George and Jean's visit to the Mercantour
August 2002


We had been told about the Vallée des Merveilles by our friends in Grenoble. Finally, this year we managed to go there. This valley is of particular interest because it contains a large collection of bronze age rock engravings.
In fact the engravings are in two valleys - Merveilles and Fontanalba which are on either side of Mont Bego. Mont Bego is in the Mercantour National Park about 80k north of Nice, not far from the Italian border.

We visited both places. First we spent three days walking on a circular route from les Mesches via the refuges of Merveilles and Valmasque. Then after a night in Tende we spent a day walking to Fontanalba from Casterino.

After seeing la Brigue and a second night in Tende, we drove via a corner of Italy, Barcellonette and Gap to pay another visit to our friends Xavier and Claudine at Pont Manel. While we were there, we visited St. Bonnet and did some small walks in Champsaur.

You can get an enlarged image by clicking on any of the photos on these pages.

Photos of the bronze-age rock carvings and of our walk through the Vallée des Merveilles as well as our day in Fontanalba  
Photos of Tende and la Brigue  
Photos of Champsaur and St. Bonnet  

 

 


Copyright: George Coulouris & Jean Dollimore 2002