Tour of the Queyras. Alan Castle

      Commencing the descent from the Col de Moussière (Stage 1)

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

      You are about to turn the pages of a practical guidebook that will lead you safely on a journey through a region of the European Alps known as the Queyras. Here there are high cols, remote summits, scented pine forests, lush Alpine valleys, high pastures and flower-strewn meadows. But for me this is more than a mere guidebook – there is something of an enigmatic love story within its pages, the result of my third exploration of this most beautiful and magical of Alpine regions and my second complete ‘Queyras Tour’.

      This last adventure was after a 17 year absence from the region. Twice in the 1980s I walked extensively in the Queyras, becoming totally captivated by its almost indescribable charm. In a most subtle way, I found it quite unlike any other area that I had ever visited in the Alps. In the intervening years I travelled the mountain and wilderness areas of over 30 different countries, in every continent save the southernmost, but when asked which was my favourite, I would always, without hesitation, say ‘the Queyras’.

      But in a way I was afraid to go back after such a long interval, in case I found that the beauties and charms of my stunningly beautiful, totally enticing mistress had faded over time. It can be unwise to return to places that one has enjoyed so much in the past, as disappointment is often the result; it is unrealistic to expect to experience again the same rapture that was felt on first discovering an area. But I was wrong to doubt. Certainly my beloved has grown older, and has a few scars and disfigurements that were not there before, as you will read in these pages, but her beauty and charm – the friendliness of her people, the abundance of her hamlets, villages, gîtes and refuges – remain as they always were. I feel a deep love for this land of the Queyras, which, as a foreigner, I am quite at a loss to explain.

      The popularity of the Queyras amongst French mountain walkers, and those from several other western European countries, notably Holland and Germany, has increased considerably since the 1980s, and the facilities to accommodate them have improved proportionately. There are enlarged and upgraded gîtes d’étape and refuges, and a well-established, inexpensive ‘sherpa’ service to transport luggage (and even weary walkers if they need a day off the trail) from gîte to gîte. But judging by the lack of entries from British walkers in the hut and gîte books, relatively few of my fellow countrymen have discovered the area.

      It is the responsibility of a guidebook writer to ensure that his or her work will not result in a mass assault on a previously unspoilt area, changing its character forever. But the Queyras can well cope with a doubling, trebling or even quadrupling of the number of British walkers to its high mountains and valleys. I wish to share this wonderland, and, tired of giving gentle encouragement to others to visit the region, want instead to shout from the highest summits: ‘Go, go, go to the Queyras!’ You will surely not be disappointed, and perhaps a few of you will fall deeply and everlastingly under the spell of this remarkable and enchanting land.

      Alan Castle, 2008