Jerry decided to take a mid-week day off and we walked to Briancon along the top path from St Chaffrey, bird watching along the way.  It had been raining to start with, but by 12.30 the sun was out and we sat on the terrace of a restaurant opposite Champ du Mars by the old town where we consumed the “menu du jour” for 14 euros.  This consisted of a “crepe Bretonne” which was two flat pancakes filled with fried eggs and bacon.  Dessert was a choice of sweet pancakes and we chose the “sucre”.  This was all washed down with a carafe of rosé.

We walked back along by the River Guisaine where we spotted quite a few dippers feeding from the rocks.  They dive into the water and disappear for quite a long time. We wondered how they were not washed away but apparently they grip the bottom of the river bed with their strong claws and walk upstream under the water.  These shy birds are quite difficult to see in England but according to the book, they can only be found above 500 metres.

By the time we reached Chantemerle I was flagging and my legs were aching, possibly an after effect of my day’s skiing yesterday.  Luckily I was able to ring Chris who came and picked us up.  Jerry came back for a cuppa tea and chat to Chris about buying a property here.  We will be able to help him should he be serious about this venture.

This evening I joined the boys for a drink at the Grotte.  It was packed with people who came to see tonight’s band, ‘More Than Monkey’ who played Oz Rock Surf.  This was a mixture of blues, rock and gunge and had some good support from a crowd of English lads masquerading as Oz surfers dressed in shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops.