This morning, we got up fresh and relaxed after spending the night at the Hotel Le Tourisme in Embrun. We had breakfast at the bar, took some pictures of the first bronze shells and said goodbye to Stefano’s boots. We were in a good mood, ready to face a beautiful day and quite a short walk, that would lead us to the Boscodon Abbey. At the exit of the city, we separated: Stefano wanted to wait for the cathedral to open, while Roberto and I, we had already visited it yesterday evening.

So the two of us started walking down from the hill where the centre of Embrun lies and then up in the woods that circle Boscodon. We both recommend you to follow the red and white signs, so that you will not live our experience.

At a certain point, while we were climbing on the side of the hill, we noticed that the GR was cutting the turns of a concrete road, setting quite a ripid trail in the wet wood. Hoping to find an easier path, we started walking on the concrete, checking sometimes our direction with the GPS. At a certain point, we must have misunderstood: the GPS device was showing that we were walking on the wrong side of the hill and the abbey was now in the valley next to the one that we were following. It was not too bad, apparently.  The stage we had planned was short and making a bit longer wasn’t a terrifying idea. So, we asked the GPS navigator to guide us to the abbey and it instantly elaborated a track across the woods. It was clear and easy on the map. But on the ground, it disappeared after 200 meters: instead of walking on an easy trail, we were walking in the high and wet grass and later in the wood, crossing creeks and fences. After 15 minutes, we managed to get to a small dirt road near to some houses: the one we were looking for. We started following it and it looked all right. For 5 minutes.

Then we found a closed gate in front of us and, behind it, we couldn’t see any road. The lady we found in the next farm explained us that we should open the gate, follow the road, follow the creek, get to the bridge, take on the left … et voilà, l’Abbaye!

We showed her that the road was closed and there was no sign on the ground: she replied that “they” – probably the gods of the roads – should come and sign it again. She closed the gate behind us and simply went away.

And this is where our adventure really began. As we had guessed, the road didn’t exist any more: it was covered by the grass and the wood and it was impossible to follow it. Following tracks, probably made by some boar, we went downhill to the famous creek and, after half an hour of trudging and slipping, we crossed a small creek: we could finally see the abbey in front of us… the direction was right! We started climbing the hill in the direction of the houses but, when we got at the end of the climbing, Roberto told me to stop: we couldn’t go further, there was a vertical cliff cut by another creek, that reaches after a few meters the one that we had already crossed. And after reaching it, the water fell down for some 15 meters. We had to get over the cliff, going back to the first creek and reaching the second one’s shores.

After some more trudging and slipping we are on the shores of the second creek. We now had two possibilities: fording the creek throwing some rocks in the water or crossing the chasm, passing on a truss that supported a big tube. Sincerely, I found the truss option terrifying, but the water was flowing too fast and fording would have been really dangerous. And Roberto looked enthusiastic of our strange bridge. So, one foot after the other, we arrived, like two survivors from Vietnam at the feet of the Boscodon Abbey, a place of meditation and prayer.

It’s a pure romanic monument, without frills, and it welcomed us with a comforting silence. After thanking Holy Mary and the Child for guiding us there, safe and sound, we had a light lunch and changed our socks.

After a while, we could start walking again and after a couple of hours, we reached Savines-le-Lac and the lake of Serre-Ponçon. Savines-le-Lac is a recent village, built for the people of several other villages covered by the water of the artificial lake. It is a turistical center, but it doesn’t really welcomes the pilgrims: even the youth hostel closed up some time ago and the pilgrims must rest at the normal hotels with normal prices (that means very high!). Not really thanks to the help of the Tourism Office, we managed to find a room at the Hotel Les Sources and we spent a relaxing evening chatting… Before sleep, just a thought for my friend Eva and her baby Alberto, born in Budapest 3 weeks ago: one of the best things of my coming back home will surely be meeting him!