Boules Tournament in Chorges

The Expedition
Seven of us in three cars set off for Chorges in the Hautes Alpes, not far from Briançon and the Italian border, to participate in the annual regional Ainés Ruraux (rural wrinklies) boules tournament. We set off more in hope than expectation, a first team of Daniel Sue (not my usual friend Daniel), Michel and myself, and a last-minute scratch team of Daniel's wife, Dany, Chantal and Michèle, with Michel's wife Chantal as chief supporter. The women had decided at the last moment that rather than be supporters and wear miniskirts and pom-poms (as I had suggested) they would form a scratch team for the tournament.

And we had a very enjoyable three days, the more so as they were blessed with good weather, great mountain scenery and some success in the tournament. We stayed in a holiday village just outside Chorges, overlooking the large Serre-Ponçon lake and surrounded by snow-covered peaks rising from 9000ft to 12000ft. The first evening after our afternoon arrival, a journey of some 2.5 hours, was simply convivial. The next day was nose-to-the-grindstone boules, the following day we explored the area and then we meandered back to Mollans, picknicking on the way. Here's how it all happened.

Boules
The boules tournament was the object of the exercise, although we were all fairly relaxed (externally) about our chances of achieving anything. It was the first time Mollans had entered a team for the tournament so nothing much was expected of us against other teams from the PACA (Provence, Alpes, Côte d'Azur) region, grouped into teams from the Vaucluse, the Var, the Hautes Alpes, the Alpes Maritimes, Haute Corse and Corse du Sud. Since technically Mollans is in the Drôme Department and part of the Rhône Alpes region rather than PACA, we were lumped in with the teams from the neighbouring Vaucluse. The problem with our being in the Rhône Alpes tournament, as we should have been, is that we would have had to travel much further. Mollans is a little outpost in the far south of the Drôme, surrounded by the Vaucluse.

Anyway, there we were and we did better than expected. The women's scratch team which seemed sure to finish last actually finished 24th out of 30 teams, which rewarded their courage in entering. We finished 7th, which was higher than we ever thought we would and could have some significant implications. Our position was higher than any of the other teams from the Vaucluse, which technically means we should represent the Vaucluse in the national tournament which takes place just outside St Tropez in October. However, we are not (technically) in the Vaucluse. I can foresee more than a few Clochemerle moments coming up. No one is easily going to take from us the opportunity of a trip to St Tropez in October; on the other hand, I can foresee the other teams from the Vaucluse having the same desire and objecting that since Mollans is not in the Vaucluse, it can't represent it. We also have a slight problem in that one of our team members feels that we will be slaughtered at national level and doesn't want to be part of that. I think he may be right but think also that the opportunity to play at national level can't be passed up. We shall see..........

I personally was pleased with the kindly meant insults and praise I received from teams we played against: “ces sacrés anglais qui viennent nous embêter” and “le roi des pointeurs”, the latter a bit over the top. We all got cups, mine a vulgarly large one, and went home feeling the exercise from a boules point of view had been worthwhile.

Exploring The Area
We went first to see a 12th century abbey, the Abbaye de Boscodon. It has apparently had a chequered history. It functioned as an abbey until around 1770 when it turned into a forestry centre. Then it was sold after the French Revolution as a state asset and became a small hamlet in its own right, with some 20 families living in it. Finally it was bought in 1972 by an association dedicated to restoring it and is now mostly restored and occupied by a mixed lay and clerical community. The massive architecture and pure uncomplicated lines of its original mediaeval design were certainly worth seeing.

We then went on to see the Demoiselles Coiffées, a number of earth and rock pillars topped by boulders that stand in a small wood. They look striking, if somewhat precarious. The boulders atop the pillars clearly indicated glacial action and they are in fact the result of a former glacier melting. What intrigued me though was how the pillars came to be; it seemed unlikely that they could have formed just because harder rock had resisted the erosion all around. Apparently the glacier melting causes salts to rise by capillary action in certain places and create a form of cement which holds the compacted earth and rock together and resists erosion. Hence the pillars; the boulders on top were simply left there as the glacier melted and the surrounding area eroded. Most of the pillars themselves are now significantly eroded and some of the demoiselles are already “décoiffées”. So the sight won't be around for much longer.

Meandering our way back we stopped for a while in a gorge of the river Méouge. The river is a placed one for most of its length but tumbles down at one point through a gorge where it is spanned by an old bridge that was once part of a mule trail. There was a waterfall and it was easy to see that the river could become quite dangerous there if it flooded; as it did apparently in 1909, sweeping away a mill that stood beside the bridge and of which only a few bits of wall are still visible.

So, a very enjoyable three-day excursion from Mollans,