ROURE The Bourcet Valley

From Villaretto (Roure) follow the main road downhill until the junction with the sign for La Cleo-Bourcet. After crossing the Chisone stream, the road begins to climb with numerous hairpin bends through a cool broadleaf forest. After passing the houses of La Cleo, you reach a chapel located on a spur at 1,500 m altitude, from where you can enjoy a splendid panorama of the middle Val Chisone; here you can rest and replenish water from the fountain.

The road now becomes partially unpaved and with some ups and downs you reach Chasteiran, the main hamlet of Bourcet, where the Serafin Refuge is located. You continue on a dirt track that, with wide hairpin bends, climbs to the mountain pasture Gran Serre (1,720 m) and then continues with a long traverse to Alpe Chaulières (1,850 m), right at the bottom of the wild Bourcet Valley. Above are clearly visible the so-called "12 apostles", a series of limestone pinnacles that rise above the grassy slope.