Saturday, 22 August 2026
Modane to St Gervais: France again
Modane to St Gervais: Italy
Sunday 9th: up 6:45 b’fast off 8:10 col Basac Dere 10:30 3083. Whew. There's a widespread ocean of glacier up the side I came, good scenery, the “plateau” around 2900 is fun to walk over. Far side: distantly , Gran Paradiso and maybe to its L Monte Rosa? Off 10:50. Down to big lago di Golettaz 11;30. Peak behind is Granta Parei. No swim but do paddle: it's cold and I am not sweaty. Ref Benevolo 12:40. It is a very popular hut on a sunny Sunday lunchtime, crowded in and out. Put sac down get a biere and tarte di mele v nice (but €12 combined) and sit quietly. Wash socks and feet in trough and put feet up, so to speak, enjoy not using any muscles. This is probably the first extensive piece of time I have had to do nothing in. No great thunks emerge but I persist in turning things over. When walking I am looking ahead or at my feet, or allowing songs to precess, but not really thinking. Ref is private. It has a CAI sign so I got out my OAV card but the woman who speaks English and so was deputed to deal with me says it became priv about 15 years ago. It is an old building - dark wood, creaking floorboards - with a modern extension. I am in an absurdly high bunk, the last place available. Later arrivals get to camp, just over the rise. I think the official rule in Italy is “above 2500 and 7-to-7”. Also a party of scouts, also out of sight. Clouding over pm. With luck we get some rain. Wind earlier threw up small tornado of dust. This place is a bit thin on sockets but I find one. Also shower, from warm w’bottle, thereby saving €3. 8: at last the threatened rain, with lightning, though not heavy. I have elected for 6 am b’fast in an effort to get up before the sun. In response to rain children run around gleefully but it strengthens and all retreat inside. This would deffo be tarp-testing; I am glad to be indoors.
Monday 10th: my place up high could be stuffy but isn't quite. Plenty of folk getting up in the night but that's ok. First up and first to b’fast at 6. There's light in the sky. 7:15: off. Few clouds, fading; sun on the higher peaks. FFS: I didn't pay the refuge! Must send somehow. 8:45 sun. I was beginning to doubt my path - I am not on my intended track which is lower - since the trace is faint. But there are cairns and some paint marks and then an unmistakable “13B” mark. So I have hope. I'm at about 2800 so 350 to go. All about: ex glacial landscape, with some remaining glaciers. 8:50: 15 mins rest. 9:45 to “col” but which one? The far side is uninviting. 3130 says compass. Also, clouded earlier and now light rain: put on coat + trous. Nivoletta? Most likely. 10:15: over slightly dodgy “paths” to the True Col 3195, with signs, and two bods just trudging up the far side. It is possible to walk up Punta Basei 3338; I get to 3280 at 10:40 but don't feel like the rest. There's a nice snow-col stretching out towards a little peak with a cross on facing the valley, with a 45 degree ice slope below it; I had hoped to get onto this from above but it was non trivial so I backed off. Back to col, rain has stopped, some sun, off 11. Brief stop :20 to de-trous and coat; bumble down, stop 12 by lakes by junction of “two cols” (the other and easier being Colle Rosset) for lunch: the last of the once mighty Les Arcs Beaufort and the last of the just about eatable Pralognan bread. Off :20. Down to ref Savoie and the roadhead (of the made road; down towards Pont is unmade). 12:40. No signal, no wifi. Carpark, cars, bikers, a coach, a lake… not desperately appealing. But! I get a cafe, and they would have sold me a Mars or similar, or sandwich etc. From above, looking across to the GP, it looked a bit crevassy, so caution will be called for. It is ~7 km down to Pont, mostly trail. Post cafe, to shady side of ref to rest out of sun. 1:40 off. 2:40: stop for rest by lovely stream that gently ambles down this wide slow grassy valley. About 2k left to Pont. 2:55 off, 3:20: to the cross, Pont waay below… I have underestimated. Arrive around 4. The giant car park, giant campsite, and tiny shop are as I remember. Get two zitrone yog (no plain except multipacks) and an orange. Good. Indulge in Internet. Go back in and get a few prunes, some bread+cheese, and a slice of spinach tart and a Mars bar and I am set for a few days. Also email Benevolo. 5:45: off along the river, then up. 7:45: arrive Vittorio Emanuele. 2735. Another whew. I'm in the “cabins” again (M. finds me a place and tells me to phone not email at last hour), #5 this time. But it is locked; probably at dinner. Have a shower (cold but very welcome) and a biere while waiting. There's no signal and very wobbly wifi and the usual fight for power points. I was racing the sun coming up; sadly I won despite a couple of pauses to let the shadow catch up. And so to bed at 9. No sign of my dorm-mates. Sort out kit for tomorrow’s attempt on the Gran Paradiso.
