Welcome to our Adventure Journal! http://www.adventurejournal.com Long Distance Walks, Hiking, Backpacking, Munro & Mountain Climbing, Camping & Adventures Tue, 16 Apr 2013 19:38:26 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Geneva http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/geneva/ http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/geneva/#comments Thu, 07 Mar 2013 16:30:25 +0000 Jo http://www.adventurejournal.com/?p=2192 Having finished our amazing Tour de Mont Blanc circuit, we spend a couple of days in Geneva before flying home. Here are some of the photos we took.

]]> http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/geneva/feed/ 0 La Flegere to Les Houches: Tour de Mont Blanc http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/la-flegere-to-les-houches-tour-de-mont-blanc/ http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/la-flegere-to-les-houches-tour-de-mont-blanc/#comments Thu, 07 Mar 2013 16:20:24 +0000 Jo http://www.adventurejournal.com/?p=2186 Thursday 15th September 2011

Distance: 17km Time: 6.5 hours

For our last day on the trail, we wake to an amazing sunrise, with the moon still visible. We have to get up early, as it’s a long day today, though luckily it’s mainly downhill! Despite this Alan still tries to sabotage the alarm for a bit of extra sleep!  Heading off earlier than usual, we follow the trail which traverses the side of the mountain. Mainly flat, this fantastic trail has great views throughout it’s length, with exposed ledges and cliff-hugging sections making it interesting. Some sections are a little confusing for the navigator, but the true trail is marked by the typical red paint.

The path ends at a rather scarred piece of land, Plan Praz, where a cable car mid station sits amongst various ski equipment and runs set on an over-eroded shoulder of land. Some sheep here look very hot in their thick fleeces. Meanwhile some paragliders use the area to take off. From here we have our last climb of the trail up to the top station of the cable car which sits near the top of Le Brevent. Le Brevent has been described as the best hill to climb for views of Mont Blanc, so we are delighted to have such a good sunny day! This does make for a rather hot climb though.

The path zig-zags up the grassy slopes before heading round the back of Le Brevent for the final approach. By the time we get to the Col du Brevent, the landscape has completely changed, and we find ourselves on a rocky path surrounded by boulders and other rocky formations. The GR5 joins our route here, and the views looking down the valley to where the GR5 came from are spectacular, with the mountains looking like a giant dinosaur backbone. The going starts to get tougher from here, with rocky paths and short scrambles marked by red paint.

Passing through an eerie boulder filled basin, Jo searches for a place to go to the toilet, and amongst the rocks finds a perfectly formed seat complete with hole in the middle, and some privacy away from the path. Continuing on the path continues with it’s deterioration, and we once again find ourselves climbing up ladders and scrambling up rocky slopes with metal handrails. Then suddenly we come out on a track!

We have made it to the top of Le Brevent, with it’s amazing views, and cablecar loads full of tourists many who couldn’t possibly of managed the route we came up! Despite making it to some civilisation, we find the facilities pretty dire up here. The toilets were terrible, the cafe was closed and there is next to no opportunity to fill up our water bottles. Despite this the cable cars are pretty cool, and there are interesting placards giving information about the glaciers in English.

We leave after a long lunch and sunbathe, though Jo finds this has done more harm than good as she leaves with mild sun-stroke! Passing some small ponds of water on the way down, she soaks her top in it before putting it back on wet – and cools down very quickly! Being the last day we are all taking the descent at our own pace. Jen races down ahead and is soon lost out of sight, the rest of us get stuck behind a large group of people who are not considerate enough to let faster hikers pass. Further down we are slowed by a certain amount of tiredness mixed with an urge not to hurt ourselves on the steep winding path complete with hand rails and steep drop-offs! It sounds great when you know it’s downhill all the rest of the way – but after a few hours of downhill you really wish for some flat!

We rejoin as a group just before we take a wrong turn – you would have thought that 4 heads would be better than 1! We end up going round the wrong side of a zoo, and after initially retracing our steps to see where we went wrong, we eventually figure out that both routes join together further on anyway. From here we enter forest, which we continue through for most of the way back to Les Houches. A small clearing in the woods is home to a massive concrete statue of Christ, so large that it cannot be apprecieated from our viewpoint. This is Le Christ Roi, Les Houches answer to Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer.

The slope gradually lessons until we suddenly find ourselves emerging onto a road and walking through the town of Les Houches once again. On reaching the hostel an Australian dude offers to photograph our achievement – he unfortunately has had to abort his TMB attempt due to the huts having now all closed for the season. Alan and Fish celebrate their achievement with an amazing cooked dinner, while Jo and Jen opt for buying a celebratory pizza. Over dinner we dream of what our next great adventure will be as an orthodontist tells us of one of his trips where he was the first person to paraglide the pyranees unguided.

