Destination Mercantour
Spacebetween is the only British adventure holiday company working in the Mercantour, the most recently created National Park in France. Just an hour north of Nice, yet worlds apart from the hustle and bustle of the Riviera, the company offers accommodation only breaks. Spacebetween also offers year round walking and adventure holidays. Mel and Liz pride themselves on being flexible and offering guests exactly what they are looking for in their precious leisure time. Although the majority of Spacebetween’s holidays are centred in the Mercantour, other gems„ in Provence, Corsica and, just across the border in Italy, will soon be available.
Bookings are currently being taken for the winter season from January to March 2009, as well as for summertime.
The Mercantour
National Park
The Mercantour is noted for the variety of vegetation types found within the Park boundaries - from Mediterranean olive trees and fields of lavender to rare mountain species. The rocky deserts and peaks reach over 3000m. A haven for wildlife, it is almost uninhabited by humans. The Park contains the largest high altitude lake in Europe and the aptly-named Vallée des Merveilles.
Official website: www.mercantour.eu
Found: The Long-Lost Alpine Route.
Ultimate off-road cycling on the legendary Route du Parpaillon. 
SpaceBetween Alpine Adventures
How owners Mel and Liz founded their adventure holiday company in the Mercantour National Park...
The Mont Blanc Tour
Simon Stevens from the company Alpine Exploratory, describes the Mont Blanc tour, an 11 day trek in the French Alps.
Waterfall in the Valmasque Valley
Botanic Splendour
The six weeks of wet weather in the South of France in May and June 2008 were quite unprecedented! Every cloud does have a silver lining though as we were sure that the extra wet conditions would favour a bounty of flowers.
Botanists - us? No - but we are aware of the diversity here in the Mercantour which boasts around 1500 species of which 150 are rare and 32 endemic to the area, and an extraordinary mix of Alpine / Provençal / Piedmontais / Mediterranean influences. We’d also been made aware of a Botanical Walk (Sentier Botanique) near Sospel about which Christopher Betts has written a useful guide. Another time perhaps - as we decided to opt for the wilder side and headed up the Roya valley to Saint Dalmas de Tende before turning west towards Casterino.
This road accesses two routes to get to the Vallée des Merveilles from the east side; either from Les Mesches and the Minière valley, or from Casterino itself up the Fontanabe valley. We were bound for the Valmasque valley – where we anticipated fewer visitors and also an array of different flora types in the 700m or so ascent, from Casterino (at 1500m) to the Valmasque refuge at just over 2200m.
The following day dawned bright and clear and we enjoyed the sight of delicate alpine flowers such as campanulas, mountain houseleeks, and moss campion clinging bravely to their rocky “homes” in the face of still-wintery conditions up to the Pas de la Fous at 2828m.
The day after, our senses were heightened in Sound of Music type landscape – gurgling streams and astonishing carpets of lilies, peonies, orchids, arnica, globe flower….need I go on?
We felt ignorant among all the splendour and were pleased to be taken under the wing of a group of French enthusiasts who allowed us to enjoy the minutiae of the flowers that they had gathered under the scrutiny of a magnifying glass.
We left them with our thanks and a motivation to learn more.
Information:
The company plans to do more walking breaks in the Roya as soon as a great venue for accommodation can be found. Contact Spacebetween for information.
The National Park produces Mercantour Flowers and Mercantour Orchids books which are clear and well laid out.
Visit website: www.mercantour.eu
Guide to the Popular Botanic Trail Between Sospel in France and Olivetta in Italy
See website for details
Useful maps:
Alpes sans Frontières (ASF),
Vallée des Merveilles
Visit website: www.ign.fr
Contact Details:
Mel Jones or Liz Lord,
Spacebetween,
La Zourcière,
Berthemont les Bains,
06450 Roquebillière,
France
0033 (0)4 93 03 48 57
0033 (0)6 78 30 49 29 (mobile)
E-mail : contact@space-between.co.uk
Visit website : www.space-between.co.uk
Pleasure or pain? The choice is yours - and all it involves is being well prepared before you set off. Wherever you're heading and whatever you're planning...