Tuesday 11th: up 4 (my roommates earlier) finish b’fast:30 off :45. Most already gone I think. So… where to go. I didn't recce last night on the ridiculous grounds that I would remember. So head off, lights a way ahead. Stop after 10 mins to take off down, then in thin top, black stripe top, thermals and w’proof trous. After a while lights behind - and the crappy bouldery ground - says I am too high so correct (on way back realise: you need to go level across the boulders, then you'll come to a decent path which then climbs). Some Poles burn by so I tail them and this works well as they slow and I follow. All rest 5:45 put on raincoat. O’take them later, rest again 6:20 now light. 6:35: 3350 (by the compass app). Following a trail of slow folk happy for the rest. 6:55: 3440: still on rock. I think we're avoiding the initial snow slope. Path is cairned. 7:40: rest and food break; 3640. You can tell from all the waypoints that I am noticing the effort: perhaps I am suffering from Bellevue syndrome. 8: 3690. Finally hit the ice (a few came up it from lower). It is hard frozen snow, and ice chips on the trace. Crampons, axe, off 8:15. 8:55: 3900. 9:20 off snow onto Rock ridge into sun 4015. Views! Summit 9:45 after walking the “true summit” ridge. GPS says “true” is 4058 and “Madonna” 4057. 10:10: back to crampons and off. Snow has softened below the first 50m down to the slightly iffy bergschrund. 10:40: off ice, rm w’proof trous and gaiters switch to orange coat. And have some yummy prunes. I considered going the more interesting and likely nicer snow descent (ah: is it the way down to the Federico Chabod?) but it was unjustifiable. Most people are going my way. Btw I had to re-seat the crampons (Leopards, remember) once on ascent. Not to bad on fairly hard ground. 12:15: 3022. There are hundreds and hundreds of meters of rock to descend, guarded by undescendable bluffs, dotted with hundreds of cairns delineating hundreds of branching paths. Perhaps it is part of the fun. Or maybe they should invest in a tube of spray paint. I end up yo-yo-ing with others: I follow them for a bit, they go astray, I go another way, and so on. Off 12:35, down around 1. 2: have had a cold shower, odd gnocchi (more like potato cakes; but good) and biere, now have cafe and strudel. On a card, it is all free! All of a sudden it starts to rain. They turn on a heater/blower to dry wet arrivals kit, so I wash socks and thin top. Meal: bread+cheese, all of it. This evening the same sun that yesterday I was hoping would set is pleasantly warming me in and out as I sit out with a glass of red. 8:08: the sun has dipped below the yardarm.
Wednesday 12th: the luxury of getting up just before 7 and a slow b’fast. Weird dream: the world had been taken over by aliens, who then left, and (I cohere this strongly, it was much less and I can't recall) we were all going to die cos civ would collapse; plus I couldn't get my rope. Pay: 2 x (night+recip, b’fast) was €76. The summits are in cloud. Staff are in full “roll up the mats and sweep the floors” mode. Off 8:30. A bit more than an hour to the Tetras Lyre for coffee (Mme cannot quite bring herself to defile her cafe so gives me espresso and a jug of hot water) and sit in the fresh morning shade watching the keen folk head on up. Then to Pont (which is actually Breuil, Pont is a fraction down), inquire re hotel but no, so get camping place, and some food from store Inc nice saussison sec. And so a quiet day. FB reports to me that due to stone fall in the grand couloir Tete Rousse and Gouter are ferme which is a bit of a blow. Spend time rethinking including e.g. go to the beach at Genoa for a few days, since I’m in Italy. Around 2 some light rain and I wonder if it's the afternoon storm but it fades. Later stroll upriver a bit then perhaps unwisely manage to cross and get lost in the woods for a bit. It is surprisingly hard to get through pathless alders/hazelnut. Cafe Tetras and back. The broken rock face on the E side looks quite climbable and I can see some bolts. Also, boulderers. Go watch the 6:09 bus - the thrills - so I'm sure where it goes from. Family texts: I missed the eclipse.
