Max Leonard: Bunker Research and Adventuring in the Southern Alps

In southern France, high above the villas and the pleasure palaces of the Côte d’Azur, there is the Alpine Extension of the Maginot Line. These bunkers were built before the Second World War to protect against Mussolini, but now they are marooned, forlorn and crumbling, in some of the most beautiful and remote parts of France.

Author, cyclist and hiker Max Leonard will talk about his book Bunker Research and take you on a whistlestop tour of the military history of the southern French Alps from Hannibal onwards – and explain why this history makes the area perfect for adventuring today.