View from La Cry over the valley in which St Gervais-le-Bains sits
We are staying with our friends Jon and Anne at their ski chalet near St Gervais-les-Bains. The town down in the valley at about 500 metres and the ski chalet, like most others, is on one of the slopes which surround it at about 1600 metres. La Cry is perhaps best described as a section of the hillside. On other visits we have done numerous wonderful walks on high ground, but today we are going to explore walking down to the town.
We start by heading uphill and then turn left along a track which begins to descend quite sharply. Soon we reach a short level stretch and pass under a ski lift and and have a wider view of the valley.
Descending again we pass a beautiful horse looking curiously at us from its position at teh enrance to a field.
A steep descent brings us to a house with some flowers on the slope opposite. I am delighted to see my first butterflies of the visit. A beautiful Black-veined White ...
... and a Painted Lady, which I could only photograph from head on.
We pass an area where there are flowers on both sides of the road, with several small Blues and some other new-seeming butterflies, which I later realise are moths. (I can't seem to raise much enthusiasm for moths.)
The descent continues to be steep and we follow an assortment of tracks, sometimes between houses and farms. It is fascinating to see how many scattered dwellings there are on the hillside, and how many still function as farms.
We emerge onto a road and turn right toward the town centre, crossing over a bridge with a seasonal stream below. It looks quite dramatic today.
From the opposite side of the bridge there is a nice view towards the church, with a mountain behind.
As we approach the centre we are struck by this wonderful picture on the side wall of a house. It may not be a Banksy, but it is very impressive. It was the work of two other street artists: Zoer and Irsut. You can see more of Zoer's work here - it is rather good. The picture marks the 95th anniversary of the first landing on the Col du Dôme in 1921. It seems they couldn't wait for the 100th anniversary!
We continued along to the charming church ...
... and round the corner to an excellent restaurant for a light lunch. Just beyond it was a rather abstract statue which we were told represents Mont Blanc. I can sort of see how it might.
Conditions: nice and warm, if rather cloudy.
Rating: four stars. We have been driven up from St Gervais to La Cry and back again many times, but it was very interesting to walk through the scattered community which covers the hillside. And interesting to have a closer look at the town.
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