St Nicolas de Veroce

The church

Staying with friends near St Gervais, this was our introduction to walking in the Alps. We drove to the the nearby village of St Nicholas de Veroce (1175m) and parked near the newly restored Baroque church. It had the usual rather over-the-top interior decoration, although with unusual and rather pleasant accents of blue.

We walked along a corniche overlooking the valley for a mile or so and at the next hamlet turned right and began a climb first up a meadow and then through woodland.

At the top we turned right again and walked along just below the ridge, essentially parallel to the corniche. We soon saw our first alpine flower meadow, albeit in dreary conditions.



We passed a typical ski lift in the rain.



.. and enjoyed a cloudy view towards the mountain on the right.



We now began the winding descent from Le plan de la Croix (1448m) back to St Nicholas and noted these cows in their alpine field.



As we got nearer to the village, the valley bottom came into view.



Distance: about 5 miles; 270m of ascent/descent

Conditions: cloudy, wet, cool

Rating: four stars. Not quite what we had hoped for in terms of weather, but still a wonderful walk.