Arc valley
France > Alps > Arc valley
The Arc valley is wide and light below the col, though the treeless landscape can be more foreboding than joyous, especially under a stormy sky. Bare crags hang above the steep meadows on the north flanks; glaciers threaten to the south and east. Descending through meadows and patches of cultivation in the valley bottom with the lighter foliage of larches gracing the mountainsides you pass through humble hamlets of squat rough grey-stone houses – the homes of people who have had to struggle to wring a living from harsh weather and unyielding soil. It's surprising at first to find such a wealth of exuberant Baroque art in the outwardly simple churches in small villages like Avrieux, Bramans, Termignon, Lanslevillard and Bessans. But probably it's precisely because of the harshness and poverty of their lives that the mountain people sought to express their piety with such colourful vitality. Schools of local artists flourished, particularly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, inspired and influenced by itinerant Italian artists who came and went across the adjacent frontier.The first settlement of any size as you descend into the valley is BONNEVAL-SUR-ARC, 1835m above sea level, at the foot of the Col de l'Iseran, which looks out on the huge glaciers of the Sources de l'Arc to the east. Better preserved and more obviously picturesque than other towns of the valley, Bonneval stops a lot of tourists on their way to and from the col. It's in danger of becoming twee, with its houses clustered tightly around the church, and only the narrowest of lanes between them. You sense how very isolated these places were until only a few years ago, cut off for months by heavy snow, forced in upon their own resources. Several graves in the churchyard record deaths by avalanche. From here the valley descends to BESSANS, which retains its village character better than most. Its squat dwellings are built of rough stone with tiny windows, and roofed with heavy slabs to withstand the long hard winters. Most have south-facing balconies to make the most of the sun and galleries under deep eaves for drying grebons, the bricks of cow dung and straw used locally for fuel. The church has a collection of seventeenth-century painted wooden statues and a retable, signed by Jean Clappier, a member of a local family who produced several generations of artists. On the other side of the small cemetery, the chapel of St-Antoine has exterior murals of the Virtues and Deadly Sins and inside, some fine sixteenth-century frescoes; ask the priest to unlock the chapel – his house is on the right of the road leading east from the village square. Two kilometres beyond Bessans you pass the chapel of Notre-Dame-des-Grâces on the left, with another ex voto by Clappier. There's a small tourist office in the centre of Bessans (tel 04.79.05.96.52, www.bessans.com), and some accommodation, including the Hôtel Le Mont-Iseran (tel 04.79.05.95.97, www.montiseran.com; €55–70; closed mid-April to mid-June & Oct to mid-Dec) and the Hôtel La Vanoise (tel 04.79.05.96.79, www.hotel-vanoise.com; €55–70). In LANSLEBOURG, some 25km downstream from Bonneval, Haute Maurienne Information, in the town's old church (daily except Sat 3–7pm; tel 04.79.05.91.57, www.hautemaurienne.com), organizes tours of village churches along the Arc valley. Lanslebourg is also the start of the climb to the Mont Cenis pass over to Susa in Italy, another ancient transalpine route. Last stop before the perils of the trek, it was once a prosperous and thriving town. Relief at finishing the climb from the French side was tempered by an alarming descent en ramasse, a sort of crude sledge, which shot downhill at breakneck speed, much to the alarm of travellers. "So fast you lose all sense and understanding", a terrified merchant from Douai recounted in 1518. Lanslebourg has a municipal campsite (tel 04.79.05.82.83) and a hostel with a fantastic view (tel 04.79.05.90.96, [email protected]; closed May to mid-June & Oct to mid-Dec) and good rooms; alternatively, try the comfortable, rustic Hôtel de la Vieille Poste (tel 04.79.05.93.47, www.lavieilleposte.com €40–55; closed Nov and weekends out of season). MODANE, 20km downstream from Lanslebourg, is where the Arc valley starts to cut down dramatically through the high plateau, leading off towards Chambéry. It's a dreary little place, destroyed by Allied bombing in 1943 and now little more than a rail junction. Nonetheless, it's a good kicking-off point for walkers on the south side of the Vanoise Massif, the area contained between the upper valleys of the Isère and Arc rivers. It's easily accessible by train from Chambéry and has a tourist office, in place Sommeiller (Mon–Sat 9am–noon & 2–6pm; tel 04.79.05.28.58, www.modane-valfrejus.com), which will give advice on walks in the surrounding area. If you want to stay, try the simple but clean Hôtel Le Commerce, 20 place Sommeiller (tel 04.79.05.00.78; €30–40), or the well-sited grassy municipal campsite just up the road to the Fréjus tunnel (which leads to Bardonecchia in Italy).
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