Nevache, Franch Alpes
In September, we organized 3 walks for our local Walking Group (Cucuron) in a terrain well known to us in Nevache, just 20 minutes north east of Briancon in the Vallee de la Claree. The valley “opens up” in the end of the valley so walking from the parking here (at 2000 meters) can be a lot easier that the normal climbs up the mountains of the Alps.
Day 1 – Fontcouverte: Lac and the Refuge du Chardonnet
Day 2 – Laval: Lac des Muandes
Day 3 – Laval: Lac Rond et lac de la Claree 

We stayed the 2 nights at a very nice family run Gite Les Melezets (https://www.les-melezets.fr/), only some 500 meters south of Nevache Village.
It’s worth mentioning that Vallee de la Claree (Nevache) has no major ski-lifts, but is very popular for cross-country skiing in winter.

Finland summer 2026

We took our car to Finland with the Stockholm – Åbo ferry to see Finland for the first time properly. We followed the coastal route to Helsinki via Hangø and Ekenas and stayed 2 nights in the capital. Next, we went north via Lahti to visit friends at their summer residence by the Paijanne lake side near Jyvaskyla. We returned to the ferry at Åbo via Tampere, Rauma and Naantali.

New Book: Sainte-Victoire - The Mountain of Light.

The whole world knows or should know about Sainte-Victoire. The local people who lives within viewing distance of this magnificient mountain knows it all too well with its changing light during the day depending on the season of the year. But in addition, you have all the others in the world who only knows it as an image or a painting.

Book-link:  https://www.blurb.com/b/12531390-sainte-victoire

Press “Preview” and then the double arrows for full screen view. 

 

Sainte - Victoire (selected photos from the book)

 

The whole world knows or should know about Sainte-Victoire. The local people who lives within viewing distance of this magnificient mountain knows it all too well with its changing light during the day depending on the season of the year. But in addition, you have all the others in the world who only knows it as an image or a painting.

Having been walking up and down this mountain each year since 1994, Sainte-Victoire never stops to facinate me with its changing profiles and lightening. It takes some effort to reach its summit, but it’s well worth it for the discoveries along the different routes and the views from the top.

Ravennna and Bologna, ITALY.

Ravenna & Bologna, ITALY - April 2025
We took the car one early morning over to Ravenna, where we stayed for 3 nights to see the charming City with all its mosaic all the way back to the 6th century. We had time to see the Adriatic Sea at Cesenatico  and we took the train one day to see Bologna. On the way back, we took the Alpine route via Torino and Briancon (France) with a night in Aosta and lunch in Bardonecchia.

Sainte-Victoire: The Black Trail (Garagai)

The Black route up the south face of the Montain Sainte-Victoire was established back in 1898, but it was not till 2023 that I got the chance of trying it out. Anne was waiting for a hip operation at the time, so I went with 3 local friends 17^th May 2023. We passed “pas de l’elephant” after only 30 minutes (perhaps the only real problem for some) and was up through the big “hole” in the mountain called “Grand Garagai” after about 2 hours.

ALLOS, The French Alpes.

ALLOS became a new hiking location for us in September 2024. It’s located in the north-western corner of the Mercantour National Park, just south of Barcelonette. The advantage here is the well maintained road up the Parking du Laus (2.100m) only 20 minutes drive from the village of ALLOS. From here you have only 30 minutes walk up to Lac d’Allos and a series of walks in the area. We did a walk to Col de l’Encombette (No. 7) and a walk to Col de la Petite Cayolle (called le Circuit des Lacs – No. 8). The downside was the fact that Allos was partly “shut down” for the summer season with only few restaurants open.