Alpine Break

The Escreins valley is a dramatic remote valley and a paradise of flora and fauna just to the south east of Guillestre. In fact the Rif Bel, the torrent that flows past our house, starts up at the head of the Escreins valley. To get into the valley you either have to walk up the footpath from Guillestre or you can take the small road cut into the cliffs on the south side of the valley, airy to say the least. In 1964 it was turned into the reserve naturelle du Val d’Escreins and then later in 1977 the park boundaries of the Queyras national park were redrawn to include it.

For this ride we drove up into the valley and parked at the bottom end near the Pont de Vars. In the summer there is a small information centre that opens just here. The first 200m of climbing over about 3k is on tarmac up to the upper car park near the Basse Rua refuge and the old ruins of the Escreins village. In 1916 this village which had about 90 inhabitants was destroyed by fire and abandoned. In the 80’s the Basse Rua refuge and the chapel were restored.

From here there is 4×4 track initially through meadows with horses grazing in them and then up through some forest to the Cabane des Chalances where we crossed over the river and started our descent. We stopped off in the fields near the refuge on the way back down for a small snack break and to enjoy the scenery and the peacefulness of the area.

From the refuge the trail back down to the car is all 4×4 track, in some places taken over slightly by watercourses and notably steep here and there but all easily ridable with Ollie in the bike seat so not too technical. Again on the way down we passed through fields full of horses.

Here is a map of the ride

download it to view in Google Earth

There is more info about the Val d’Escreins here

Filed under: Photo on June 30th, 2007