The villages of the Ecrins National Park in France

In the mountainous Ecrins the houses in the villages huddle together for warmth and companionship around a winding road, joined by steep narrow cobbled lanes and steps.  The houses are built from rough stone with steep roofs and small windows.  Typically, the windows have shutters and the traditional stone houses have a sort of wooden balcony for storing logs.

Above the village of La Grave the villages cling to the hillside, looking as if they could slide down at any time.  Around the villages the pattern of the old farmed terraces can still be seen in the meadows.  Each village has a church in a similar style and there are also stone wayside shrines on the roads between the villages, you might also find the communal oven and you will always find a water tap of fresh mountain water.  As you climb higher the houses in these villages are less likely to be occupied all year round.  In Le Grave we stayed at the wonderful Camping de la Meije just a few minutes from the village.

In Vallouise and Venosc we admired the sundials, including the beautiful 19th century Zarbula sundial on a magnificent villa in Vallouise.  You can follow the Sundial trail through the region to find more.

We toured around the Ecrins National Park in an anti-clockwise direction over a couple of weeks and camped in five different valleys, each one having its own personality and each offering spectacular mountain walking.  We used the Cicerone guide to the area for walks which has ideas for each valley.

We enjoyed all the walking but there are a couple of favourites worth mentioning.  From Venosc we drove to the mountain village of La Berarde, walking 11 km to the Refuge du Chatelleret at 2,232 m and back with 520m of climbing.  The route starts steeply and becomes more gentle along the valley on a pleasant sandy path with juniper and birch trees and plenty of flowers.  Higher up the landscape become more rugged and with waterfalls and fewer shrubs adn the occasional snow field.

From Vallouise we drove to the large car park at Pre de Madame Carle and walked up the stunning and dramatic Glacier Noir path.  More details about our trip are in my MMM article here.

You might enjoy my second post about where to see marmots in the Ecrins.

Where we stayed:

Author: Back on the Road Again Blog

I write two blogs, one about my travels in our campervan and living well and frugally and the second about the stories behind the people commemorated in memorial benches. View all posts by Back on the Road Again Blog