]]> http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/la-flegere-to-les-houches-tour-de-mont-blanc/feed/ 0 Frasserands to La Flegere: Tour de Mont Blanc http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/frasserands-to-la-flegere-tour-de-mont-blanc/ http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/frasserands-to-la-flegere-tour-de-mont-blanc/#comments Thu, 07 Mar 2013 14:14:13 +0000 Jo http://www.adventurejournal.com/?p=2179 Wednesday 14th September 2011

Distance: 9km Time: 4hrs

 

While some of us have a lazy morning, Fish and Alan go for a jog into Argentier to find and buy some food. They strike gold in the form of a super cheap, well-stocked supermarket (Marche U) and consequently overindulge and overbuy. The girls get what they ordered, the boys end up carrying heavier packs for the day.

We leave late-morning right on check-out time, unconcerned about time as today is such a short walk, but excited about the terrain we will be crossing. This section is well known for its scrambling, ladders and metal holds to help with the vertiginous route. We also plan to take a detour to see Lac Blanc, famous for its mirror views of Mont Blanc which can be seen on a clear day reflected off the lake. First though, it’s a rather boring uphill walk retracing our steps to Tre-le-Champ before leaving civilisation behind us and climbing up the hillside mainly through open forest.  To the side of the path, we spot an Ibex with a fawn. Rising above the treeline, upwards progress starts to look impossible as we draw closer to a cliff face. The solution comes into view: some metal ladders pinned to the rock face allow the hiker to continue upwards without any need for climbing skills. Not that climbers aren’t found here as well. An impressive rock pinacle near the ladders seems popular with a group of climbers who take turns to climb it. This is the Aiguillette d’Ardentiere, which looks like quite a fun climb starting on one pinnacle, then crossing the gap to the taller one. We are quite impressed by the fact that there are hooks in the stone to clip into, reducing the need for climbers to put wedges and the likes into the rock.

We start our climb of the cliff, first up ladders, then continuing by a bit of a scramble up between the rocks, before joining another ladder. The views are spectacular for those daring enough to look down! The path gradually gets easier, and we become less relient on metal steps embedded in the rock.

We reach the cairn at the top called the Tete aux Vents, a great spot for a lunch break looking straight down to Argentiere 800m below us. Across the valley a motorway like glacier twists it’s way into the mountains, and around us hovering birds clear away any crumbs that have been left behind.

Continuing on we take a leisurely pace along the top, making sure to catch the turn-off for Lac Blanc, a highly recommended detour if you have the time. It involves a wee bit more uphill, and is quite a slow narrow rocky path, but that’s all part of the fun. As we walk we start to compose funny limericks about different members of the group – most of which are were a little inappropriate or embarassing for entry into the journal. As we near Lac Blanc, the clouds role in seemingly out of spite, and we get a little drizzle. On reaching the lake, the sun is gone completely and all we can see reflected in the waters is clouds! The lake is still very beautiful and peaceful, and a night in the refuge here would be amazing. We hang around for quite a bit, walking round the lake, and generally wasting some time in the hopes that the clouds will go. With only an hours walking from here to our Refuge we have time to spare. Our patience is worth it, and the grey clouds start to lift, though the reflection in the lake is not as clear as it could be.

Continuing on it’s not long before we make it to a cablecar station in an area with lots of “ski scarring”, a land criss-crossed with pistes, tracks and ski lifts. Just below this is the Refuge La Flegere, our accommodation for the night, and our last night on the trail. To celebrate this, everyone books in for dinner and we enjoy a delicious meal of tuna pasta, potato gratin, cheese and a choice of apple tart or chocolate mouse. We even get a table all to ourselves! Some of us even go the extra mile and buy some wine!!! Not only is it our last night on the trail, but it’s the last night this refuge is open. As of tomorrow they will be closed for the winter season and won’t reopen until next Spring – which makes them quite generous on food and drink much to our delight.

]]> http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/frasserands-to-la-flegere-tour-de-mont-blanc/feed/ 0 Lammermuirs to Abbey St Bathans, Southern Upland Way Guide (Day 17), Scotland long distance walk http://www.adventurejournal.com/long-distance-walks-uk/lammermuirs-to-abbey-st-bathans-southern-upland-way-guide-day-17-scotland-long-distance-walk/ http://www.adventurejournal.com/long-distance-walks-uk/lammermuirs-to-abbey-st-bathans-southern-upland-way-guide-day-17-scotland-long-distance-walk/#comments Sun, 24 Feb 2013 23:20:55 +0000 Lano http://www.adventurejournal.com/?p=1981 We wake up feeling a lot more refreshed than yesterday morning and are able to start walking in the am. We find the Lammermuirs to be rather pancake flat on the top, though you still have to climb a wee bit to get up them. We get great haze free views, with lovely colours in the dales below.

We spot a Mountain Hare, recently reintroduced into the area. We find it very easy to spot due to its winter white coat still showing even though the snow is long gone. Alan creeps closer to get a photo, and the hare appears to be undisturbed by the human stalking it. As Alan gets closer, we see why as it streaks off over the moors at incredible speeds – obviously confident in its ability to outrun us.

Twin Law

Twin Law

We’ve got a good day for it, with glorious views, with patchwork of colour all around due to the various fields.

