Grand Randonnée 5 represents France’s premier alpine adventure running from Thonon-les-Bains on the south shore of Lake Geneva to Nice on the Mediterranean. Many choose another alternative for the final third of the route, switching GR 52 for 5 just south of the Col de Larche. This route – known as the Balcon du Mercantour – stays much higher than GR 5 and offers much more drama as it marches southeast and then south to finish on the Mediterranean at the boat harbor of Menton-Garavan.
BEGINNINGS
FROM THE NORTH
The southern terminus is written in stone, but the northern beginning varies. Looking at the IGN map, it appears the trek starts from near the Pas de la Cavale four hours south of the Col de Larche. Descending about a kilometer, on part of the GR 52 goes off to the left heading straight north to cross over into Italy with an overnight in Ferrere. The trail then heads back into France over the Col de Fer and onto the Refuge de Vens.
From there the path stays high above the Tinée River passing around lakes clustered around the base of Mont Ténibre, one of the last 3000-meter French peaks in the Maritime Alps. Then, GR 52 spends almost as much time in Italy as France as it traverses the high peaks of the Mercantour. The path originally was planned to stay on the French side of the Mercantour crest, but routing ran into environmental problems making the need to cross into Italy more than once. Note that this whole Mercantour belonged to Italy until 1947. Even though the peaks belonged to the County of Nice which was given to France in 1860 for her help in bringing about a unified northern Italy, the high country was part of a royal hunting ground. Those grounds stayed with Italy – many of the trails have either military or royal hunting beginnings.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
For those interested in GR 52 without the earlier GR 5 walk, the official beginning used to be Saint-Dalmas de Valdebore. From here, GR 52 took off north to cruise through the higher reaches of the Mercantour Alps. Many start GR 52 from a little further east at Boréon up the valley north of St-Martin-Vésubie. Taking a closer look at the IGN map, another starting point for GR 52 lies at Etraunes-Saint-Sébastien, probably for better bus connections.
My starting point was yet further east because of great train connections from a starting point in Torino. For GR 52, my trek started in the Vallée des Merveilles. (From Boréon to the Refuge des Merveilles, it takes one to two-three days on the trail.)
Starting at midday due to the train schedule, we opted to make the journey from the Col de Tende to the refuge in two days – covering a similar distance. Bad weather – snow, sleet, winds over 50 kph – kept us from staying close to the Mercantour crest as we descended to overnight in the hamlet of Casterino.
We hoped to hike up over a pass on the north side of Mont Bégo and then the Baisse de Valmasque. Reports of six inches of new snow, plus clouds continuing to lie in the passes changed our plans to a road walk south to the Lac des Mesches and then up the normal route to the refuge through the Vallon de la Miniére.
ONTO THE GR 52
Arriving at the refuge – our first intersection with GR 52 – early in the afternoon, we still had enough time to walk up and gaze at the 4,000-year-old pictographs scattered north along GR 52 in the slot-like canyon of the Vallée des Merveilles.
Now solidly on GR 52, we headed south staying on the path for the most part over the next two days. A push up through the above timberline country above the refuge, we climbed out of the highest mountains of the Mercantour at the Pas du Diable. The view from the pass is stunning with most of the rest of the day laid out in front – long descent into a rock-strewn basin; a long ridge walk traversing first on one side and then on the other culminating in a climb to the Pointe des Trois Communes, easily noted because of the late 19th century fort crowning the peak.
out of the royal hunting grounds
At the second pass – Col de Raus – we reached the pre-1947 border between Italy and France. We had already noted several forts and blockhouses on the ridges coming in from the Col de Tende, now we were seeing our first glimpses of the French Alpine Maginot Line. After spending a bit of time looking at old fortifications on l’Authion, a series of peaks around the 2000-meter level where the French spent time and money building up forts both in the late 19th century and later in the 1930s, we ended the day at the Gîte de L’Estive perched at the Camp d’Argent, a small ski operation.
Ridgeline shows the route of GR 52 high above the Bévéra Valley to the right.
Pointe de Ventabren is the grass-covered peak in the middle while the flatter peak to its right is Mangiabo.
As we walked our final kilometer towards L’Estive, the next day’s walk – all on GR 52 – was laid out, a long ridge walk on the range making up the eastern boundary between the Bévéra and Roya valleys. The nature of the mountains, as I noted, changed once dropping down from the Pas du Diable. The mountains were still high with 1500-meter walls reaching up to almost 2000 meters. Much of the ridges tops were not forested, though not because we were above the timberline, but because of a long history of pastoral industry – sheep and cattle.
MANGIABO
On GR 52 traversing on the east side of the crest of Pointe de Ventabren.
View to east over the Roya Valley into Italy.
The next day, the trek traverses around the southern walls of L’Authion for an hour or so coming to the military ruins of Cabanes Vielles. There is also a monument and a series of tablets describing the April 1945 Free French liberation of LAuthion. Then it is on to more ridge traversing around Maouné, Pointe de Ventabren and the Cime de la Gonella before a climb of the last serious peak in the ridge, Mangiabo – 1821 meters.
Looking north from Mangiabo – Mercantour Alps in the clouds
L’Authion is the grassy peak on the very left; Roya Valley to the right.
Along the path we noted our first good peaks at the Mediterranean as we walked around L’Authion. Mangiabo offers a magnificent 360 degree view with the Mediterranean to the southwest and south east – direct south, the peaks of Monte Grammando, Mont Ours and Mont Agel blocked a direct view to the sea. To the north, our last good view towards the high peaks of the Mercantour. To the east and west, a sea of smaller peaks gave rise to the complex topography of the Alpes-Maritimes and bordering Italian areas.
LONG DESCENT
As magical as it was to stay atop Mangiabo, GR 52 seems in a hurry to leave, dropping 235 meters (775 feet) in the first kilometer. Now begins a long descent on a path that sometimes is worse for wear because of erosion. The views become more localized as the path drops through the trees. Italian artillery pieces lie along the path near the Baisse de Liniére – 1345 meters – alluding to the short-lived Italian occupation of the region from 1942 until the fall of 1943. We finally turned off GR 52 to visit the Maginot fort atop Mont Agaisen, rising 400 meters directly above the town of Sospel – the GR drops directly down while we veered off a bit to the east before rejoining the GR one last time in Sospel.
Down in Sospel, you can relive the mystique of Mangiabo. Have a glass of local Mangiabo beer, to replenish some of the calories burnt up in the long slide off the peak.
GR 52-MAGINOT VARIANT
GR 52 continues to go over the last mountains separating Sospel from the Mediterranean, brushing past Monte Gramando on the border to the east. Our trek took us to the west of GR 52 sticking with the long line of Maginot forts found along the ridgeline to the west creating our own GR 52 variant – the GR 52-Maginot.
OTHERS TREKKING THE BALCONY OF THE MERCANTOUR
Views along the GR are magnificent the whole time we walked it covering maybe half to a third of it, depending on where one started. We were joined at both the Refuge des Merveilles and at L’Estive by several people who were walking the path. Two Frenchmen – each walking by themselves – had started at Lake Geneva walking first along GR 5. Youth trumps age on the trail, usually. They were both in good shape with a month’s worth of walking behind them. They would pass us early in the day and we would not see them until the evening.
Two English women were also among the group at L’Estive. They had been trying to walk GR 52, but the same bad weather had forced them to use a bus to skip some of the higher sections missing out on the Vallée des Merveilles. Their last day on the GR was finished at Sospel where they took another bus to Menton.
While we did not hike the entire GR 52, the long sections we did walk were spectacular. A lot of ups and even more downs along the way made for a walk we would not soon forget.
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