The last Saturday (06/12) I decided to go trekking in the French country side. It is now a month that I am trying to earn a living in this beautiful city of Grenoble on the foothills of Alps. Its little cold around this time of the year but that did not deter me from my plans. It had two benefits from my point of view, first, I get to see the French country side and second, I get to lose a few pounds which I have a little too many. So the target was to reach the old French fort Bastille on the top of a mountain from there climb for another kilometer to Le Mémorial National des Troupes de Montagne and from there downhill all the way to St. Martin Vinoux around 6kms from the memorial. The road takes you through some relatively steep descent and then you enter the French counrty side covered with lush green grass even in this winter. Away from the madding crowds of the city, where every sound is either of a car or another vehicle, the surrounding is filled with silence. A silence broken only by the barking of guard dogs. Well, I will come to that subject later. The city of Grenoble is located around the summit of the Drac and the Isere. In the city you can't hear the sound of the river, partly because of the sound pollution and partly due to the dam ahead which controls the flow. But in the country side there is nothing to stop the river from flowing from one rock to other and the music of the flowing river is remarkable on the background of total silence. So coming back to the trek, the first few kilometers were event free and then when I entered one of the villages where houses are guraded by dogs I really got nasty welcome from the four footed devils. They probably can't get out of the fenced compound but their every action will let you know they want to do so and bite you to pieces. One house in particular was more scary in the sense that it had six hunting dogs guarding it. Anyway very soon I learnt to ignore them, but people with feeble heart should be careful. The mountain tracks here are differnet from the ones in India in the sense that there are less people and no mules. Eventually after trekking for almost one and half hours I reached my destination. Frankly speaking its a bus stop on route #3 but anyway the trek through the mountain was fulfilling.
