The Highest Road in Europe

After spending a few days on the Italian Riviera at Deiva Marina, close to La Spezia, I follow the main coast road for a while towards Genova and then head North West-ish, an indirect, meandering route (well, Ok, I get lost a few times) on smaller, mainly single track roads, edging my way through the Apennines and towards the foothills of the Alpes-Maritimes. I stay at a couple of very small places along the way, but I’m not sure where – I just follow camping signs from the road when I feel like stopping, mostly to isolated sites where I’m the only person.

Gradually the verdant, rolling country-side gives way to much steeper gradients and an increasingly rocky landscape, until I reach the seasonal road from Vinadio in Italy to Isola in France, through the Lombardia pass, at a height of 2350 metres. It is only a short distance to the top, around 10km, but it is a steep uphill drive all the way, mainly in second gear, on narrow roads with very sharp, corkscrew bends, sheer drops on one side and high mountain peaks on the other, the drops made worse by the fact that, being on the ‘wrong’ side of the car, I’m peering directly into the deep valley below. Sometimes there are metal barriers on the edge of the road, sometimes wooden ones and sometimes non at all. It’s exhilarating but it’s also a time for concentration, although my eyes do wander now and again to take in the stunning scenery, or I stop and take photographs in the warm sunshine.

Suddenly I catch something in the corner of my eye on the right. Running in parallel with the car is a strange furry creature, the size of a dog, but with a flatter, wider body, long brown and tan fur and a wide, flattened head, like a gopher but much bigger. It is travelling at pace (I check the speedometer and I’m doing 20 miles an hour), easily overtakes the car, crosses the road in front of me and descends quickly down a steep bank of grass on my left and out of sight. I stop quickly and run over to take another look, but it’s gone. I spend some time trying to work out what it was, but I have no idea. I subsequently discover that it’s an Alpine Marmot, apparently quite common here, but the first time I’ve ever seen one. Fantastic!

After crossing into France, I stay at a small, family run hotel in St Etienne-de-Tinee and then follow the river valley through deep gorges, past azure blue lakes and through medieval towns. Later, when looking at the map, I realise I was just 10km away from the highest road in Europe, the Col de la Bonnette, at a height of 2802m. Never mind. Maybe next time?

Devia Marina, Italy

Western Apennines, Italy

City of Cuneo

Alpes-Maritime

France

Tinnee Valley