Thursday 13th: up 7 and have a lovely hot shower since there is one, indeed many. Quiet. My neighbour has been sitting quietly at his table for a bit; I woke up around 6 to see the first light on the peaks up valley. Sit in “tent” bit - their shelter for folk for poor weather - to eat yesterday’s apple tart. Then to cafe, indoors, for coffee and Cornetto, ie croissant. Cancel my Gouter stays. It costs €15 each which I suppose I could ask for but FFCAM are going to be losing a lot on this so meh. 9: light nearly down into the valley. Plan is to relax here today, and go on this eve. I washed my good T-shirt and (tea)towel. Relax and read, toddle up to Tetras at 22, snooze off by the river as they're doing lunch, get a cafe at 2:30 and so on. 4:30: back at Pont, power bank charging, afternoon rainstorm unusually vigorous. Afternoon tea is ein gross stuck sachertorte. 6: rain over I hope time to go; actually 6:10. 7:55: to Meyes-Damon, a few stone huts but would provide shelter if desperate (actually one room has decent wooden floor and dustpan hanging up, see pic). Route here starts up odd road, possibly intended to come here, but abandoned mid construction? Some effort, including a spooky 2-300 m tunnel, just starting to fall in a bit. Wx: grey. I can see opposite the glacier that has descent towards Chabod, and a small building - lower than me, I’m at 2510 - that might be it. 8:20: to a plateau. Can see the VE. 8:30: to pathsign, at the three-ways I am expecting. ~2600. Stop here, nice soft ground. Over on GP there's a band of pink-red light, the light from the sunset gap between the ridge and cloud.
Friday 14th: up 7:30 once rosy-fingered Dawn has dragged herself as far as me. A herd of ibex winds slowly o’er the lea. And an officious marmot warns everything about me. No dew up here; yesterday down near the river was “wet”. Off 8:30, because I had to wait for my watch to charge. Wx: blue. 9: b’fast break. Opposite, the VE gleams in the sun. And last night I could see a light which must have been the Chabod. 9:20: col Manteau 2789. And perhaps my last view of the GP. Path down v nicely made. Herd of chamois. 10, to the lac and another sign post: next col 1:30. Sit on a little prominence and enjoy the day and the gleaming lac. 11:50: col Entrelor 3002. Lunch. Off 12:20 steeply to start, cables and rungs. 1:05: rest 2500. 2: ref delle Marmottes 2142. Coke. Rain: after some indecision, inside; 3:15 trapped by my watch recharging and a pile of bags brought in in a hurry and an Italian lady. End up talking (at their instigation, obvs) to two Dutch guys also camping out. Interesting to think about in a way: I learnt nothing useful and I doubt they did. It passed half an hour or an hour during the rain quite pleasantly; and we might have said something useful about camping out. Actually I did learn from them that the forecast was for heavy rain at 8 and that did influence me looking for a hotel. Anyway off down 5:30 perhaps it's only half an hour through nice forest. Rhemes is also nice; compact village with two hotels (neither on Booking); I’m in the first I saw, Galisia, perfectly decent. Mme speaks no Eng but offers Fr and we have a perfectly intelligible chat. Walk around village after shower (aaahh… a warm shower, I feel clean). Indoors because pm is grey, rain looks likely, and my route up is steep and doesn't look bivvi friendly on the map. But as it happens the threatened rain doesn't come.
