A Stroll from Tende to La Brigue

6km, 400 metres ascent, 3 hours, lots of flowers.

Waking to another bright sunny morning (once the shutters had been opened) we enjoyed a leisurely start on our last day in these hills for the time being.

Our host, Julie, took today's photo outside the gite when we were packed up and ready to leave. You may see (if you can spot it) that Sue has succeeded in preventing further damage to her neck by carrying just a light bum bag. Her neck has survived the trip, even if I did find it a little difficult to keep up at times.

Today's relatively low level stroll was taken very slowly as it was hot, and there were lots of flowers to photograph, starting with masses of Melampyrum nemorosum (a kind of Cow Wheat) and moving on to Red Lily and an assortment of stonecrops, including banks of White Stonecrop.

The path started up from Tende's shady campsite, heading through trees towards Col de Boseila, before which it emerged onto an open belvedere with airy drops and fine views back to Tende and south towards the coast.

At the col we admired Julie's friendly and very placid horses before strolling down the path for a welcome beer in La Brigue, a much smaller and less vibrant place than Tende.

It didn't take long to visit most of the village's attractions, after which we wandered down to the station to catch the Italian train to Ventimiglia. This connected with a French train that in the company of Chris from WA (Western Australia - hi Chris) brought us here to Menton, and a comfortable room with a bath (these things can be important) at the Hotel Moderne.

Menton yields happy memories as it was from here that we started our 'Italian Border Route' trip some three years ago.

Sue has been for a swim in the Med, our dirty clothes are now clean and dry, and we are looking forward to a nice meal in the old town of Menton before returning home in the morning.

So, that's it from the Maritime Alps for the time being. It's a wonderful area, great to visit, and you may be 'quite rare' if you are English. James and Helen are the only English we have encountered since the train to Breil.

We hope to encounter SAHH tomorrow....

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