We find our way up onto Twin Law, which has two massive immaculately built cairns with seating in them. The larger of the two has a staircase recessed into it, leading up to a stone bench with a bothy like visitors book. It’s a lovely point. We can see back to the distant forms of the 3 Eildons on the horizon, which we passed near two days.The Lammermuir moors spread vastly around us.

On finishing taking a panarama, Jo packs away the kit in Alans bag for him as she is keen to keep moving. When Alan picks up his rucksack he is shocked to find how much lighter it is. Only Jo apparently has the sense to pack heavier items closer to the back – Alans been storing the relatively heavy panarama making equipment furtherest from his back making the rucksack seem heavier. It makes such a difference that Alan worries he’s left something behind.

The path continues down the other side of Twin Law carin, descending off the moors of the Lammermuir Hills towards a reservoir. The path soon joins a poorly marked track – its more of a path then a track, and we continue our descent to the valley bottom. A wooden footbridge takes us across the river leading to the Watch Water Reservior, and we take the opportunity to fill up on water. If this is the river which fills the reserviour its got to be clean!

The track becomes better defined as it approaches some farmhouse buildings at Scarlaw. A segregated off area beside the farmhouse provides a place for sheep with difficult pregnancies to be kept near by and helped as needed. One of the sheep in this area has unfortunately given birth to a very small stillborne. A second has recently given birth to a rather large lamb, and helps it up onto its feet for its first steps. The lamb is still very shaky, and has damp fur. We notice that lambs don’t seem to care about human presence and when alone will even approach us and look at us with interest. The mother sheep always run away, and can sometimes be seen to be torn between their lamb which refuses to budge and running away from our presense.

Approaching a cattle grid we hear a little lamb baaing and see it pocking its head out the cattle grid. There’s a car coming towards the cattle grid, so Jo takes immediate action in stopping the car and going to the rescue of the young lamb. The car owner happens to be a farmer, though it is not his heard of sheep, he did help the segregated sheep we saw earlier give birth.

Jo fishes the lamb out from the cattle grid, while the farmer tells us a bit about lambing. Seems the pregnant sheep are scanned with ultrasound around the 28th Feb and are separated into fields according to whether they are expecting twins or single sheep. The mothers with single sheep are put up onto a heather moor where they can adequately look after one sheep. The ones with twins or more than two are kept down close to the farm where they can be fed concentrate, and get the better feeding ground of meadows. We find out about the sheep in the segregated pens, the first which went into labour too early and was not producing milk, and the second had a difficult birth as the lamb was very big.

We reach the road over the dam, just before which is a tourist area with a cafe (not open) and picnic tables. We decide to stop here for a spot of lunch before continuing across the dam.

Its on road all the way from the reservoir to Longformacus, a road covered in a lot of dead animals. We pass dead hares, dead rabbits a dead pheasant – Jo stands on one by mistake as she is looking at a butterfly. The road takes us past Rawburn farm with its massive bulls.
Nearing Longformacus there’s a wee park you can take lunch in, and we rest for an hour and a half while the heat of the midday passes.
We pass through Longformacus with its lovely houses, past a large estate with a peacock with a vivid blue neck in the woods of the estate. On asking someone if there is a public toilet in Longformacus we get the response, there’s nothing in Longformacus!

There is however a SUW information shelter with some information about reintroducing mountain hares back into the Lammermuir Hills. The routes been diverted probably to make way for a new looking wind turbine developement. We climb up a hill towards the wind turbines, with cows grazing in the foreground. The way avoids the top of Black Hill due to the wind turbines on the top of the hill, however a side route pointing 50m to a viewpoint takes us closer. We get a good close up look at the windturbines. You could continue walking for 200m if you wanted to as there doesn’t seem to be a set viewing point. To the East we can see an unnamed town, and we get our first view of the sea and the East Coast.

We join a track as we head down the hill through the Lodge Woods, and notice a protest banner on one of the houses asking that no more wind turbines be built on the Lammermuirs. Clearly not everyone thinks of them as majestic and cool like Alan does. We climb up a farmland hill, while being passed by several farm buggies. Up the top of the hill we catch up with one of the lads in a farm buggy who is worryingly trying to freak out the cows. He separates one of the cows from their calf and they bellow loudly in distress, freaking Alan out who is convinced that its a bull getting ready to charge. Giving the cows a wide birth we reach the other side of the field without incidence and climb steeply down by a river onto a forest track. The track takes us through lovely smelling fresh larch woodland, high above a river below for the last 3km towards Abbey St Bathans.

On approaching the small village of Abbey St Bathans we keep our eyes peeled for a suitalbe camping spot. The is difficult as the track passes through steep forested hillside, with farmland closer to the river. In the failing light we manage to find a relatively flat location on the opposite bank next to the river. Though technically part of a cow field, we stay separated from the cows by a thick wall of gorse.

The kist

Unlike the last three kists, this kist is loaded with treasure, and a new kind of badge advertising Scotlands coast to coast. The waymerk is appropriately embelished with the picture of a wind turbine.The kist is a large structure found in the Lammermuirs before Longformacus.