Saturday 15th: up 7 b’fast all fine except I sit at #23’s special table and she doesn't like that; fortunately she is a late riser. Overnight my phone put on charge to top up has gone mad and lost most charge; I think that might be because the hotel is on 110v? Wx: looks good. Reports of flooding/storms elsewhere in Italy. Hotel is €53 remarkably cheap. 8:30: off up. There's a fair motorhome park just down of the village so I suppose one could camp there. 9:45 to tiny hut and tiny plateau (where I could have camped) and tiny stream at 2175. Col looks steep above. 10:30: 2425. 10:55: 2600. Brief cable/rung section. Can see GP over the ridgeline. 11:30: col Fenetre 2840 unremittingly steep. Ahead, down valley looks nicer than the way up, then in the distance the good old Archeboc col. But I will turn R at the end of this valley. 11:50: off, with last farewell to GP pic. 12:15: stop for last of bread+cheese by tiny laclet with bog-cotton. 12:40: off. Down past wide bog / meadow / meandering stream bed. 1:20: to Ref Chalet de l’Epee, 2370; cafe. This is quite the “tourist” ref. Off 2, traverse across with the great blue grey lake filling the valley below for an hour, then down through the piney woods and many rivulets to Valgrisenche, at 4. There's a little supermarket, and there would be a post office (I want to mail home stuff I am not going to use) except it is Saturday pm so it's shut. Drink juice, eat yoghurt, and a little blue d’Aosta. Cafe. Off 5 by the nice river route out of the sun but of course pericoloso. Planaval 6:30 has a hotel but… it is full. Ah well. Onwards! Would like some power but the church does not provide. Upwards! Sweaty. Hope for water but the hillside is dry… until we get higher then there's a nice stream. Stop at 8 in a meadow, wash, try to decide where to sleep. Nature just doesn't make straight level ground.
Sunday 16th: up 7 off :30 still lake 8:20. Notes will be thin today, or infilled, as I am conserving battery. I will be navigating purely on path markers; fortunately the Alta Via Due is well signed. Little lost valley below lovely. Col de la Crosatie 2838 9:35. 11:45: bivacco Cosimo Zappelli 2275. Small, 10 beds, water non controlled, little kitchen; toilet. Annoyingly it has a lovely solar panel to power it's lights but no USB sockets. Also I could have cooked something but couldn't work out how to turn the gas on. 12:45: off, risking the sun but it goes ok, some clouds. I'm stopping every 15 mins but making decent progress. 14:40: col “Haut Pas” 2860. More of the nice meandering stream type terrain below. 4: to Rifugio Deffeyes (as I was getting here the wx started looking rainy and I wondered if I would make it. But the rain held off), and many of the delights of civilization: a drink, some chocolate, a bed for the night and charging. I try asking him about my socket problems but it means nothing to him. I got here with 40% remaining, having started the day at 55; I was surprised to do so well. Follow up with nice big bowl of Americano and large brownie. Ha! Maybe I could have come over the Pas de Planaval from the bivvy. Higher, but only one col. Still, I’m here now. Was a hard day. Weak signal outside; text M. Also: should I go look at the glaciers opposite? After dinner talk to some Fr who have been up and say: not solo. I think I will take this advice. It does look very crevassy. Dinner in refuge: fine. The table speaks Eng. Next to me are some Americans, other side Austrians, further Dutch.
