Gîte des Baladins walks

A stage of the Queyras Alpine crossing to reach the Haute Ubaye Valley, including a section via Lake Sainte-Anne and the Col Girardin.

Passing by Pic d'Escreins, make the connection between the Cristillan valley and the Val d'Escreins.

This is the fourth and final stage of this journey between Queyras (05) and Ubaye (04). Passing through the Col des Estronques brings you back to the starting point in the hamlet of Cros.

This fifteenth stage crosses the Escreins massif (not to be confused with the Écrins massif) and, via the Ubaye valley, enters the Chambeyron valley. From the Refuge de la Cime, the route—off the GR®5—crosses the Torrent du Mélezet valley and climbs up the Pré Girardin valley via the ski runs; then, on the plateau, it skirts the rocky ridge overlooking Lac Miroir, reaches the lake and rejoins the GR®5. The route climbs up the valley between the shoulder of the Pic des Heuvières and the Crête de Coste Belle, passing the small pass of Sainte-Anne and then the lake of the same name before reaching the Col Girardin. It descends towards a basin, where the Torrent des Séchoirs has its source, and follows it. Clinging to the side of a steep slope, it joins the D25 road in the upper Ubaye valley and continues downstream, alternating between the road and paths close to the river. It leaves the D25 for the Fouillouse road, passes the vertiginous Pont du Châtelet, a tunnel and, via a path, reaches the hamlet of Fouillouse.

The second stage allows you to discover the observation post on the Crête des Grangettes.

There is a long crossing before the Col des Houerts, which takes you into the Ubaye Valley.

This is the first stage of this journey, half in Queyras and half in Ubaye. Follow the right bank of the Aigue Blanche, then continue along the Col de Saint-Véran trail, before enjoying a beautiful descent that leads to the lake and the Refuge de la Blanche.

Via the Grand Canal, now completely disused, a long crossing opposite the Grande Tête des Toillies, ending at the Refuge de la Blanche and then at the observatory car park.

This serves as an introduction to a cross-border trek between Saint-Véran and Larche. We set off from the mountain pastures for a gentle approach to the border, through a rocky and colourful landscape that can at times be quite disorientating. There are no real difficulties, but a good understanding of how to read the terrain is sometimes necessary to avoid losing your way.

This is the second stage ofthe GR®58, but it takes a variant route via the Col de Saint-Véran or the Col de la Cavale and includes an ascent to an altitude of 3,000 metres, to the Pic de Caramantran. There’s a magnificent view of Mount Viso at the highest point of this route. At the start of the season, there were still plenty of snowfields. A very wild route, which I recommend as an alternative to the Col de Chamoussiére path, which tends to be quite busy.