]]> http://www.adventurejournal.com/long-distance-walks-uk/lammermuirs-to-abbey-st-bathans-southern-upland-way-guide-day-17-scotland-long-distance-walk/feed/ 0 Abbey St Bathans to Cockburnspath, Southern Upland Way Guide (Day 18), Scotland long distance walk http://www.adventurejournal.com/long-distance-walks-uk/abbey-st-bathans-to-cockburnspath-southern-upland-way-guide-day-18-scotland-long-distance-walk/ http://www.adventurejournal.com/long-distance-walks-uk/abbey-st-bathans-to-cockburnspath-southern-upland-way-guide-day-18-scotland-long-distance-walk/#comments Sun, 24 Feb 2013 23:20:00 +0000 Lano http://www.adventurejournal.com/?p=1983 After quickly breaking camp we head into Abbey St Bathans for a look around. We speak to a farmer, who lives in the old Youth Hostel, who tells us that he often finds SUW walkers at his door asking to stay in the now non-existant Youth Hostel. A flyer up on a notice board invites the locals to a presentation given by a flight commander about low flying aircraft in the area. We have a look at the small Abbey from which the town gets its name before moving on towards the coast. We leave Abbey St Batthans by a suspension bridge which crosses the Whiteadder Water, and follow the path through the mixed woodland on the opposite bank. A right-angle change in direction is marked by a signpost which points all the way back, almost 200 miles, to Portpatrick where we started. Continuing on a few spots of rain alert us to the fact that we may not have blazing sun all day today, though we remark that it would be hilarious if we finished the SUW after 18 days of blissful walking in the sun, only for it to downpour as soon as we get on the bus.

There’s a lot of farmland walking after Abbey St Bathans, except for a small stand of Scot’s pine which we pass through. In the middle of one field we pass a strangely shaped cairn with a flag of some sort on the top. It looks rather bizarre, stuck in the middle of a field with a fence round it and a bench beside. A plaque tells us that it marks the centenary of the ownership of a local farm by Cockburn family.

Although sunny again, the threat of many thunderous clouds arround us make us keep our waterproofs handy. A view towards the coast confirms our suspisions as over there it is indeed pissing it down.

We continue through colourful rolling farmland for several miles before reaching the A1 which lies in a gorse lined valley with the main east coast railway line.

After Crossing the A1, we find ourselves on an old road, jammed between the A1 and the east coast railway line. Despite the vibrant yellow from the gorse bushes and the blossoming flowers, this is not a very pleasant place to walk. A group of New-age Travellers or Gypsies have taken up residence here in caravans. Kids run around, dogs have their kennels set out on grass, but they don’t seem to care much for the environment. The area is surrounded by their litter, making it look like a rubbish dump. We find the people quite intimidating and we are relieved to leave them behind.

On crossing the east coast railway, Alan decides to stop with his camera posed over the bridge waiting for that all important shot of a train passing by. It takes a full 10 minutes before this happens, much to the annoyance of Jo, who can’t find anywhere non-muddy or comfortable to sit while waiting. When Alan, threatens to stay and wait for the next train because he is not quite satisfied with the photo he took, Jo takes matters into her own hands and drags him across the Pease Burn and into Penmanshiel Woods.

Penmanshiel Woods make a highlight of the days walking, and we find a suitable place for a break on the soft green carpet underfoot. For a laugh we discuss what our price would be to give up now, go home and tell everyone that we were too tired to finish walking the last few miles to the coast. Jo figures that a price cannot be put on this due to the sheer humiliation of telling everyone that she gave up having walked over 200 miles, and only had a few more to go. Alan figures he would be quite happy to live with the humiliation if he were £4000 richer.

With only a couple of miles to go before reaching the coast, we are shocked to find the SUW taking a hairpin bend to travel inland. After careful contemplation of the map, we find to our disbelief that this is indeed the real route, and not just a signpost pointing in the wrong direction. We climb steeply up through the forest for 500m before turning back to the coast. The dense forest obscures all views, though we sense we are high up. On reaching the highest point on the track, we are treated to a sudden, stunning view of the sea, which we find surprisingly close. The view is framed by tall green pine trees to the side, and by bright yellow flowering gorse bushes in the foreground. Toward the coast we can see Torness Power Station, a prominent white building, followed by the intense blue of the sea. The weather has much improved over the day, and bright sunlight intensifies the view. On closer examination, we notice that we can see several other landmarks, including the Paps of Fife, North Berwick Law and The Bass Rock

The views are visible all the way as we head down the hill to join the road next to Pease Dean. Pease Dean is a nature reserve owned by the Scottish Wildlife Trust and consists of a densly wooded valley. We gawk at the amazing variety of tree types from the Pease Bridge, where the main road crosses over the steep sided valley of Pease Dean. The way takes us down through a haven for wildlife. Wildflowers are coming into bloom all around making this a very colourful valley. The area is home to a wide variety of wildlife, including many rare species, and the sheer diversity of plant and animal life in the reserve makes it a very beautiful place to visit. After passing through the nature reserve we find ourselves near Pease Bay, a wide expanse of beach exploited and somewhat ruined by a campsite which appears to claim ownership of it. The area leading up to the beach is covered with row upon row of caravans.

