Day Off 2: Boxing Day!

OK - Here we have it. Day Off 2. Boxing Day. The second official day off in this blog and my winter in France. I've woken up nice and early, plans are in place, I draw the curtains and... it's a white-out. 

The valley and surrounding area is covered in a thick layer of cloud... 

As with last week, any plans I seem to make are a wasted effort as the weather at this time of year is unpredictable (on the plus side though, the clouds mean there's lots of snow on the way!). 

The view from my window

So with the possibility of not being able to see anything ruining the day but having made a point of doing something each day off (and stitching myself up by promising to upload it every week), I decided to go for a walk with Fabienne from the office. Now, I know what your thinking - not too exciting. However, a hike would be more accurate - well I couldn't just stay in bed all day! 

There are loads of hiking trials dotted around the Isère Valley above Bourg Saint Maurice that lead to great views and some hidden places - some of these being pre WW1 forts. The aim of today being to hike above the clouds and find one of them!

Start of the hike

The hike started at the foot of the valley where a sign gave suggestions for various different routes and treks. The photo above gives a hint of how the weather was going to pan out! The trail varied from nice muddy paths to rocks and stone steps until about 30 minutes in where it levelled off into a small village. 

Closed chapel

Upon entering the village the first thing we stumbled across was a pretty tired looking chapel. It looked like no one had been in there for years which was a shame as it was only Christmas the day before.

The quietest part of the hike 

After an hour and a half of walking through villages, farms, fields, down eerily quiet roads and across a river, we finally came to the last set of trail markers pointing us in the direction of the fort. 

At this point the snowfall had increased which made it a little difficult to navigate through the cloud (still not above it yet) and also find the trails. Eventually, through the clouds the dark shape of a wall appeared above us as we walked up the final steep trail.

The wall of the Fort du Truc

Finally 2 hours after starting out we made it to the Fort du Truc. Built between 1891 and 1894 the fort was used to protect the Isère Valley from Italians advancing along the Col du Petit Saint-Bernard (Little St Bernard Pass).

Gun slits in the fort

Manned by 4 Officers and 222 Soldiers and NCO's, the fort also had barracks, and infirmary and kitchens behind it. However by May 1915 further development was put to a halt as the Triple Entente prevented any further fortification of structures facing a country that is an ally. by 1916 the fort was completely disarmed. 

Fort entrance

We couldn't make it inside the fort as it's sealed off and covered in private property signs but it still seems to be in pretty good shape (compared to the barracks and infirmary).

After another 2 hour walk back down the mountain via the roads (the snow had completely covered the trails) we eventually made it back down to Bourg Saint Maurice. 

Again, the weather tried to mess up the day and needless to say we didn't make it above the clouds but...

...Day Off 2 complete!