La zourcière
If you are looking for a spectacular location with loads of sporting challenges on offer, superb hosts, great food and the opportunity to communicate in French and English, this is THE place. I’ll be back! Lastly don’t worry if you are like me, not super fit or in any way fluent, this is a terrific environment to improve all skills however rusty or newly acquired whilst having a huge amount of fun.
Arriving to a very warm welcome at Zourcière was the perfect calming tonic after putting the hire car (and the driver) through their paces on the hairpin mountain roads en route from Nice airport
After settling into Liz and Mel’s very comfortable accommodation we were invited to join them on their weekly soiree with some of their French friends in order to practise our language skills. It was a great start to the Cosmofil experience with the English speaking French in varying degrees of fluency and the French replying in English. Needless to say it was at times hilarious and with encouragement from all and a prevailing attitude of ‘let’s go for it’ we had a great evening….a genuine cultural exchange.
The following morning a delicious breakfast awaited us on the vine covered terrace with spectacular views overlooking the mountain side and valley below. Relying on Mel’s expertise as a fully qualified mountain guide he suggested various mountain walks and we decided to break ourselves in gently with a hike around the Vallon de Millefonts. We were lucky enough to see a pair of golden eagles way above us that are known to nest in that part of the Mercantour National Park
We were spoilt for choice of activities at Zourcière with Canyoning, Via Ferrata, cycling, rock climbing ,horse riding and mountaineering all in offer through Liz and Mel’s exciting business venture ’ Space Between‘. It is also possible to ski both downhill and cross country, go snow walking and ice climbing during the winter months. Firstly we opted for an afternoon trek on horseback. Expertly led by Lorraine who originates from Marseille, we enjoyed a gentle ride through the wooded valleys, crossing mountain streams and steep rocky trails. Conversing in French would have been possible but I was too busy hanging on to my horse who appeared more interested in eating than trekking. However we did manage some snatches of conversation whilst enjoying the beauty and serenity of the surrounding countryside and I am happy to report no one actually fell off.
Our second choice was to join Mel in a guided hike to Cime Guilie 3000m up on the French /Italian border. Mel’s knowledge and love of the local flora and fauna made this a really fascinating day. We watched Chamois and Ibex well camouflaged against the mountain slopes, observed numerous birds and marvelled over the wild glacial terrain and the plants that survive there.
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