Having reached the coast its just a short walk along the coast, and a short walk inland to Cockburnspath before we reach the end of the Southern Upland Way. We look for and easy way down to the sea in order to complete our coast to coast, but the steep coastal cliffs make this near impossible. The wind gusts over the top of the cliffs making us quite chilly for once, but the views out to sea are spectacular. Where the SUW turns inland, we find our way down to the coast, to a place called Cove Harbour.

East Coast

East Coast

Cove Harbour is a small harbour nestled into the rock face and protected by a man-made harbour wall. Getting onto the harbour wall is easy enough, but to get down to the bay below the cliffs we have to go through the rock face itself by a man-made tunnel. We have completed our coast to coast walk! With plenty of time to spare before our bus back home, Alan takes a panorama of the area from out on the harbour wall.

The journey to the Southern Upland Way finish is a rather uneventful one after the nature reserve and coastal walk. The path takes us over some grassy fields and we are soon in Cockburnspath. This link is probably only here as a means of taking the walker to a place where they can get public transport back home. The locals in Cockburnspath are friendly and help us find the appropriate bus stop and provide us with bus times. As we sit on the bus we realise with disbelief that over the last 18 days we have walked over 212 miles and traveled from Coast to Coast across the Southern Uplands!

The kist

Made by a sculptor who specialises in using scrap materials, this kist is in the shape of a strong box, constructed from gate hinges and is part buried by the side of the path between Longformacus and Cockburnspath.

]]> http://www.adventurejournal.com/long-distance-walks-uk/abbey-st-bathans-to-cockburnspath-southern-upland-way-guide-day-18-scotland-long-distance-walk/feed/ 0 Le Peuty to Frasserands: Tour du Mont Blanc http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/le-peuty-to-frasserands-tour-du-mont-blanc/ http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/le-peuty-to-frasserands-tour-du-mont-blanc/#comments Sun, 10 Feb 2013 17:58:14 +0000 Jo http://www.adventurejournal.com/?p=1938 Tuesday 13th September

Distance: 13km Time: 5.5hours

We are up early after a peaceful nights sleep as there are no snorers in our dorms. It is not completely quiet though as the silence is broken by someone with bad wind several times! We find ourselves hungry and in need of a food shop, so leaving all are gear in the Gite, we head down the road to the slightly larger settlement of Trient, where after a bit of wondering around we find another poorly stocked, horrendously expensive food shop. With food for the day we head back to the Gite and start our climb up to the French-Swiss border. Our conversation turns to excessive hiking gear which people bring, ‘just in case’. We suggest some things we could have brought with us from the practical wise family members telephone numbers, to the impractical iron, and the ridiculous emergency wrestling arena.

It’s a hot day so Jen quickly decides that she will change into shorts. Just as she has her trousers off, she hears some hikers coming, who suddenly start reading there map with great interest! Jo watches the scene with amusement. Suitably dressed we start the climb up towards the border, first through trees where it is nice and cool, then out onto the grassy hillside, where the heat of the day makes the climb difficult. On one of many short rests, Alan teaches Jo how to make a fire with the magnifying glass of her penknife – possibly a useful skill, but we have no need of keeping warm when the sun is this hot!

We each continue at our own pace up to the border, an impressive col with views of Mont Blanc, and an aerial view of  the path down to the valley. The rocky path ahead goes over a small hill with golder and red shrubs. On the border there is also a Refuge which would be an amazing place to spend the night. We stop here for lunch, along with a crowd of other people. It’s a little crowded for our tastes, but the view is so amazing!

Continuing down on the French side, the path follows a ridge over a small hill, giving you a top of the world feeling with continued views as you descend. Jen introduces the rest of the group to Bilberries, a relative of the Blueberry which grows wild over these slopes. Jo is at first wary of being poisoned by trying unfamiliar berries, but at Jen’s reassurance she finds them very tasty.

At the top of the hill we stop for another break so we can enjoy the spectacular views for as long as possible before descending. On the hill opposite we see an adventurous looking zig-zag path scaling the steep mountain, our path for tomorrow, and down in the valley we see the larger town of Argentiere, along with some nearer smaller settlements where we shall be staying the night.

We start our long descent, Jen leading as usual and setting a very quick pace. This proves almost fatal to Alan when falls and ends up having to treat himself until he catches her up. Our path descends quickly and soon enters woods. Calling ahead to our planned accommodation, we find it is now fully booked and we end up booking an alternative gite. Luckily this is only a 10minute walk further on, and one we will have to make anyway, as we plan on shopping for food in Argentiere tomorrow morning.

