Le Chatelet and Ayères des Rocs

View across the valley

We are in St Gervais-Les-Bains, near Chamonix, visiting my friend John for a few days to experience a little of the joys of walking in the Alps. The day dawned bright enough, but the weather forecast and the barometer warned of a thunderstorm later.

John took us to the tiny hamlet of Le Chatelet, consisting of a bar and a couple of houses. It is located a bit north of Servoz  at 1418m above sea level.

We parked the car and carried on up the track, which was soon blocked for cars by resurfacing works. It quickly became clear that we would see lots of butterflies in the areas beside the track which were resplendent with a lovely assortment of wild flowers. It was like walking through a garden. Yellow Gentian was to the fore.

Progress was slow as I sought to take some pictures and I was quickly rewarded with reasonable shots of a High Brown Fritillary and a Pearl-Bordered Fritillary, of which there were lots. They look quiet similar, but the High Brown is rather bigger and closer inspection reveals differences in the shape of the wings and their markings.

We also saw, what I have since identified as a Marsh Fritillary - a quite beautiful creature.

Soon there were further successes: a Black Veined White and an Apollo, dancing together in the air before separately landing to take some nectar.

Further along, at Chalets du Soulay, the track made a hairpin turn left to continue on to Ayères des Rocs. We paused to look ahead to a delightful little river valley, where several separate streams made their  way down from the higher rocks above.

We followed the track onto a wide plateau underneath a high massif, with the clouds hanging down below the edge to the left and a further massif, still partly in sun, ahead. The high sides and the low cloud created a peculiarly enclosed feeling. We were now at 1641m.

At this point we decided to head back rather than push our luck with the approaching thunderstorm.  We paused to investigate the enclosed little valley. It was a charming quiet spot, with flowers, a stream and more butterflies - including now some Blues. This view reminded me of Millais's famous picture of John Ruskin - without Ruskin of course.

After this refreshing break, we headed back on down the track to regain the car and head off to find a restaurant for lunch.

Conditions: hot (mid 20s), although cooler when we came under the clouds.

Distance: perhaps 4 miles.

Rating: four stars.