As we didn’t have any decent coffee at the apartment, we decided to start our day at the Café La Grange in Saint Gervais les Bains. I was delighted with the old fashioned blue ceramic cups and miniature milk jug that looked like it had come from a dolls house, but not as excited as I was when we got to the Patisserie!
With rows and rows of sticky, delicious-looking, calorie-laden offerings, it was difficult to choose, but in the end we plumped for a Linzer Framboise (raspberry tart) and a local speciality that looked like a triangle of puff pastry with toasted almonds on one side and sandwiched with Myrtille – yum!
We’d planned a little excursion to Sixt Fer à Cheval and the Cirque de Fer à Cheval, which had two snow flakes in the guide Michelin (I didn’t know they gave snowflakes instead of stars for the mountain regions – how cool is that!). The village of Sixt Fer à Cheval came first and it wasn’t long before I was out of the car snapping away.
The old hotel in front of the abbey was clearly disused, but was still an impressive building in the shabby-chic sort of way that I love about little French villages. We ignored the barriers and sneaked through the grounds to get to the abbey behind where there was a fab view of the mountains, but as the church itself was closed, it wasn’t long before we were off again heading for the ‘cirque’.
I wasn’t entirely sure what the Cirque Fer à Cheval was, so another quick squint at the Michelin guide told me that it is an impressive semi-circular mountain range – it wasn’t wrong! without realising it, we’d stopped a number of times to take photos of various sections from a distance without knowing that that was exactly where we were heading. We also saw some ‘Chamois’ which are extremely rare wild goats clinging precariously to the mountainside.
When we finally arrived, it was absolutely amazing. We took some photos of the huge cross in front of the enormous high peaks. Apparently in June there are about 30 waterfalls here, but as there isstill lots of snow, it looks like the mountain range is covered with runny icing!
We settled on some big boulders to eat our picnic of Mortadella, fresh bread, and cornichons before sharing the scrummy tarts. We both admitted that we’d had to resist strong temptation not to eat them at breakfast time and my suggestion that we could have shared one at breakfast and the other after lunch was met with ‘or just bought more of them’. Good point!
It was whilst we were finishing lunch that we heard (and felt) the huge roar of an avalanche. Having been unlucky enough to feel the effects of a bomb, this was almost exactly the same and the sound echoed right across the valley. Sadly I wasn’t quick enough with the camera to catch even the huge clouds of powder where the snow had fallen, but we were just grateful it wasn’t anywhere near us.
Near to the village of Sixt Fer à Cheval is another natural wonder which also has two snowflakes, so as we had to pass through the village anyway, we decided to take a little detour.
The Cascades de Rouget is an enormous double waterfall. In true Corsican style, we decided to ignore the obligatory parking area at the top and drive as far as we could. I was adamant that it was because we didn’t have huge amounts of time, but I think we all know that it was to save my lungs from exploding!
We managed to park about 10m from the edge of the waterfall and felt quite smug that many of the other visitors had had to walk up a steep incline for 20-30 minutes. Aren’t we mean! It was a shame that the sun was in the wrong place for any decent shots, and the spray was soaking the camera so we were forced to be quick.
We walked down a little way below the bridge and found a series of smaller waterfalls and rock pools. The sun this side was amazing warm and having had to dress for the arctic at the foot of the main waterfall, we now found ourselves shedding layers at an alarming rate.
On the way down we spotted a tiny chapel typical of the region that dated back to the beginning of the 17th century. There was nowhere nearby that we could reasonably park except for a space in front of a no parking sign, so we decided to become very English and pretend we couldn’t understand the sign.
I think I can safely say that with a couple of notable exceptions, the village of Sixt Fer à Cheval could be had up under the trades descriptions act for their claim to being ‘one of the most beautiful villages in France’ (there really isn’t much there), the two curiosities more than deserve their snowflakes!!
With rows and rows of sticky, delicious-looking, calorie-laden offerings, it was difficult to choose, but in the end we plumped for a Linzer Framboise (raspberry tart) and a local speciality that looked like a triangle of puff pastry with toasted almonds on one side and sandwiched with Myrtille – yum!
We’d planned a little excursion to Sixt Fer à Cheval and the Cirque de Fer à Cheval, which had two snow flakes in the guide Michelin (I didn’t know they gave snowflakes instead of stars for the mountain regions – how cool is that!). The village of Sixt Fer à Cheval came first and it wasn’t long before I was out of the car snapping away.
The old hotel in front of the abbey was clearly disused, but was still an impressive building in the shabby-chic sort of way that I love about little French villages. We ignored the barriers and sneaked through the grounds to get to the abbey behind where there was a fab view of the mountains, but as the church itself was closed, it wasn’t long before we were off again heading for the ‘cirque’.
I wasn’t entirely sure what the Cirque Fer à Cheval was, so another quick squint at the Michelin guide told me that it is an impressive semi-circular mountain range – it wasn’t wrong! without realising it, we’d stopped a number of times to take photos of various sections from a distance without knowing that that was exactly where we were heading. We also saw some ‘Chamois’ which are extremely rare wild goats clinging precariously to the mountainside.
When we finally arrived, it was absolutely amazing. We took some photos of the huge cross in front of the enormous high peaks. Apparently in June there are about 30 waterfalls here, but as there isstill lots of snow, it looks like the mountain range is covered with runny icing!
We settled on some big boulders to eat our picnic of Mortadella, fresh bread, and cornichons before sharing the scrummy tarts. We both admitted that we’d had to resist strong temptation not to eat them at breakfast time and my suggestion that we could have shared one at breakfast and the other after lunch was met with ‘or just bought more of them’. Good point!
It was whilst we were finishing lunch that we heard (and felt) the huge roar of an avalanche. Having been unlucky enough to feel the effects of a bomb, this was almost exactly the same and the sound echoed right across the valley. Sadly I wasn’t quick enough with the camera to catch even the huge clouds of powder where the snow had fallen, but we were just grateful it wasn’t anywhere near us.
Near to the village of Sixt Fer à Cheval is another natural wonder which also has two snowflakes, so as we had to pass through the village anyway, we decided to take a little detour.
The Cascades de Rouget is an enormous double waterfall. In true Corsican style, we decided to ignore the obligatory parking area at the top and drive as far as we could. I was adamant that it was because we didn’t have huge amounts of time, but I think we all know that it was to save my lungs from exploding!
We managed to park about 10m from the edge of the waterfall and felt quite smug that many of the other visitors had had to walk up a steep incline for 20-30 minutes. Aren’t we mean! It was a shame that the sun was in the wrong place for any decent shots, and the spray was soaking the camera so we were forced to be quick.
We walked down a little way below the bridge and found a series of smaller waterfalls and rock pools. The sun this side was amazing warm and having had to dress for the arctic at the foot of the main waterfall, we now found ourselves shedding layers at an alarming rate.
On the way down we spotted a tiny chapel typical of the region that dated back to the beginning of the 17th century. There was nowhere nearby that we could reasonably park except for a space in front of a no parking sign, so we decided to become very English and pretend we couldn’t understand the sign.
I think I can safely say that with a couple of notable exceptions, the village of Sixt Fer à Cheval could be had up under the trades descriptions act for their claim to being ‘one of the most beautiful villages in France’ (there really isn’t much there), the two curiosities more than deserve their snowflakes!!
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