On the descent Alan tells us all of the book he has been reading which talks of how men are in very primitive way. This leads to a joking challenge from Fish for the alpha male position in the group. Fish usurps but then Alan starts riping his clothes off and wins. This leads to a discussion of roles in our group. Jen is our first-aider and pace-setter, Jo is our navigator, planner and time manager, Alan is our photographer, and poor Fish gets labelled as eye-candy!

We soon come out into civilisation and are directed along back paths behind houses before coming out by a railway line and following the road down to our Gite. Seems this gite is also pretty full, with a large group of special needs adults staying the night. Jo, happy to be in a cheaper country greedily joins the group meal option, while the rest happily cook their own food outside.

]]> http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/le-peuty-to-frasserands-tour-du-mont-blanc/feed/ 0 Champex to Le Peuty: Tour du Mont Blanc http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/champex-to-le-peuty-tour-du-mont-blanc/ http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/champex-to-le-peuty-tour-du-mont-blanc/#comments Sat, 09 Feb 2013 17:15:30 +0000 Jo http://www.adventurejournal.com/?p=1932 Monday 12th September

Distance: 14km Time: 6.5 hours

Another late start this morning, this time very deliberate as we are desperate to take the alternative TMB route through the Fenetre d’Arpette pass, but not if it continues to rain!  We are extremely lucky in that as the morning goes on the rain clears up enough that we think it worth trying the more difficult route. Our gite for last night (Auberge-gite Bon Abri) was pretty amazing and very quiet with only 2 other people staying there. We have no problem spending a bit of extra time there before leaving. We leave to light drizzle, and after a short discussion decide to go for the high route in the hope that by the time we get to the pass the sky will be clear and we’ll get the spectacular views the route is famous for.

We trace our steps back along the road a little to the turn off up the Val D’Arpette (Arpette Valley). The climb starts off gently enough up to Ralais d’Arpette, a mountain hut that we would have possibly stayed at last night if the weather had looked good for this alternative route. We find ourselves some drinking water here and stock up as much as possible for the route ahead – the next water stop is our accommodation tonight, and we are in for a very steep climb between here and there.

As we continue up the valley the landscape gradually changes from gentle wooded slopes, to shrub, and eventually to steep bolder-strewn scree slopes. Ahead jagged peaks seem to block our exit from the valley head, and we spend some time speculating on which pass we are headed to. The clouds clear faster than we could have hoped for, leading to a very hot day and an uncomfortably hot climb. Looking back it becomes clear that we are very high up despite still being in the valley.

Further up the valley the path becomes increasingly steep and hard to follow, before becoming nothing more than a scramble over boulders guided by regular red and white markers. With the pass (or window as its called in French) comes into sight, we have one last hard steep scramble up a near verticle grassy slope before emerging onto the pass. The views are breathtaking!

We stop for a substantial amount of time on the top, taking the time to have a good lunch, scramble up some rocks for a better look at a nearby glacier, and watch the birds who seem to make their living off the scraps left by hungry hikers enjoying the view. The jagged rocks are no less spectacular up close, and must make climbing the mountains on either side near impossible.

We probably start going again a little late, thinking that it’s all down hill from now on and shouldn’t take too long. We were wrong in this assumption as the path going down is so steep and precipitous that even after the dangerous slopes are passed, some of us are still feeling very wary about going too fast. Another problem facing the group is having to ration our food due to not buying enough at our last food shop due to the expensiveness of Switzerland. We look forward to crossing back into France tomorrow and being able to properly stock up.

As we head down the mountain, we are passed by some very rude Americans (from Alaska) and some older guys from Switzerland who have been completely insulted by them. A sudden rumble of thunder gets our heads turning, to find the sound is coming from the glacier. Some huge chunks of ice have just melted off and crashed down from the head of the glacier!

Fish, while deeply engrossed in a conversation on animal welfare, manages to slip and cut his leg, but is not badly injured. Jen, our first aider takes good care of him insisting on cleaning the wound. This makes everyone that little bit more wary of the steep slopes.

As it gets later in the day we realise that at the pace we’re going we may get to our accommodation too late, so we split into two groups, with two of us with experience going fast on rough ground going ahead. We make sure that each group has a map and essential equipment. We need not have worried though, as the gite at Le Peuty is unmanned and open to all, with payment given through an honesty box system. As it is low season there is no danger of the beds filling up.

Both groups arrive within half an hour of each other, and we settle into our super cheap accommodation for the night – payment is only 10 euros! It seems ironic that our cheapest accommodation for the whole trip should be in the most expensive country, and that payment is in euros instead of swiss francs. The gite has a self-catering kitchen on the lower level a large group dormitory on the upper level, which means we don’t have to sit out in the cold to cook!

]]> http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/champex-to-le-peuty-tour-du-mont-blanc/feed/ 0 La Fouly to Champex: Tour du Mont Blanc http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/la-fouly-to-champex/ http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/la-fouly-to-champex/#comments Fri, 08 Feb 2013 23:52:39 +0000 Jo http://www.adventurejournal.com/?p=1920 Sunday 11th September

Distance: 15km Time: 4.5 hours

We set off late this morning, probably because of the bottle of wine last night, but also because there is less pressure on us today as we don’t have as far to walk. We head to the local tourist office and get our accommodation booked for tonight before heading out of town and onto the easiest section of the Tour du Mont Blanc.