Monday 17th: up 6:30 b’fast. I set that time when I thought I was visiting the glacier. 7:30 off; 9:30 down to la Joux, which has a bar and looks to be the roadhead. All charmingly in shade so far. La Thuile, 10:30 (but forget to stop watch till 12). Unprepossessing place, kinda a ribbon. But! It has a post office, so I can put in place my cunning plan to send boots, axe, crampons back home. Also put in (with a twinge) down jacket, as padding. But! Post doesn't have any boxes. But! The supermarket does. Bu! I need an address in Italy… fortunately, Esther exists. Otherwise I suppose I could have made her up :-). Weight: 4.2kg inc box, cost €44. Mail M re plans (Elizabetta, Cham, Paris) and sit in Angela’s for a second coffee and a lemon pastry. E is 5:40 away say the signs so it is not impossible I make it today. Petit St B is only 2h away. ARGH FFS dox does it again. Another copy. This is bad enough that I ought to give up using it. Now I have to reconstruct my rapturous thoughts of y’day… off 1, initially greenway then quiet road. Stop 2 at agriturismo Le Lapin to shelter from rain. It is shut but has nice wide overhang. After a bit a big heavy dog comes over, sniffs around, pisses, and flops down in the doorway. We sit in companionable silence. 3: rain over, up we go. Wx gradually clears. I do notice my sac being lighter The valley is hypnotically long and the road just heads steadily up, it is all rather lovely though rarely travelled (I see no one, and Strava heatmaps are pale). Slowly we go up, the peaks emerge, the road turns to grass. Col Chavannes 2592, great views all around, slanting sun, white peaks wrapped in cloud ahead, but also chill wind so head down steeply quickly. Where was I? Ref Elisabetta ~2180 at 6:35, but they are doing kitchen prep so have to wait to see if I can get a place. Thnx to late cancellation I can. Is half board only, which turns out to be €65, so fine. Entranceway has a wood stove and scattered before it like offerings is a huge array of wet boots ‘n stuff. Talk with Norge-Fr folk over dinner (and b’fast) who are working remotely in Annecy. Dinner good plain risotto then grilled veg, cheese, pots, peas; and a choc thing. We’re on a bluff over a plain with a windy river with an intruding moraine at the far end. This is the view I looked up to when trying Gonella last year, and thought it would be good to walk up.
Here ends Italy; the next part returns us to France, and indeed jolly old Blighty.
Modane to St Gervais: France
My "August" summer break, from my contemporaneous notes, split for convenience into France, Italy and France.
Saturday 1st: sleep well, light shower at some point. Off 7:30, across and down to “Modane ville” perhaps as opposed to “gare”. Still confused about reconciling this with what I recall from last summer. Awaiting opening of supermarche (which is not quite where gmaps says it is) which might be at 8. And it is; get bread cheese chocolate, and yoghurt for now. I'm not quite sure how many days I am prepping for; I am winging this. And so off, under railway and over river, and then up. 2:45 to Ref de l’Orgere say the signs; I do it in 2:30 but it is effort. Shaded in trees thank goodness but steep. The ref (1935; Modane was 1100 ish) is at the roadhead; there are a fair number of cars but it is quiet as only just past 11; but it gets full later. Just above , an aire de bivouac. I get a coke and plan to sit around until the afternoon. And so it goes: I get a salade bergere which is large and good though I omit some of the lettuce. Accompanied - why not? - by a verre de vin rouge. Then a crepe miel. Then an allonge. That gets me to 3 ish; oh, and charge my phone. Then sit on a deck chair in the shade. Now it is 4 and really time to move on. Wx: morning clear, now some clouds but not above me; breeze. It is about two hours to Le lac de la Partie 2504, at first in trees then sun but then welcome cloud-shade. Sit by lac and eat dinner: bread and last of Tomme, and a few carrots - argh, I still have some, leave a couple for the marmots, which are bold - and somewhere I have been eating chocolate.I could stop here but no streams - it is limestone - and what would I do until sleep? And, there are a few others at the lake. Two bods come by apparently looking for a woman who had sprained her ankle higher up; but I have come from below. Later a helicopter buzzes around and likely found her. Somehow I have set in my head that the col (de Chaviere) is 25xx but no, it proudly proclaims itself 2796 when I get there just before 8. Rest. First bit down mildly icky but then ok; distantly the Refuge Peclet-Polset, but I stop perhaps 10 mins short of it and bivvy by a tiny lake - still; reflections - and wash feet and legs. Bivvy in s’bag by 9. Pull back a corner of tarp to see sky.
