Читать книгу Tour of the Queyras. The GR58 and GR541 in the French Alps онлайн

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But in a way I was afraid to go back after such a long interval, in case I found that the beauties and charms of my stunningly beautiful, totally enticing mistress had faded over time. It can be unwise to return to places that one has enjoyed so much in the past, as disappointment is often the result; it is unrealistic to expect to experience again the same rapture that was felt on first discovering an area. But I was wrong to doubt. Certainly my beloved has grown older, and has a few scars and disfigurements that were not there before, as you will read in these pages, but her beauty and charm – the friendliness of her people, the abundance of her hamlets, villages, gîtes and refuges – remain as they always were. I feel a deep love for this land of the Queyras, which, as a foreigner, I am quite at a loss to explain.

The popularity of the Queyras amongst French mountain walkers, and those from several other western European countries, notably Holland and Germany, has increased considerably since the 1980s, and the facilities to accommodate them have improved proportionately. There are enlarged and upgraded gîtes d’étape and refuges, and a well-established, inexpensive ‘sherpa’ service to transport luggage (and even weary walkers if they need a day off the trail) from gîte to gîte. But judging by the lack of entries from British walkers in the hut and gîte books, relatively few of my fellow countrymen have discovered the area.