This stage of the GR5 runs via Col de la Colombière at 2238 and Col d'Anelle at 1739 meters to Saint-Etienne-de-Tinée. Between these colls is the town of Saint-Dalmas-le-Selvage. The route is mainly on well-traveled paths through forests and beautiful slopes. Relatively short, but beautiful stage.
Today we have a short stage of just under 15 kilometers to hike. And since we are wild camping, we're up before dawn. The "straight" spot we picked last night turned out to be not as straight as we thought, so it didn't really lend to sleeping in either. It's a bit warmer than yesterday and the tent canvas is far dry, so we're soon ready to leave. We walk past the shepherd's piece of paper, which we have translated by now. It says that we will definitely encounter dogs that will come toward us and bark loudly, but they're trained to keep wolves away from the herd and are not aggressive toward humans. Plus the shepherd is always around, so we should be fine. A little further along the path we see the flock of sheep behind a fence. The guard dogs strike, but apparently quickly realize we are vegetarians and let us pass. We soon reach today's first col, Col de la Colombière at 2,238 meters. The mountain peaks around us this early are still shrouded in mist.
Then follows a long descent. We see a group of red deer walking below us, grazing peacefully. Wild thyme, with its white flowers and purple lavender add color to the slopes here and there. We descend further into the valley below us at 1,525 meters, to Saint-Dalmas-le-Selvage. A nice little village with a pretty little square. Here everything is closed as well, so unfortunately no chausson aux pommes with our coffee for break time... We walk on for a little bit and then see a nice meadow in the sun on the slope. Perfect for a pause! We are in no hurry today, so we take it easy. We are about halfway through the hike and it is only a short climb to today's final col, Col d'Anelle. As we begin the descent, we soon see the village below us, Saint-Étienne-de -Tinée. We see a large school building with a schoolyard, and a small lake behind it. That should be our campsite for the next few days. After 600 meters of careful descending over paths with many loose stones, we arrive at the bottom. The campground has nice spacious sites and is very quiet, you can really sense that the camping season is over. Lucky for us, the epicerie and bakery are open in this town.
The campground has a covered area with picnic benches, which are very convenient for the upcoming rainy days. The next part of our route is over 55 kilometers through the high mountains of the Mercantour. There are no campsites and the gîtes are closed due to this summer's drought, so we will be wild camping for 2 nights in a row. So in this village we'll wait for a period of 3 dry days, in order to cross the mountains safely. And in this quiet place, equipped with all conveniences, it certainly doesn't feel like a punishment!
