Journey author Katja Gaskell goes stroll about within the mountains the place the sound of music echoes…
The solar is hanging low within the sky once I meet Alexandre Guhery on a late summer time afternoon at La Ruche à Gîter. The hostel is within the coronary heart of the Massif de la Chartreuse, a regional park which straddles the Isère and Savoie départements in south-eastern France. It’s a lovely setting, an emerald inexperienced panorama punctuated by dramatic limestone cliffs and neglected by the peaks of Chamechaude, Grand Som and the Dent de Crolles.
The realm is as fashionable in the summertime months as it’s in winter. When the snow melts and the primary indicators of spring seem, strolling footwear exchange skis and mountain bikes take the place of snowshoes. It’s a well-liked spot for climbing, mountaineering and even dangle gliding. At present, nevertheless, I’m about to embark on a much less conventional mountain pursuit and comply with Alexandre as he leads me on what’s presumably probably the most uncommon stroll in France.
A pianist within the mountains
Initially from Brittany, Alexandre Guhery has lived in Chartreuse for greater than ten years, drawn to the area by his love of the mountains. He’s tall with silver hair, a boyish grin, and an infectious enthusiasm for the Nice Open air. Lately certified as a mountain information, Alexandre now leads people and teams on strolling excursions all through the Chartreuse mountains. Up to now, not so uncommon. However Alexandre is not only a mountaineering information, he’s additionally a live performance pianist and final yr he determined to mix his love of music along with his love of the mountains and launched the “Rando’piano”, a guided stroll that ends with an out of doors piano recital, in the course of the forest.
There are 15 of us within the assembled group and we set off with Alexandre guiding us up a mild incline and among the many beech and pine bushes. The trail is uneven and rocky underfoot, twisting its means round large boulders, because the late afternoon daylight friends via the tree cover. We have now solely been going 20 minutes when Alexandre tells us to cease, to unfold out and to easily hearken to the sounds of the forest. This concept of pausing to understand nature is a theme that Alexandre returns to frequently throughout our time collectively.
Deep within the Chartreuse forest
We proceed onwards and upwards, the rocky path finally giving option to grime trails carpeted in aromatic pine leaves. After a pair extra kilometres we’re deep inside the Chartreuse Forest. We stroll by historic bushes, previous verges thick with nettles which have grown waist-high, and throughout meadows the place wildflowers sway within the heat summer time breeze. The forest is the one one inside the French Alps (and the one one among simply 15 in France) to have been given the title Forêt d’Exception (Distinctive Forest). This label is awarded to locations that promote the forest heritage and marks the forest as exemplary in sustainable improvement.
However these bushes disguise different tales too; within the eleventh century the Carthusian Fathers established a small group on the foot of Charmant Som within the village of Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse. From this small starting grew a brand new monastic order that unfold throughout Europe. Nonetheless right this moment some 30 monks reside within the Grande Chartreuse, the top monastery, main a lifetime of solitude and silence. They’re additionally the keepers of the well-known Chartreuse liqueur recipe. Monks have been making this natural liqueur, the one one on the planet with a pure inexperienced color, since 1737. The recipe, which blends 130 totally different vegetation and herbs, is thought solely to a handful of monks.
After two hours of mild strolling (that is very a lot a stroll versus a hike) we arrive at a lookout and see the solar starting to set over the luxurious inexperienced valley under. Within the distance is town of Lyon and the summit of La Grande Positive, which rises to almost 2,000 metres. We don’t keep lengthy, nevertheless, as a result of our live performance is about to start. A brief stroll from the lookout the final of the daylight shines on a big overgrown meadow surrounded by pine bushes the place, within the center, there stands an upright piano beneath a bottle-green cover.
An open air live performance corridor
“For me, this stroll via the forest is like strolling into a really lengthy live performance corridor,” explains Alexandre. “I like spending time with my viewers reasonably than being thrust straight into the highlight.”
To at least one aspect of the makeshift stage lie a handful of yellow and turquoise bean baggage. Some tenting chairs have additionally been arrange, draped in pale yellow blankets to push back the inevitable night chill. We’re every handed a glass of chilled rose and folks deliver picnics out of backpacks, reducing slices of saucisson and Chartreux cheese, and tearing off items of baguette, whereas Alexandre prepares himself. After which the recital begins, and it’s nothing wanting magical.
In the course of the 50 minutes that Alexandre performs, with out sheet music, we’re handled to fantastic renditions of works by composers together with Bach, Brahms and Chopin. The final of the remaining sunshine rapidly disappears and shortly the one mild comes from the 2 head torches dangling from the ceiling of the canvas cover. Once we arrived within the meadow Alexandre had defined that he would a lot reasonably play within the open air however wants the tent overlaying to cease humidity affecting the piano. However because the skies develop ever darker, I disagree with him, the torches within the cover shine like a highlight on the performer. The final track, Metamorphosis by Philip Glass, is a dramatic and soul-stirring finale after which no person strikes for a number of minutes.
It’s practically 10pm by the point the recital finishes however fortuitously the stroll again to our authentic assembly level is far sooner and takes simply 25 minutes. We begin the descent sporting our head torches however quickly flip these off and let the sunshine of the celebrities information us as a substitute. It appears solely becoming to finish probably the most uncommon – and fantastic – stroll in France the best way that we started, very a lot at one with nature.
Different issues to do within the Chartreuse area
Though the Grande Chartreuse is closed to guests, you possibly can stroll to the monastery and see the grounds. Begin with a go to to the Museum of the Grande Chartreuse, for a greater understanding of the thriller of the Carthusian Order after which stroll to the monastery itself. The stroll takes roughly one hour.
Chartreuse seems on nearly each menu but when spirits aren’t your factor, then don’t fear, there are many different alternatives to get a style of this distinctive liquor from cheese to ice cream. Probably the greatest methods to attempt Chartreuse is to mix it with chocolate; go to Chocolaterie Sandrine Chappaz who creates award-winning goodies together with a Chartreuse cocktail impressed assortment.
Housed within the mountain church of Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse is the Arcabas Museum. The museum is devoted to the works of the modern French sacred artist Jean-Marie Pirot, higher often called Arcabas. It’s thought that in his lifetime he created between 4-5,000 artworks, a fraction of them are on show right here.
Katja was a visitor of Chartreuse Tourism and Isere Tourism. Alexandre Guhery runs organised guided walks together with Rando’piano through his firm oreilledulynx.fr