Sunday 2nd: at some point the moon rises and all is flooded with light. But the beautiful stillness gives way to a chill breeze that flaps my tarp, which I have set up in “high mode” and now wants to be low. Eventually - somewhere around 2 or 3 - I get up, wee, put on down, and reconfigure tarp. Morning luxuriate until sun reaches me 7:40; off 8:10 to the sound of cowbels; 10 mins to ref PP just to look: an old building heavily renovated, as usual. And around it, cows. Get water wash face and sit around for half an hour. 10: to ref du roche du pecheur. Or as it calls itself, auberge d’altitude. Path (unmade road) down the valley is pleasant enough but would benefit from some any shade. There's a sparkling river teasing us, but that's below. Really I should (as ever) have started down earlier; but at least I’m not grinding up. Little chapel with prayer wheel, but that's modern. And the ref has a nice carved chimney. I don't have a map (not a physical one; I have some crummy online substitutes but sans signal they aren't so useful); that makes for a weird effect / feeling that may be good or not; I am in the moment, spatially. 11:40: les Prioux. Cafe, have a coca. Hameau also has resto and ref le Repoju. Seems here, and a bit further up, are popular to drive to then walk up. Path down now avoids road and has some shade. Just past 1: Pralognan: 1400. Can't settle on a cafe so juice-n-jog from supermarche. ARGH. Bloody Google Dox has eaten my original again and this time lost a day FFS. So this is a copy. I’ll infill yesterday. Find some shade and a rock to sit on but Pralognan lacks a little park, or a proper square with shady trees. But once I'm rested and eaten find a cafe I like - le Bochor - and for €5 I get two allonges, charge for phone, and some nice shade for an hour or more. Sometime a little before 4 head off, and up, and stop by Cascade de la Fraiche to eat last yog and wait on the sun. Then, up, pleasantly mostly in shade. Get to lac de la Vache with its lovely causeway / stepping stones, and it is a good place, and maybe the last grass (actually not as it turns out, but you can't bivvy by the ref de la V, and anyway it's nicer here) so stop. As it happens you can't bivvy here either but sit and eat, and read, and settle down at 9 when no one is around. Still now, leave a side off, but pitch so I can reach out and set it when the chill night wind blows.
Monday 3rd: sleep well up 7 off :30 just after the first uphillers pass. No sun yet as expected. Over le lac des Vaches causeway, though water is low so it is more a broad stream. To ref du col de la Vanoise 2516, who are just finishing breakfast. Token wee in their composting loo. Sun now on us. And off, over grass and past a gently descending chain of lakes, lovely. The Pointe de Pierre Brune is a fairy castle ahead, against the sunlight. Get to the head of the hanging valley, there's a blockhouse commanding the valleys. And so down the zigzags to an old stone bridge, pont de Croe-Vie 2099. 15 mins down to the ref d’entre deux eaux but I think not. Rest a bit then off up to Ref de La Leisse 2487, gently at first. I see a weasel! Bounding along the path and then off. Last is a bit steeper up to the Roches Blanches where the ref is perched. It is a bit odd: accueil, kitchen and staff quarters in one building, salle and coin rechaude in another, dortoirs in another, and loos elsewhere. When I were a lad all refuges were the same now they're all different. Should I stay or push on to Tignes? It is only 12:30. As it happens they're full, so fine. Have a coca, the a galette, then a cafe, and off at 3. Up a bit, into wasteland, with views of glacier in poor condition on la Grande Motte. To pass, over it also wasteland but many flowers. Tignes not yet visible. And so down, in the end avoiding the ugly main path for a nice green valley to the left. Now in T-val-claret but I want T-lac, which is another 2k. It all goes well enough; even TVC isn't too horrible. Booking gets me hotel le refuge, and after mild confusion - confirmation has not yet come through to me - I am in, and in a shower. Whew. There was some distant thunder as I walked down; while out shopping for you-juice-melon it pelted down for maybe 10 mins. Tignes is ~2095. Soir: eat, Duo, catch up on news, upload pix, diary. All while lying on comfy bed. Tuesday 4th: up at 7: outside looks like it will be a fine day, poss with some clouds. Duo, wub, to b’fast 7:30 where I am quite modest. Would be nice to sit forever over coffee but I would pay in slog-in-sun later, perhaps (as it happens it clouds over nicely so I could have left later… but I must stop thinking of might-have-been). And pack-n-off at 9. This was a decent hotel, not a giant