

We continued on the Grand Balcon Sud with stops to eat the wild raspberries growing along the way. The path was dry and, as always, well marked. It was a simply beautiful walk in the peace of the mountains.
We reached Plan Pratz lift station in a little under two hours and filled up our water bottles from the tap outside the restaurant, which was closed. The path then rose steeply on to Le Brevant, clinging to the side of the cliff in steep zig zags.

As we approached Le Brevant we lost sight of the Mont Blanc massif and entered a world of scree and boulders. A desolate moonscape of a place, incredibly bleak, fearsome and beautiful.

After some scrambling up rocks, where I was too scared to look down, up some ladders and then scrambling up some rocks we reached the top of Le Brevant.

What a view! The morning cloud in the valley below was burning off and Mont Blanc was slighlty hazy. Nevertheless we took some photos and then braced ourselves for the long, steep and tiring climb down to Les Houches 1.5km below. Looking back we Saw the chair lift hanging out impossibly from the cliffs. How on earth did they managed to construct it? You can just see it on the right of the mountain in the photo below.

The sun was hot and we were glad to reach the Belachat refuge, where we ate omlettes and tarte aux myrtilles for lunch.

Then down once more, my thigh muscles aching, my toes thumping into my boots and my ankles sore. A ravine with a handrail made a change from the zig-zags and caused Nigel and Laurence to shout at me for precariously using poles when I should have been using the hand rail - which I hadn't spotted. This was not a place to slip.
Safely around the ravine we continued down in the shade of the fir trees, picking up speed as the the path became wider less precipitous. The descent seemed to take forever, in fact it was just under three tiring hours trudging downhill before we arrived back in Les Houches and made our way to the SNCF station.
What a walk! The awesome scenery and the friendly and inspiring people that we met along the way combined to make our trip a hugely enjoyable and memorable experience.
Tomorrow we leave France for Italy. Until the next time, au revoir.

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Location:Chamonix - Hotel Le Richmond