View towards the Vallée de l'Arc

"At the bottom of this glacial valley, with a typical ""trough"" profile, flows the Arc, with floods that are often of titanic proportions, such as that of 1957. But in spite of this, the road on its right bank was given the pretty name of ""chemin du petit bonheur” (path of little happiness), the only way to access Bonneval-sur-Arc before the construction of the road. Bonneval is the last and highest permanent village of the Upper Maurienne standing at 1,800 metres. Ÿou can make out the first houses at the bottom of the photograph. On a landform such as this, agricultural land is concentrated along the river on the flattest surface for gardens and particularly so for hay meadows. The path leads from one to the other and the lighter patches have already been mown. The cows graze on the steeper slopes until they reach their alpine pastures downstream of the Col de l’Iseran."