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
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