After the non-stop madness of the winter season, it takes a little while to adjust to the void that is inter-season.

Of course there are always things to do, but they’re rarely exciting and usually involve some sort of French bureaucracy. For example, I spent two and a half hours in the tax office in Bourg d’Oisans yesterday, waiting for advice on my income tax form. Once that was completed I found myself with a free and sunny afternoon. What better way to pass a chunk of time than with a long walk with a good friend?

Our mission – because it’s always good to have a mission in life! – was to provide sugary sustenance to some friends who are renovating a chalet, and get a bit of a work-out at the same time. Louise had baked brownies, now we just needed to deliver them to the neighbouring village of Villard Reculas.

We set-off down the path from Alpe d’Huez to Huez Village. Starting next to the VFD office at the bottom of the resort, the path winds through the fields, cutting across the main road and through the back of the mini-village of Maona. Exploring Huez from the top is by far the best way, not just because it’s steep but because the most beautifully renovated barns seem to be clustered together at the top. We had a peek at some lovely modern stained-glass windows, bijou gardens and gravity-defying decking.

Once you reach the church, take the main road to the right and pass under the télévillage lift, the bubble lift that runs between the village and the resort. From here we took the road to Villard Reculas. It’s single-lane for most of the way and gives some great views of the valley as it’s literally cut into the cliff face. It’s generally a quiet road but do be aware that you share it with drivers who won’t be expecting pedestrians, so stay to the side of the oncoming traffic.

After the fairly steep descent into the village it was a relief to start slowly climbing up again. The road levels out after about ten minutes and it’s a gentle walk around the headland and into Villard Reculas. Here we stopped for a good hour to explore the chalet and share the brownies. The boys bought the chalet as a wreck and have completely reworked the inside, plus adding a new roof.

It’s now a self-catering luxury pad, the kind of place you dream of visiting… the master bedroom has a stunning view of the mountains and a bath right there in the room with you. The boys built it all with their own hands and the simple wood and white décor whispers of understated luxury.

Leaving the boys to finish building another staircase, we wound up through the village on the main road to the ski lifts. Here you take the path to the right, passing a small lake and it’s uphill all the way and through a few trees until you join the main path to Alpe d’Huez.

From here the path is reasonably flat, descending to the resort and popping you out by the Shanghri-La apartment building. Looking for a bit more of a challenge, we strayed off the main path and zig-zagged up a tiny track to the weather station on top of the ridge.

There’s a great view of Alpe d’Huez from here and the option to climb even higher to the top of the Signal, a route I took this winter. We opted for the lower path, which – after you walk the length of the ridge – slowly descends into the trees and brings you round the base of the Signal to the Rond Point des Pistes, the base of the DMC lift. A good afternoon’s hike!

More precise directions for this hike are difficult to provide, as the we took various paths marked on the official map but you can get an idea by following Route 9 to Huez, Route 8 to Villard Reculas and Route 13 to Alpe d’Huez.

Click on the links or on the menu above for more on Alpe d’Huez in the summer and hiking hiking in the Oisans region.