Day 8 La Fouly to Champex

Rain, rain, rain. It seemed to rain all last night and was raining when we woke up this morning. After a brief dry interlude it started to drizzle once more and it was cold. Cold enough to see your breath. But the good thing about walking, especially walking up hills, is that you soon get warm, as long as you don't stop!

Today is the easiest day of the TMB. We set off by the river out of La Fouly passing through beautiful misty conifer forests and little wooden, chocolate-box Swiss chalets. A lovely walk.





I can imagine that in the sunshine with clear views to the surrounding mountains, it would be stunning. Still, the clouds clinging to the hill sides had their own fragile beauty.



Laurence pulled out a chocolate bar and we each had a piece. Munching on Swiss chocolate walking on a farm track in the Swiss alps - classic! We heard a car engine behind us and stepped off the track for it to pass, surprised when it stopped and the driver held out a pair of gloves. Laurence had dropped them when he got out his chocolate. The farmer saw and drove after us with them. How kind was that?

The sight of the first buildings of Champex clinging to the top of a valley high above us was surprising, even though we knew that the last hour or so of the day was all uphill. The path, called the 'sentier champignon' or mushroom path, up through the trees was scattered with wooden sculptures of mushrooms and woodland animals which seemed to get more and more bizarre as we got towards Champex, so much so that I began to wonder about the type of mushrooms that grew in the forest!



All too soon we arrived at Champex. Our hotel here, Hotel Alpina, is pretty special and even more welcome because the dorm last night was the most basic that we have been in. We ate in the hotel this evening and the meal was 10/10 superb.

Sadly the weather - there will be strong winds and snow above 1700m tomorrow and 15 cm above 2000m - has caused the UTMB marathon to be rerouted and the runners will not pass us.

How lucky we are, we are getting the bad weather on the lower part of the route, just having to miss out on the Fenetre d'Arpette, and by the time we get to the top of the Chamonix valley it should be clear again.

So happy to be snug and warm while it is freezing outside!


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Location:Champex Lac

Bonatti to La Fouly

The day started off overcast but dry.



The rain clouds chased us down the valley for the first hour and then after a brief warning shower the taps turned full on and it poured. Luckily for us we were just approaching a station where they had set up a large tent for the UTMB ultra marathon, which is due to start in a couple of days, so we stopped to pull on our over trousers and then ducked into the nearby bar for a thick, steamy, hot chocolate.

It rained steadily for the next couple of hours, turning the steep path into a slippery mud bath in places and making the climb up to Col du Grand Ferret really tiring. In good weather the view from the Swiss border back down the Val Veny through Italy to the France is spectacular today. It was artistically veiled in mist and cloud.



And we were so happy to reach the top!!!







As soon as we passed into Switzerland the track changed and became more like a parkland path. We passed day trippers (I assume) with umbrellas and looking very Swiss! At La Perle farm we ate scrumptious omlettes for lunch and Laurence had a glass of milk which must have come fresh from the cows.

The drizzle continued on and off for the rest of the day and the clouds hung around the valley. We arrived at La Fouly to a huge, empty gite with no one in sight and a note welcoming the Laxtons. Nigel has gone to explore the village to see where we can eat dinner tonight. Not sure about breakfast tomorrow.


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Location:La Fouly

Courmayeur to Rifugio Walter Bonatti

We enjoyed another sumptuous breakfast in the hotel and I tucked into fresh orange juice, a couple of cups of coffee, fresh fruit salad with yoghurt, and a chocolate croissant. I passed on the bowl of Swiss chocolate pieces and a variety of cheeses, cold meats, eggs, cakes, breads, crisp breads, biscuits and muffins. Breakfast is obviously a serious meal in Italy.

We bought a doughnut and a piece of pizza for lunch on our way out of town - how could we even contemplate eating more after that breakfast??? and headed out of town up the hill.

Just as we had a steep walk down into Courmayeur a couple of days ago, we had a similarly steep climb up out the opposite side of the valley. The early morning air was cool and even as the sun rose above us, we were still shaded by the larch trees which covered the hills. After a steady pace for ninety minutes we found ourselves up at the Rifugio Bertone where we were rewarded with stunning views down to Courmayeur.



The owners of the hut were in the kitchen bottling the wild blueberries that grow all over the hills and making a liqueur in quart sizes jars. We bought some cool drinks and watched the helicopter delivering supplies to the rifugio as we ate our doughnuts.



Then we set off once again, this time along a gentle balcony walk with views all the way back towards the Col de la Seigne where we crossed the French border just a few days ago.



We ambled along in the sun picking the bilberries with blue fingers and arrived at our destination for the night about 3 hours later as a brief, light shower cooled the air. The rifugio Bonatti is great; quite modern, with well laid out dorms, showers and amenities.



I had a shower and went outside to lay in the sun with Nigel drinking an icy beer with a view that it would be hard to beat. This is definitely the life.




The clouds rolled in and the thunder storm broke at about 6pm with heavy rain lashing the windows. Dinner was fantastic and fingers crossed the storm will have blown itself out by tomorrow although a couple of walkers from Stockport said that the forecast is for rain tomorrow and snow the day after over 2000m. On verra!

