Taking it easy

Tuesday 12th June

The weather this morning wasn't looking too bad - it wasn't raining and the sun was making an effort to break through - so we decided to go to the old town (haute ville - on the top of the hill) and walk down to see the bridge, the Pont d'Asfeld. This bridge was built in the 1700s (1728 - 1731) - it was a vital communication bridge from the fort on one side of the river to the village. The bridge is built about 80m above the floor of the gorge and is a single span of around 80m.  Pretty impressive when you think that this is all done by manual labour and is still standing today.

Looking down 80m from the bridge to the river Durance.

Pont d'Asfeld

View from the remparts of the old town - lovely fluffy clouds.

We wandered through the old village but felt that it was a village that was for the tourists - it lacked the feel of some other villages that we have just blundered into. One redeeming feature though was it had a needlework shop, so I just had to buy a souvenir or two.

A few photos of the old town.

This is the biggest of the forts - the Trois Tetes fort.

Who is that I spy in the watchtower?

Part of the remparts and fortifications of the old town.

The church in the old town.

We had lunch at an Italian restaurant opposite the car park for the town - practising for Italy next week. Rob had grilled trout and I had penne with zucchini, tomatoes and prawns in a tomato sauce. Both meals were delicious and we may visit again before the week is out.

Lunch - and I have to confess we shared profiteroles for dessert.

Wednesday 13th June

Headed for the laundry in town only to find it closed - I suspect that the hours posted on the door only apply in ski season. Tried then looking in the supermarket car park but obviously this 'feature' has not made it to Briancon. We finally found a laundromat right next to the market so while the laundry was happening we cruised the market and stocked up on fruit and veg. We love this time of the year - we are eating cherries, strawberries, apricots and peaches - they are really cheap and usually very good.

This afternoon Rob headed out from the village for a walk along the river to the next village. I stayed home and did some knitting and reading. A real restful day.

A few photos from Rob's walk along the river.

Odette enjoyed her outing
- she has been a bit of a recluse the past week or so.

We can't quite get away from world news here. We've heard nothing about Australia but lots has been said about Trump and Korea. The main topic on the news at the moment is a boat of migrants in the Mediterranean - Italy and France don't want them but Spain have said they'll have them. Of course the talk shows all suggest maybe France should open the doors.

We have also enjoyed watching the cycling - a couple of weeks ago was the Giro d'Italia and now it is the Tour de Suisse where Richie Porte (Australian) is leading.

We have also been watching the weather - in the southwest of France they have had torrential rain and there is a lot of flooding. Lourdes had 4 inches in 24 hours and Paris has had a drenching too. Here we're just getting rain that's annoying enough to stop some of the drives - no point in going to a high spot to find you are just looking at clouds below you.