European Vacation Day 11 - July 2022

 July 20th - Day 11

Hiking Day!!! I think this was my favorite day in France. I searched for places to hike that were not too far from Cannes with trails that were intermediate. We found the perfect trail - La Couletta Loop Trail. My guide book said the trail was "intermediate, for fit people, with easily accessible paths." Sounded perfect for us. It was a hot day with a high of 95 degrees. We definitely felt the heat wave on this day. The actual loop trail said it was a little over 4 miles long but my Fitbit said we walked 7.6 miles.

We left Cannes and drove about 1.5 hours to get to Rimplas. Rimplas is a small village built like a stairway with a view of the Tinee Valley on one side and the Val de Blore on the other. The entire area around the village was absolutely stunning. When we arrived in Rimplas, the main street was blocked by a big yellow construction vehicle. Work was being done on the main road. My husband had to reverse the car for quite a bit until we reached a little side road. That turned out to be a good thing because that little side road led to the parking lot with signs leading to the hiking trails. It was our lucky day because there was one spot left in the parking lot. We took the long, winding stairway to the trailhead. 

At the beginning of the trail, there were lots of signs showing the correct path. We choose the La Couletta trail because it was a loop trail and because my guidebook said there would be brown sign posts along the trail to show the correct way.

This is not all that great of a picture but I am usually the one taking the photos. My baby boy is growing up so fast. 

My knees held up really well on the hike. I was glad I had my cortisone injections right before we left Texas. I was mostly able to keep up with my guys on the hike. Thank goodness for knee braces that actually help.

There were several different types of trails on the loop - loose stone, grass, pine needles, shale, large grassy areas, and narrow parts of the trail with sharp drop-offs.

The views were so beautiful that is was hard for me to want to pay attention to where my feet were walking. Many times, the trail was narrow with steep drop offs right off of the trail edge. 

It felt like we were walking right up into the clouds.

This spot had an impressive echo. My husband spent a couple of minutes shouting "Ricola". Ha!

The views were so beautiful!!!

Tree pic for my Mom.

Sweaty hair!!!

We kept hearing fast moving water on our hike. There was a system of small concrete flumes directing water down towards the village. 

On the way down the mountain, we passed a couple of homes. This one had solar panels and a pool.

We also passed several abandoned houses that were falling apart.

You can still see the kitchen sink in the this abandoned house.

Oops! We didn’t actually loop back to the beginning of the trail. We ended up at the edge of a little neighborhood with about 6 houses. We were not sure the road we were on was going to lead us back to Rimplas. We walked for quite a while and then we saw a car driving on the road. My husband flagged down the driver to ask if the road we were on would lead back to Rimplas. We had a good laugh because my husband asked the driver if she spoke French instead of asking if she spoke English. Boogs and I teased him about that all afternoon. "Excuse me, do you speak French?"

We were on the correct road. We had to walk a couple of miles to make it back to Rimplas.

We also laughed when we saw this sign because, of course, Parc National du Mercantour is an area not a specific park with an actual entrance.

It was a relief to see this sign. We finally knew we were truly heading in the right direction.

Almost back to our car.

We were hot, thirsty, and hungry. We decided to explore the village and find somewhere to eat.

The fountain in the middle of the village had flowing potable water. It was great to fill up our empty water bottles after our hike.

We enjoyed wandering through the village. It was about 5 pm. The entire town was quiet. We did not see any people outside.

There were lots of staircases and gorgeous views.

My husband used google and found the only "restaurant" in town. It did not open to serve food until 7 p.m.

After walking around for a while, we went to the Hostellerie du Randonneur to see if we they were serving food.  It is a little family owned hotel. We went in and asked if it would be possible to have a meal. We were told that her daughter, the chef, had gone down the mountain to get groceries and would be back "soon". We would have to wait and ask her if there would be enough food to serve people who were not guests of the hotel, but we were welcome to take a seat on the patio and order drinks and ice cream. We had drinks while waited for her daughter to return. She said she would be able to serve us if we ordered one of two meals and that dinner would be served at 7:30. It was only about 5 pm so we decided to leave and head back to Cannes and grab dinner there.

We got mixed up on the way back because our GPS was acting up. Once we made it to Cannes, traffic was horrendous and GPS kept leading us in circles. We were all a bit grumpy and hangry. We ended up heading back to our condo and I cooked dinner for us that night.

I had such an amazing day strolling through nature. I love being in the mountains! I don't think I could live there for an entire winter but one day I might like to try it.