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Location:Rifugio Walter Bonatti

Rest day

Maybe it's only when something is taken away, even for a short while, that it's appreciated, things like a clean bed of my own and a hot shower. The first thing I did in the hotel was to run a bath and wash my hair. The second thing was to flop on the bed and sleep! Bliss!

Today has been a lazy day and given us time to take stock both of our equipment and of our various aches and pains.

I think that we had pretty well packed the right gear. I debated in Chamonix whether to bring a spare pair of socks or a pair of gloves. I chose the socks thinking that if we had a really wet day I would be glad of dry socks and the temperatures had been up in the 30s, so who needs gloves. Wrong! My hands were freezing on the Col du Four and socks made poor substitutes for gloves and although Laurence laughed at me, they were better than nothing! So gloves were on my shopping list. Laurence bought a couple of T-shirts, but then he is a bit of a shop-a-holic, not sure who he gets that from!

In terms of aches and pains my feet are in really good shape and I put most of that down to taping up my heels with micro pore on day one of the walk and using socks with separate toes under my wool walking socks. I hadn't found any problems going up the hills, provided I paced myself, but after the steep downhill sections on the Col du Four and down into Courmeyeur my thighs felt pretty sore and the the descent into Courmeyeur also got my knees. I'm not sure what exercises I could have done to better prepare me for going down hill - I need to look that up when I get home for the next time. It could be my lack of technique as much as anything, growing up in Boston (Lincolnshire) I didn't get much practice on hills!

Well the alarm is set for tomorrow and I am looking forward to another excellent breakfast in the hotel before we head off to hills once more!


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Location:Hotel Berthold, Courmeyeur

Day 4 Elisabetta to Courmeyeur

We spent last night in the rifugio Elisabetta Soldini. The hut is in a magical location overlooking the peaceful Val Veni at the foot of a glacier. Inside the rifugio it was organized chaos, with just a couple of people checking in the eighty or so walkers who slept the night and constantly supplying them with food, wine and beer. What a hard job those guys have and they manage to stay polite and friendly through it all. The dinner was amazingly good too, we had wild mushroom risotto followed by veal with honey and mashed potato, apple cake and a glass of red wine.



The hut also had a couple of working showers - a three euro token purchasing three minutes of hot water - heaven after Bonhomme. I was tired and went to bed early but didn't get a great sleep. Our dorm was in a corridor and I mean that literally. It had a long mattress for five people and we all lined up with our heads in the corridor and our feet just under the eaves of the roof. We had people passing to go down the stairs to the bathrooms below all night. I' sure some of them were wearing clogs. For Laurence it was worse because he was about a foot longer than the mattress.

We were up and out by 7.30am and the air felt wonderful: fresh, invigorating and icy cold. In fact we saw several patches of ice by the path. I had been told that the reflections of the mountains in the Lac du Miage was spectacular and so we took a short detour only to be disappointed - the lake was no more than a puddle. Not sure why, global warming? Dry winter? In fact we had to laugh at a notice warning us to beware of tidal waves sweeping us off the banks into the lake - plop!

We returned to the main TMB route to climb steeply up past abandoned stone farm buildings and through alpine pastures to the sound of cattle placidly grazing on the lush grass and their musical bells creating a timeless scene.


All the way up the path the south face of the Mont Blanc range stretched out majestically in front of us. Impossibly huge and awe-inspiring, I knew that I didn't have the skills to take a photo that would do it justice - but that didn't stop me from trying!








The balcony walk to the Maison Veille, where we had lunch, was beautiful.




Then it was a horribly steep and dusty path down to Courmeyeur 1200m in the valley below. Thankfully, much of it was in the shade of pine-scented spruce trees, but the walk down was still hot and uncomfortable and my knees and thighs were sore and tired by the time we reach the pretty village of Dolonne with it's bright red geranium-decked stone houses and cool, narrow streets.


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Location:Courmayeur, Italy

Day 3 Croix du Bonhomme to Elisabetta

The storm had blown itself out in the night, but when the sun rose the hut was shrouded in cloud and visibility was about 50m. We had breakfast with the American ladies and two Germans all walking the TMB and hung around chatting and waiting for the cloud to burn off. But you can only wait so long when you're eager to be off and decided at 8.30 to chance it and hope that the weather got better not worse as the day wore on.

We hiked up to the Col du Fours (2665m) and it looked desolate in the mist, steep with grey shale as far as the eye could see. We could have been on another planet.




Suddenly the sun broke through the low cloud giving us glimpses of the mountains and the valley far below, amazed, Laurence let out a whoop that echoed off the surrounding cliffs.




The descent took about 2 hours, muddy in places, and we bought a hunk of local cheese at the little farm in the bottoms. The farmer took us into the store where he had over a hundred huge rounds of cheese maturing in the cellar. His dog took a special interest in Nigel and rounded him up with some serious barking!