We start with an easy amble along the valley floor next to the river, with some hilarious signs warning of the dangers of sudden floods which are a regular occurrence and caused by a nearby hydroelectric power plant. The easiness changes when we join a rather vertigenous path, complete with a chain to hold onto for those with a fear of heights. Next we walk on an unusual ridge of earth which heads into the valley in the most inexplicable direction. This wooded ridge is actually an old pile of debris left from an ancient glacier, but no sign of the debris remains as it has been taken over by trees.

We soon descend to the valley bottom, a beautiful meadowed area with manicured lawns and in places, wild flowers. This area must be trully exceptional in the Spring! We have a lazy lunch on the grass and Jo becomes so relaxed, someone has to tickle her to get her moving again!

The path continues past several small towns, and we stop by a shop in one for refreshments. A garden full of gnomes also attracts our attention.

The last section of the days walk is uphill, mainly through woods, but despite what it sounds, this section is in fact rather interesting. A small cave is the first point of interest, but not much further in to the woods we find ourselves spotting  lots of carved animals, mushrooms, and some pretty dodgy looking phallic-shaped sculptures. Someone has spent a great deal of time carving all the stumps around here making for an interesting walk. It helps take our minds of the increasingly steep climb up to Champex.

It’s quite a shock after all the climbing uphill to come to a lake, but the lake is there with the small town of Champex next to it. We ask direction for, and find a local shop for some food shopping for the next couple of days, but exit with far less food than we had hoped due to the extortionate prices of Switzerland.

As we leave Champex for the short walk to our gite for the night, it starts raining, and we find ourselves in a bit of a race to get our accommodation before getting soaked. It’s a short walk along the road, but there is some confusion as to where we go as the place is along an overgrown path leading off the road. Once settled in we do some cooking under the marquis in the garden with cats for company. This ends up being late night cooking for Jo and Jen, who have to wait well over an hour for Alan and Fish to cook their food on an almost empty gas canister. The rain turns into a thunder storm before we get to bed.

]]> http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/la-fouly-to-champex/feed/ 0 Rifugio Elena to La Fouly: Tour du Mont Blanc http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/rifugio-elena-to-la-fouly-tour-du-mont-blanc/ http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/rifugio-elena-to-la-fouly-tour-du-mont-blanc/#comments Tue, 05 Feb 2013 21:20:52 +0000 Jo http://www.adventurejournal.com/?p=1910 Saturday 10th September

Distance:  9km Time: 4.25 hours

We wake up to the worst kind of weather for the mountains: fog. It is therefore a rather uneventful long morning climb zig-zagging up the slope to the Italian-Swiss border and there is not much to see despite our height. At one point we do get an opening in the clouds and get an aerial view of our hostel for the night. It’s an interesting perspective as you can see how much of the hostel is below the ground and protected from avalanches. Luckily the weather is not so bad that we have to delay, but as we approach the top it gets pretty cold – not suprising given no sun is getting through the clouds, and we are on the same level as the glaciers!

There is quite a crowd gathered at the border, which is suprising as after a mere two minute stop and quick bite to eat we are frozen and keen to get our gloves back on and start moving. The reason for the delay becomes obvious however when we get up to move on. The path we think we should be taking does not appear to be signposted – maybe the sign got lost in the fog! Despite the lack of a view into Switzerland we are reassured by the guidebook that the view is poor compared to the valley we spent the night in and are therefore not missing much.

We find our good weather quickly as we start descending. It’s not long before we come out of the fog into beautiful Swiss sunshine! As we head down, we decide to take a small detour to a viewpoint and get a good look at the valley we are soon to walk along. So overjoyed are we by the sun that some of us start skipping down the mountain! We soon reach the dairy farm of La Peule, which has cashed in on the tourists and offers refreshments and outdoor seating in a beautiful setting above the valley. We cannot resist the temptation and have some extremely expensive lemonade – and use our Swiss Francs for the first time. We later learn that everything in Switzerland is ridiculously expensive given a poor conversion rate as the Swiss Franc is so strong compared to the Euro and the Pound.

After some time lazing in the sun and some lunch we continue along a narrow path to La Fouly our destination for the night. Without realising it we find we have taken the high route yet again – an adventurous narrow path clinging to the valley side before heading down to rejoin the main route. We’re a little worried about accommodation for the night as we tried to call ahead from Rifugio Elena and book a bed in the gite, but the number in our guide book is out of date. As we near La Fouly we keep our eyes open for available accommodation, thinking at the very least we could ask the tourist office in town.

On passing a local, Jo manages a brief conversation in French, before the local switches to English, obviously realising that our French is terrible. After several minutes talking, we ask about local accommodation, and after some thought, she tells us that she has 4 matresses in her attic and that we are welcome to stay the night with her! Instead of accompanying us to her house, she rather suprisingly gives us the key and directions and promises to see us later after she has done a walk up to a lake for a swim. We’re a bit taken aback by how friendly the locals are, but take her up on the offer glad for a free nights accommodation (and especially grateful when we learn how expensive things are in this country).

