Campervan Therapy

Local Producers – Valsar Butchers

MAPS.ME tells us there’s a walking trail opposite the campsite, running parallel with Sarre’s hectic SS26. Here there’s no sirens, no beeping cars, no speeding motorbikes, but a peaceful path by flower filled gardens, vines, orchards and vegetable gardens. And so we find Valsar, butchers. We load up with spicy sausage, their own reared beef and their own cheese.

La Parisette Bar

I persuade Himself that I really did intend to climb the steep hill behind St. Maurice’s rustic church and stout stone buildings.

But he’s sceptical as I march into La Parisette Bar. It’s packed with local workers on lunch break.  There’s wine and water already on the table  – included in the menu’s price –  no written menu, a choice of two things for each course. We start with tiny gnocchi in a ragu that’s big on flavour and low on meat – my favourite balance. Just as well, as the next course is beef carpaccio and there’s enough to feed the heftiest workman. We roll out of there. 

Castello Reale di  Sarre

The day wouldn’t be complete without poking around one of Aosta Valley’s many castles perched on their rocky pinnacles.  

We follow the walking trail to the imposing tower and square bulk of the hunting castle of Vittorio Emanuele  II of Savoy, first king of Italy and potter round its apple, pear and peach orchards. The vineyard is a feat of engineering itself as it hangs over the sheer cliff face, round the castle.

Aosta Feasting

A mellow evening sees us eating with Pina and her husband, Salva, at his cousin’s restaurant, La Cave de Tiller. The backlit Roman ruins beside us eerie yet romantic. We’ve got loads of catching up to do. Well, to be fair, Pina and myself probably do 80% of the talking, the men 20%, if they’re lucky. Lightly battered vegetables as an appetiser are delicious, crisp outside, succulent and sweet inside…Then, the aubergine and scamorza (a smoked cheese) bake bursting with rich flavour.

San Bartolomeo

Pina drives us up the twisting valley past Nus, to Porliod’s beautiful picnic area, with pine trees, stone barbecues, wooden trough fountains, geraniums, the sharp toothed mountains on the horizon.

We walk the trail through a rustic stone village, by a beautifully lonesome stone house, complete with wooden balconies and compulsory geraniums. Calves come nosing round to see what we’re up to, their bells ringing. Goats with their kids are just as curious.

We cross the river and follow the peaceful trail along the lush valley, overlooked by towering mountains, for 1 hour 50 minutes to the Rifugi Magià where Seán tucks into beef stew with cheese-topped polenta and Pina and me devour gnocchi with the local blue cheese. This is real mountain food, gutsy enough to keep a shepherd going all day.

Our walk back is marked by the silent grandeur of this Alpine Valley. Those mountains fill our souls with awe just as much as the mountain food filled our stomachs.