Trail running in the Mercantour — the climb starts at the door

You don't drive to your run here. The house sits at 1,300 m on the Valdeblore plateau, between the Vésubie and Tinée valleys, and the paths start at the end of the hamlet: forest tracks under the larches, lanes between the hamlets, valleys climbing towards the ridges. Flat ground is in short supply around here — which is presumably why you came.

Over the col, in Saint-Martin-Vésubie, the Station de Trail de la Vésubie keeps its reception point and its training stadium. Its routes are waymarked like ski runs, with a colour code — green, blue, red, black — announcing the difficulty, and several of them start from La Colmiane, 3 km from the door. Study the routes on the station's website before you come up, and check the state of the trails for the season: in these valleys a route can close or change from one year to the next.

The rest of the terrain is the long-distance paths. The GR5 and the GR52 cross at Saint-Dalmas, and their opening climbs make ready-made outings: it goes up from the edge of the hamlet, it comes back down technical, and you finish at the door you left from. We won't sell you an altitude protocol — simply, when you sleep at 1,300 m and leave on foot, the week fills up with vertical without you ever touching the car keys.

That is why the house works so well for a hub-and-spoke week: the same room all week, a different valley each day, back in time for dinner. In summer, start early — the heat builds fast in the valleys and afternoon storms give little notice. In spring and autumn, snow lingers on the ridges: we talk it over the night before at the dinner table, with a map between the plates. And on the recovery day, the plateau walks perfectly well at strolling pace.