With accommodation for the night sorted, we stop by the river just before entering town and soak our feet in the river (or at least attempt to as it is icy cold). We find the appartment and set ourselves up in the attic before doing a shop at the local supermarket. With prices so expensive here we find ourselves rationing food for the next few days until we get back into France.

Later that evening our host, Margarite arrives and we cook dinner for her as a thank you, while relating stories of our travels. We also share a bottle of wine between us.

]]> http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/rifugio-elena-to-la-fouly-tour-du-mont-blanc/feed/ 0 Rifugio Bertone to Rifugio Elena: Tour du Mont Blanc http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/rifugio-bertone-to-rifugio-elena-tour-du-mont-blanc/ http://www.adventurejournal.com/european-long-distance-walks/rifugio-bertone-to-rifugio-elena-tour-du-mont-blanc/#comments Sat, 05 Jan 2013 23:25:52 +0000 Jo http://www.adventurejournal.com/?p=1901 Friday 9th September

Distance: 17km Time: 7hrs

Leaving the Rifugio Bertone, we find ourselves deep in discussion as to which route we are going to take today. Do we take the new TMB route along the valley to Rifugio Bonatti, or do we take the old much harder route along the ridge? Seems we are all feeling the effects of this strenuous walk, but vote unanimously to take the harder route along the ridge as it is such a nice day and we feel the views will be well worth it. The paths fork not far from the Refuge at a viewpoint, where we stop to make our final decision. Some hikers pass us and offer to take our photo.

The Mont de la Saxe route option continues steeply up on to the ridge, and for a short while we almost regret our decision. We are still relatively fresh however, when we join the ridge (Mont de la Saxe) and the path becomes more gentle. It is a wonderful walk along the ridge up to Téte de la Tronche, our high point of the day. We take the uphill at a relaxed pace, enjoying the splendid vista of mountains, and the company of cows. Apart from two Germans who fall far behind us, this route is completely deserted of people. Jo has a brief moment of anxiety, wondering if it is wise to be wearing a red shirt in a field of cows, but other than one cow who follows closely behind her for a short while, there are no mishaps.

On the hill top of Téte de la Tronche we stop at the cairn for an early lunch, taking the time to enjoy the views before heading steeply down to Col Sapin. Jen spots a bird of prey flying high above, which Jo attempts to take a picture of.  The path is steep and a bit of a slippery scree slope here, so we are very suprised when a couple jogs past us. Seems they plan on running the whole route in 5 days, which although very impressive to us, is nothing compared to those insane runners who do the whole route in about 24 hours! Our opinion of them lessons however when we catch up with them at the Col Sapin. They don’t know whether to turn left or right! If they’d been paying any attention to the surrounding scenery, they would have realised that turning right would take them back in the direction they came from.

We take the left down into the valley, trying not to look to closely at the opposite side which we will have to climb up again. It’s a very hot day, and we are grateful to reach the stream. Jen washes her face, while Jo tries to take a photo of a green beetle. The valley is alive with the sound of cow bells ringing – a very relaxing soundtrack.

We make our way up over the second Col, the Pas Entre-Deux-Sauts, before heading down the next valley to Rifugio Bonatti.

Rifugio Bonatti is set spectacularly the opposite side of the valley to a mountainous vista. We stop there for some lunch, some nice cool lemonade bought from the Refuge and spend some time sunbathing. Entertainment is provided in the form of a helicopter, which goes back and forth between the refuge and the valley floor bringing up wood and other supplies. It fairly gets windy when the helicopter lands! We are very tempted to stay here, but with an afternoon on our hands we decide to push on towards Rifugio Elena.

Most of the rest of the way is a gentle uphill stroll along the side of the valley, the plants in this area being very diverse and interesting. The final climb up to Rifugio Elena is however rather tortuously steep uphill, not a welcome climb for this late in the day. The refuge itself is sunk into the hillside in order to try and escape the fate of its predecessor, which was destroyed in an avalanche. This make it practically invisible until you suddenly come upon it. Suffering from extreme exhaustion, Jo struggles up the last bit, and collapses in a heap when Alan indicates where the refuge is by thrusting a pole in the air. He meant to say, We’ve made it, but Jo interprets it as it’s up there!

Jo, the only one having the group dinner, finds herself alone with a table for one, while everyone else seems to be grouped together on all the other tables. Makes one feel a little isolated not having any dinner companions, though extra food did seem to come her way.

That evening we talk about all the continental toilet accidents we’ve had since coming into Italy, and look forward to crossing into Switzerland tomorrow, where toilets are normal! Seems we’ve all had at least one incident of bad aim, or spray coming off the toilets! We settle into our enourmous dormitory for the night, which is remarkably snorer free, and offers a lot more privacy than in previous dorms.

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