Rortie Bleue (trail route no. 7)

The common barberry is a bush with long thorns arranged in threes, and with oval serrated leaves. In spring, it produces clusters of yellow flowers, which later develop into red, oval and elongated berries. These tart fruits are edible and can be made into jellies... if you have the patience to gather them! This shrub grows almost everywhere.

Elle correspond à une zone de surcreusement lors des glaciations : le glacier freiné par le verrou de roche dure de Pallon, a creusé une dépression. Au retrait des glaciers, un lac est resté coincé derrière ce verrou, peu à peu comblé par des alluvions. C'est maintenant un espace agricole facilement mécanisable.

The valley was created as the result of glacial overdeepening, that is to say, when the glacier came to a halt against the Pallon hard rock bar, it created a depression. When the glaciers retreated, a lake was left behind this rock bar and was gradually filled up by alluvial deposits. From a historical point of view, the Protestant pastor Félix Neff fundamentally altered life in the valley in 1826 by founding a training college for primary school teachers, developing irrigation processes and teaching new crop growing methods, among other things…

Perché sur un bloc au milieu de la rivière, un oiseau trapu, à la queue courte, brun avec une grande bavette blanche, se balance de haut en bas avec la queue dressée. Puis il plonge et ne réapparaît que quelques instants plus tard. Cet oiseau chasse ainsi, plongeant puis marchant à contre-courant au fond de l'eau en quête de larves aquatiques d’insectes, de petits crustacés ou petits poissons, soulevant les galets avec son bec pour les déloger. 

This inconspicuous little orchid grows on moss, in the undergrowth of the pine forest. Growing at the base of the stem, its leaves are oval and pointed, with a network of veins. The upright stem only bears a few scales. Covered in a fine down, the white flowers are arranged in the form of a spiral spike, facing the same way. A little gem that is worth keeping an eye out for!

The fir thrives on this north-exposed slope, called the ubac. Its needles have two white stripes on their undersides. They are arranged on either side of the boughs, and not all the way around them, which distinguishes it from the spruce. The elongated cones stand upright, rather than hanging downwards. They grow in large number, often mingling with larch trees under whose shade they can grow. By contrast, the larch - the "tree of light" - cannot grow under the cover of fir trees.

Flattened paths through the reeds, and holes 6 to 7 cm in diameter... the southern water vole has been here! This large rodent with dark brown fur on its back digs its burrow in the banks of the stream. This species, which lives close to water, causes no damage to crops. Not a prolific breeder, its numbers are low and it is threatened with extinction. 

The black pine did not arrive here of its own accord. It was introduced by the National Forestry Agency and was planted to stabilise eroded mountain areas. It can be identified by its long needles which are grouped in pairs and by its large cones. 

The floor of the pine forest is carpeted by a creeping sub-shrub with glossy oval evergreen leaves. In spring, the bearberry produces small bell-shaped flowers which are white and edged with pink. They will turn into red berries, edible but floury. Bears love them, hence their name. It is a drought-tolerant plant. 

The birds that are constantly swooping around the cliff are crag martins. They are brown with a beige underside. They have built their nests under small overhangs. This species is very common in the Alps. Partially migratory, crag martins return to the Mediterranean coast in winter, where they join resident populations. So it is the first bird to reappear in the valleys of the Pays des Écrins in late February and the last to leave in October!

La vallée correspond à une zone de surcreusement lors des glaciations : le glacier freiné par le verrou de roche dure de Pallon, a creusé une dépression. Au retrait des glaciers, un lac est resté coincé derrière ce verrou, s'étendant jusqu'aux Ribes (« les rives ») et peu à peu comblé par des alluvions propices à l'agriculture.

In June and early July, the rocks are brightened up here and there by large orange flowers: the fire lily is a splendid plant which grows in the mountains of Europe. It grows in rocky or bush-covered terrain and even - why not? - right on the cliff faces, in dry areas. It is a protected species. 

