The giant zip line at La Colmiane — 3 km from the house

Three kilometres from the house, the resort of La Colmiane has strung a cable down its valley. You take the chairlift to the start, and that is already part of the day: larch tops sliding past below, the Valdeblore plateau opening out between the Vésubie and the Tinée, the noise of the resort falling away. Gear and briefing come from the resort — after that, there is nothing left to do but agree to the idea.

Then it happens very fast. The descent comes in two lines: a long one from the top of the chairlift down to an intermediate platform, then a shorter one back to the resort. The trolley sings on the cable, the air turns properly cold, the valley streams past and the larches become a forest again — a few seconds that feel a great deal longer. It ends too soon. That is rather the point, and nobody comes down quietly.

The practical side is theirs, not ours: booking is made in advance with the resort, flights leave in timed slots, and the conditions — age, weight, flying solo or in a pair — are set by the operator. The opening calendar, times and prices live on the resort's own website; it is the only source that stays current, and it shifts with the seasons. Two pieces of neighbourly advice: take your slot before you drive up rather than on arrival, and look at the forecast the evening before — in the mountains, an afternoon storm rearranges a plan quickly.

Still, nobody drives an hour up from Nice for a few seconds of cable. The zip line is the headline of a day that fills out easily around it: in summer the resort also runs its mountain-bike trails and its chairlift; the Valdeblore plateau has quiet paths under the larches for legs that have had enough; and the perched villages of the Vésubie and Tinée valleys take care of a late afternoon without any effort. It usually goes the same way — you come up for the flight and you stay for everything else. That is what this house is for: a hiking lodge and guesthouse at the gateway to the Mercantour, where someone keeps an eye on the bags and lays the table.