Pilgrim's Progress – Long Distance Walks in Europe and the UK

How far that little candle throws its beams. So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

The Merchant of Venice – William Shakespeare

Looking at my topoguide to thr GR4, it was going to be another long day crossing a number of 1,000m passes. If all went well, it should take me 12-13 hours to reach Soreilhas. One thing was clear though – there was no room for error!

The sun was rising as I set off from Amirat with the valley below shrouded in clouds. I made good progress along forest tracks and reached the little hamlet of Castellet St Cassien shorrly after 8.30am. I was bang on schedule to reach Entrevaux within an hour.

From Castellet the going got tougher. First a steep climb from the valley up a narrow track which morphed into a muddy rutted forestry track that had been used for logging.

The going was painfully slow and there were no signs to indicate which of the many forestry tracks formed the right route – presumably the trees with the red and white GR route markers on them had all been cut down!

I came to a clearing where a huge logging vehicle was parked and made my way down a slightly less muddy path. After 20 minutes walking I hadn’t seen any route matkers which struck me as odd. I checked my AllTrails app and found that I had strayed off the route.

20 minutes later, after some cross country walking through the forest I managed to relocate the route and followed the red and white markers. Surely Entrevaux couldn’t be far away now as it was almost 10,30. I eventually descended to a road where there was a yellow sign post which said that I had walked in a complete circle during the previous two hours and was back at  Castellet St-Cassien. My heart sunk as the implications of my two hour mistake were fairly grim. 

What to do next? Retrace my steps up the forestry track in the hope of finding the correct route? Or take the circuitous road to Entrevaux? Maybe I would hit lucky and be able to thumb a lift!

I set off on the road speed walking. It was 9km to Entrevaux by road. If I legged it, I might reach there by 12.30, still some two hours behind schedule.

Three cars that passed me without stopping and after 30 minutes I was feeling a bit downhearted. Maybe thumbing a lift didn’t work in France. Maybe the drivers that passed me thought I was giving them the thumbs up!

Finally a car slowed down and my heart leapt. They were on their way to Entrevaux and happy to give me a lift. I jumped in the back and off we went. I never got their names. They were taking a long weekend break from Nice with their dog and I will br forever grateful to them. We reached Entrevaux at 11.30. I thanked them profusely, made straight for the bakery and sat outside munching on a savoury vegetable slice, considering my options.

Entrevaux is a charming village with an impressive castle guarding the valley. There were quite a few tourists milling around the centte of town and it’s not hard to see why: Entrevaux is a fabulous sight: a medieval village guarding a narrow pass, a draw-bridge entrance high across a fast river, and walled walkway zig-zaging up through 20 fortified doorways to a 17th century citadel dominating the village and the surrounding valleys.

I was consulting my map outside the entrance to the citadel when a man approached me. “Are you walking the GR4?” he asked. I nodded. He asked if I’d like a lift in his car up the busy road to le Chaudan which was a nightmare for walkers on the GR4. When he asked me how much it was he told me it was completely free. “I am a keen walker” he told me. “Stay here and I’ll pick you up in my car in a few minutes”.

Apart from the fact that his name was Paul, I didn’t learn much more about this Good Samaritan. He didn’t much care for the English as he found that none of those he had met had made much of an effort to learn the language and integrate. As for walkers on the GR4, there were increasingly few of them around. Sadly he wouldn’t let me take his photo. It was midday and I had made up the two hours of lost time thanks to the kindness of Good Samaritans. I will be eternally grateful to them.

7 hours later I reached the gite at Soleilhas. The afternoon wasn’t without incident. The GR4 variant from the village of Ubraye was in a shocking state of disrepair and at times virtually impassable. Treed blocked the route, marker signs were few and far between and scree covered much of the path. At one point I did pass a marker sign. The only problem was that it lay broken on the ground!

The gite at Soleilhas was one of the worst I have stayef at. The showers didn’t have a temperature control and the scalding water made it impossible  to use them. There was no food available either in the gite or in the village. There was only a large tin of unopened cannelini beans which the proprietor of the gite said I was welcome to eat.

The ancient microwave was on the blink and the gas hob didn’t work. Thankfully the oven did seem to function and after 20 minutes I was rewarded with a steaming plate of cannelini beans. Things could have been better I mused to myself, but without the help of two Good Samaritans, they could have been a whole lot worse!