Down in the foothills at 1,800m, cows with bells on their necks were being driven to summer milking stations. Elaine pointed out dozens of alpine flowers – yellow and purple gentian, red and bladder campion, saxifrage, stonecrop, arnica daisy, black vanilla orchid. I wanted to try out some sections of the Tour du Beaufortain, a lesser-known circuit than the popular Tour du Mont Blanc. After pausing to buy supplies in the market at Bourg St Maurice, I took the road into the mountains and over the Cormet de Roselend pass before lacing up my walking boots and heading for the hills.I climbed 800m that afternoon, the vegetation changing with the altitude. In summer the grass is gathered and left to dry before being piled into the hayloft for winter fodder.

Flowers go in, too, vivid splashes of red, pink and yellow that turn the haylofts into Impressionist paintings.From here I travelled into the Beaufortain for some of the most spectacular walking in France. There is a chapel, whitewashed and peeling, and hay meadows bursting with wild flowers. This is one of the traditional alpage villages, where shepherds lead their flock during the annual summer transhumance. Both chalets are on the lower slopes and I had to remind myself that at 1,500m I was higher than Ben Nevis.An easy walk from Sainte-Foy leads to Le Monal, a listed village of sturdy stone cottages and milk barns, surrounded by larch forests in the shadow of Mont Pourri. At Yellowstone Chalet, I lay in a Jacuzzi in front of a huge picture window watching the sun set.

From the balcony of Chalet Chevalier, in the hamlet of Le Planay Dessous, I could gaze across the valley to the glacier on Mont Pourri and the figure of a chevalier seemingly chiselled out of the rock. In winter, this is at the heart of perhaps the busiest ski area in the world – the mega-resorts of Tignes, Les Arcs and Val d’Is? are all close by – but in summer it is just another alpine village with a population of locals and expats Several of the ski chalets stay open in summer for walkers. I stayed in Sainte-Foy, a small-scale ski resort in the Tarentaise valley. Markets and festivals feel genuinely French rather than laid on for tourists.This is a great season for walking, from gentle strolls in the valleys to serious mountain hikes.