TOUR OF THE QUEYRAS
The GR58 and GR541
by
Alan Castle
2 POLICE SQUARE, MILNTHORPE, CUMBRIA, LA7 7PY
About the Author
Alan has trekked in over 30 countries within Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa and Australasia, and for 17 years led organised walking holidays in several European countries. A member of the British Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild, he has written more than a dozen walking guidebooks, several on long-distance mountain routes in France. His longer solo walks include a grand traverse of the European Alps between Nice and Vienna (2430km/1510 miles), the pilgrims’ trail from Le Puy to Santiago de Compostela (1545km/960 miles) and a coast-to-coast across the French Pyrenees (870km/540 miles).
A veteran of many long-distance high-level walks, Alan first encountered the European Alps as a schoolboy back in the late 1960s, when he cycled through them and climbed several of their more modest peaks. Since those early days he has returned many times, and his tally of long jaunts through these mountains includes the Tours of Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa, Oisans, Vanoise, Grand Paradiso and Vercors, the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt, Alta Via 1 and 2 in the Dolomites, the Alpine Pass Route across Switzerland, and a complete traverse of the Austrian Alps along the E4 Alpen.
Other Cicerone guides by Alan Castle
Walks In Volcano Country – Auvergne and Velay, France
Walking the French Gorges – Provence and the Ardèche
The Brittany Coastal Path
Walking in the Ardennes
The River Rhine Trail
Walking in Bedfordshire
The John Muir Trail
The Southern Upland Way
The Robert Louis Stevenson Trail – Cévennes, France
Alan also wrote the first and second editions of The Corsican High Level Route (1987, 1992) and A Pyrenean Trail (GR10) (1990, 1997).
© Alan Castle 1990, 2009
Second edition 2009
ISBN-13: 978 1 85284 510 0
First edition 1990
ISBN-10: 1 85284 048 X
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
All photographs by the author.
To climb steep hills
Requires slow pace at first.
Shakespeare
Regions mountainous and wild, thinly inhabited, and little cultivated,
make a great part of earth, and he that has never seen them,
must live unacquainted with much of the face of nature,
and with one of the great scenes of human existence.
Dr Johnson
For Bebs
Acknowledgements
My wife, Beryl Castle, has always over the years given freely of her advice, support and encouragement during the planning, research and writing of my guidebooks, and for this book there was no exception. For this I am ever grateful. Beryl has also helped in the preparation of the sketch maps and height profiles for this guidebook. Thanks are also due to Jeff and Enid Wilson-Parr, who accompanied me on my second Tour of the Queyras, and made some useful additional notes.
In addition, I thank Jonathan Williams and the team at Cicerone for their professionalism in publishing this and my other guidebooks.
Advice to Readers
Readers are advised that while every effort is taken by the author to ensure the accuracy of this guidebook, changes can occur which may affect the contents. It is advisable to check locally on such things as transport, accommodation and shops, but even rights of way can be altered.
The publisher would welcome notes of any such changes.
Front cover: Walkers on the GR58 about an hour out of Abriès
International Distress Signal
(Only to be used in an emergency)
Six blasts on a whistle (and flashes with a torch after dark) spaced evenly for one minute, followed by a minute’s pause.
Repeat until an answer is received. The response is three signals per minute followed by a minute’s pause.
In an emergency the mountain rescue (secours en montagne) can be called on 04 92 22 22 22
Note: Mountain rescues must be paid for – be insured.
CONTENTS
The Walking Tour of the Queyras, GR58 and GR541
Le Parc Naturel Régional du Queyras