Briançon to Queyras
France > Alps > Briancon > Briançon to Queyras
The direct route from Briançon to Queyras, crossing the 2360m Col d'Izoard, is a beautiful trip, but, with no buses covering the distance, you need a car to do it. Leaving Briançon, the D902 begins to climb the steep Cerveyrette valley, the seemingly endless series of switchbacks entering an ever denser forest until it arrives at LE LAUS, a cluster of old stone houses with long, sloping, wooden roofs set in meadows beside the stream. Soon you reach the treeline and cross the Col d'Izouard to the Casse Déserte, a wild, desolate region with huge screes running down off the peaks and weirdly eroded orangey rocks. From the top the view extends over many kilometres of mountain landscape, and it's from here that the vertiginous descent commences, entering another river valley, which is lined by a succession of tiny hamlets, BRUNISSARD, LA CHALP and, finally, larger ARVIEUX, lying in a high valley surrounded by fields and meadows, just 6km from Château-Queyras. A splendidly ornate Baroque church, dedicated to St-Thomas-Becket, stands guard at the entrance to the village. The GR5 passes through, running a parallel route from Briançon; if you started out late and can't reach Arvieux by nightfall, there are gîtes higher up in the valley: La Teppio (tel 04.92.46.73.90) in La Chalp and Les Bons Enfants (tel 04.92.46.73.85) in Brunissard.
|
