed a broad track then zig zagged on a stone built track (that are characteristic of the Alpi Marittime) up to some deserted military barracks at the col.

Looking back towards Col de Fenetre from Lac de Fenetre

 On the French side of the col there are two possinle paths down, we took the the one heading directly south on the left leading to Lac de Fenestre passing ibex and chough on the way down. At about 2050m we took a short cut to avoid dropping all the way down to Refuge Madone de Fenestre. We turned off where the path took a sweeping bend with a very prominent boulder down into a dry valley that lead into a grassy flood plain where several streams converge (Gias Cabret). We clambered up the steep opposite bank through some sparce stunted pine trees to join the GR52. We plan to follow this all the way to Menton on the Mediterranean coast.

Approaching Pas de Mont Colomb with the
gendame in the middle. 

The ascent to Pas de Mont Colomb was spectacular. We  crossed several streams that the guide books describe as dry and the little lake was full. The path crosses a couple of rocky scrambling sections requiring hands and also large boulder scree. This is a very popular area with walkers and we were seeing a lot more people than in Italy.

The col is narrow and tight with a gendame and the descent is very steep on the eastern side. It took about an hour to La Barme then an easy 20min walk up the valley to Refuge de Nice. This is a large modern and rather cold refuge, everyone was wearing their fleeces and coats indoors. It rained for the final 10 min of the approach and continued heavily that evening keeping everyone indoors.

Ascent 1228m
Descent 838m

Pas de Mont Colomb

Pas de Mont Colomb

looking back at Pas de Mont Colomb

Lac de la Fous and Refuge de Nice in the distance.
Sorry about the legs