Un chêne s'accroche sur les vires de la via ferrata : c'est le chêne pubescent, aux feuilles marcescentes : elles sèchent l’automne mais restent sur l’arbre tout l’hiver. Il a été nommé pubescent car ses jeunes rameaux, ses bourgeons et parfois le dessous de ses feuilles est pubescent, c'est-à-dire recouvert d’un fin duvet. La forêt de pin sylvestre et de chêne pubescent est une forêt typique des adrets montagnards dans les vallées intra-alpines. 

Ses fleurs rappellent celle du lys, d’où son nom. On peut en effet la confondre avec le lys des Alpes, encore nommé lys de Saint-Bruno. Touts les deux ont des belles fleurs blanches à six tépales (sortes de pétales) mais, alors que celles du lys des Alpes sont grandes et peu nombreuses, celles de la phalangère sont plus petites (environ 2 cm de long) et nombreuses. Elle pousse sur les coteaux secs, pierreux et ensoleillés.

Formé au début de l'ère secondaire, il y a plus de 200 millions d'années, par l'accumulation de sédiments dans des fonds marins situés à l'est de l'actuel pays des Écrins, ce calcaire fait partie de la « nappe briançonnaise ». Cette nappe de sédiments a été charriée vers l'ouest par les forces tectoniques rapprochant l'Europe de l'Afrique et qui sont à l'origine de la formation des Alpes. Cette nappe est venue chevaucher d'autres roches.

The history of Freissinières is linked to that of the Waldensians, who found refuge in this valley and in other Alpine valleys in the thirteenth century. The followers of this religious movement - which later embraced the reformation - were deemed to be heretics and therefore persecuted. This cave, in which Waldensians sought refuge after being taken by surprise, witnessed massacres perpetrated by the Inquisition. 

Le Pays des Ecrins a été précurseur en matière d’installation de via ferrata. C’est à Freissinières, en 1988, que fût équipée la première via ferrata française à vocation touristique. La via ferrata des Vigneaux a été inaugurée dans la foulée. Aujourd’hui, le territoire compte 7 via ferrata de tous niveaux, souvent implantées dans des lieux emblématiques : la falaise de l’horloge à l’Argentière, les gorges du torrent d’Ailefroide aux Claux, les gorges de la Durance, les falaises de Freissinières, etc.

A large pale yellow butterfly with black stripes flutters from bush to bush. There is a "tail" at the tips of the posterior wings, marked with an orange and blue blotch. The scarce swallowtail lives in hot, dry environments. It favours uncultivated land where blackthorn and hawthorn grow, on which the female lays her eggs and where the caterpillars develop.  

The common redstart can be told apart from its cousin, the black redstart by its white eyebrow (hence its French name which is translated as "white-browed redstart") and its orange breast. At least for the male, since the female of both birds is duller and brownish, but the female common redstart also has an orangey tail. It returns from Africa in early April and searches the areas to find a hollow in a tree or in an old wall where it builds its nest. 

Félix Neff was a Swiss Protestant pastor. He was responsible for the Protestant Revival in the Freissinières valley in the seventeenth century. He also set up the first education college for primary school teachers in France, in Dormillouse in 1826. He was also behind new irrigation and house-building techniques, developments which improved the everyday lives of the local people. 

The church of Sainte Marie-Madeleine was built in the seventeenth century. It is thought to be a former Protestant church which escaped destruction in 1684 when Louis XIV was leading an anti-Protestant drive. The Protestant church is then thought to have undergone works to convert it into a Catholic church.

The name Freissinières comes from the old word freissinière meaning "black ash". This municipality, which extends as far as the Col des Terres Blanches and the Col de Freissinières, both of which overlook the Champsaur valley, is made up of thirteen hamlets, although none of them are called Freissinières! Archaeological excavations carried out twenty years ago show that sites at high altitude (such as Faravel) were occupied on a seasonal basis from the retreat of the glaciers 12,000 years ago (Upper Palaeolithic period) and that this occupation continued after that.