By lunchtime it was really sunny, but the wind was bitingly cold. We stopped at the refuge at the foot of Col de la Seign for an amazing piece of blueberry tart to refuel us up for the climb. It's surprising how a slope that looks so benign can keep you pretty well out of breath for the whole two hours it takes you to get up it.




But get up we did and stepped over the border from France into Italy. Ciao!



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Location:Refugio Elisabetta

Day 2 Les Contamines to Col de Le Croix du Bonhomme

A perfect start to the day with light cloud and the first few kilometers on a flat track by the stream up to the beautiful little chapel of Notre Dame de la Gorge.




The heart got its first workout of the day as we started to climb up the roman road by the church. The climb was slow and steady and we stopped for a break at the Refuge Nant Borant - strangely it was no surprise that Laurence picked chantilly and nutella waffles!

After a flattish patch in the valley passing fully laden mules, we headed up, up, up to the Col du Bonhomme. Just below the col we crossed our first 200m or so of snow in a north facing valley. Hoping that is wasn't a sign of things to come, we pressed on, taking short breaks when I felt the need to get my heart rate down, and after a long climb at 2329m we reached the top.






We rested for a while absorbing the view but too soon started to feel chilled in the wind so we headed on up to our final Col for the day, the Croix du Bonhomme at 2483m.





Very happy and satisfied, we headed down to our refuge for the night. Believe me, my feet were also pretty happy to see the hut just below the col.




The really good news was that the hut was full and we had a booking; the bad news was that the spring had run dry and there were no showers and one small hand basin between 100 people! Luckily they had Leffe on draft and that seemed to mask the smell of unwashed bodies quite nicely.

We were sharing a 6 bed dorm with three interesting, retired American ladies who were members of the Oregan mountaineering club. One made the very natural mistake of thinking our family was a father hiking with his son and daughter!!! Made my day, although I have to admit it wasn't very light in the room.

Later that evening, in the safety of the hut with a glass of the Savoie red, we watched a storm approach from Les Chapieux, thunder and lightening followed by hail and snow. Some people camping just over the hill ran to the hut for shelter as the cloud closed us in for the night.


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Location:Refuge Col de la Croix du Bonhomme

Les Houches to Les Contamines

We woke up to the patter of rain, but by the time we had eaten breakfast and packed our bags the rain had cleared. The way marked TMB path no longer starts on the Chemin du Bonnet opposite the Hotel Slalem as described in the Cicerone book, but a couple of hundred meters further up. This caused a slight, brief map altercation resulting in me being banned from using the m.a.p. word or looking at m.a.p.s for the duration of the trip. A bit harsh I thought because I don't always get us lost!

Some wooden steps soon had us high above the pretty alpine chalets in the village and our hearts pounding. And if that wasn't enough, the view down the valley of the Arve was breathtaking with the sun breaking through the low cloud in wide beams. So to the music of cowbells and cockerels we turned our back on the Chamonix valley and headed on up.




This path was extremely well sign posted, steep in parts, but well maintained all the way up to the Col de Voza at 1653m. We passed a couple of small bar restaurants which were closed but the hotel at the tram station was open and we had hot chocolate and ice cream looking out at the Bionnassay glacier. Decadent!

The main climb of the day done, we headed down towards the small hamlet of Bionnassay where we saw goats and giggling children riding donkeys. The place looked ancient with the roofs of the chalets covered in a fish scale of thick stone slabs typical of the area. We carried on down past a tiny church towards the Bionnassay torrent which we could hear thundering in the steep valley below us. As we approached we could smell the water in the air and the temperature dropped several degrees.








A steep climb after the bridge led to a forest track and then down to a couple of pretty villages surrounded by alpine meadows where we stopped to refill our water bottles in the stone troughs and splash our faces and arms with the icy mountain water. Then all the way down into Les Contamines where we stopped at a bar for more ice creams and a cold beer that tasted like nectar!

What a perfect day.



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Location:Les Contamines Montjoie

Ready or not

The Tour du Mont Blanc, around the highest mountain in Europe, is arguably one of the best walks in the world.  Over the next 10-12 days we will be walking the 170km route anti-clockwise starting in Les Houches using the Tour of Mont Blanc Cicerone guide by Kev Reynolds.   We plan to roughly follow the daily itinerary outlined in the book but depending on variables like the weather and the state of our feet we may vary the pace and the route.

To give us maximum flexibility we have only booked accommodation for the first three nights - any more would give us too much of a headache cancelling if we were to change our plans but booking less in the August peak holiday period seemed too risky.  As it was the CAF refuge in Les Contamines-Montjoie was full so we have booked into Hotel Le Christiania  for the first night.

We are flying into Geneva and catching the alpybus transfer to Chamonix, then spending a couple of days there to get over jet lag before setting off on the walk.  

The  Chamonix weather forecast for the last week has been very hot - over 30C  and in the low 20s at 2000m with thunderstorms in the afternoons so I'm expecting to see a wide variety weather conditions.  That's OK, although we have packed light (my pack weighs just 7kg and that includes 1.5litres of water) we have most scenarios covered.

Well I'm ready as I'll ever be....are we there yet?