bloc, and old place - they have pix from the 20’s - repeatedly extended. Clean and tidy even if the decor is antique. I have finally decided to go North on the GR5 not East (to the east I go not…) but if I have time I can take a bus to Pont by the Gran Paradiso if I want. The tracks on the map just don't want me to go east, and perhaps that's why the border is there. Anyway, back round the lac a bit then up. This side is only mildly encrusted with ski lifts; sign says 1:40 to Ref Col du Palet 2587 and I make that at 11; col itself is 2653 10 mins back. Sit around for three hours, reading and dozing, cafe and tarte aux myrtilles. Quite a few youngsters, doing well to get up here. Retreat into shade, am sort-of waiting for clouds. Which do oblige. Off 2:15 back up to col, then off towards le Laisonnay, having decided on an eccentric circumnavigation of the little Vallaisony massif. Extended grassy path, though I may have just hit the track. Opposite, the dark wall of the Grande Motte - Grande Casse etc chain with glaciers clinging on. 4:10: la Gliere 2010. Looked shut from above but no is nicely enclosed; the chickens were a hint too. Grand cafe. Wx cloudy, indeed threatening, and a few drops and rumbles. If I get lucky the storm will rage while I'm inside. But no we return to mild sun. Have a crepe aux citron too: omlettes are midi. Nice place, would come again. Off 5:15. Path mostly evades track. We get down to verdure, eventually silver birch. 6:15: Laisonnay, ~1600, a tiny hamlet and the ref not initially obvs, and a child practicing trumpet in the chapel. Sit for a bit then ask, but they're full. So it's uphill for me, meh, it is all rather lush here and they have an impressive waterfall, but its a bit low :-). 8:10: ref de Plaisance 2170. Better time than I hoped for an not quite the easy day I had half planned. Initially v steep besides the waterfall for most of an hour but then eased off. Sky distinctly threatening the last half hour and it is now pouring. They do have aire de bivouac but… This is another small (3 tables in salle, coin rechaude; dortoirs separate) and I suspect quite new hut.
Wednesday 5th: up at a relaxed 7:10 awoken by rustlings of the earlier folk: to b’fast: the usual: bowl o’ cafe, stale bread, butter, jam, pain aux epices and a tiny dish of some coconut rice thing? Sky back to blue, it is lovely and fresh out, I am in no hurry. Zomg: it is true: what I thought I saw last night: some bloke has a powered water bottle he was recharging. Having resisted “pres des marmottes / loin des blaireaux” tshirt in Tignes, get a “tour du Vallaisonny” buff for €10. Printed with a handy route map. Off 8:45 steep out of coombe then over a plain and where someone has kindly ringed an edelweiss in stones; a little higher up I find loads more. Pause for rest 10. Curious eroded limestone edge to plain. There's a little peak of same, Grand Tuf 2813. In theory (ref has nice book of walks and topos) there's the F Dome de Picheres 3319 grass then rock then glacier which I ponder but will not: not balissé, infrequented, and the day is going to be hot. Col de Plan Sery, 10:30, 2609. Nice descent fine views down to ref d’Entre le Lac Landry, 2130, 11:10. I don't understand the name. Looking back, Gr Tuf is still on the skyline. Perhaps I should have gone that far to say I’ve been there. Half way up to the col I was wondering if I should have started earlier; but now I'm here at a sensible time, and got to enjoy sun at the hut. I have finally eaten the last carrot. And now I have softly snoozed away the midday hours, behind the common pink-purple flowers, to the sound of French chat and the wind chime. I also had an omelette Beaufort. But now it is 2:30 and I am off, the mildly longer variant around the lake, the now-usual afternoon clouds gentling the sun. Lake is nice but I don't try to swim. And so down, picking the non-GR side for shade. At point of decision - just after the waterfall views-, turn on signal and search “via alpina” which a random poster showed me going into Italy. Seems true - though hard to get map - so I abandon the easy path down to ref Rosuel in the valley in favour of ref MP, which is, says the sign surprising me, 3:30 away. Hmpf. But after 30 mins scrambling over a stream and up a grass slope, it is a more reasonable 1:30 away. And so it proves, going up beside them over the waterfalls. Just before 6: to Ref Mont Pourri, 2373. The boot room is full of sacs, a bad sign, and indeed they are complet. Ah well. Noticing a tent I ask about bivouac and this is ok. But not yet, as it rains for perhaps 15 mins. Shower: €3.5, and nominally chaud, but not much. Will have b’fast am. Put phone on charge, sit quietly. Finish Mark Twain. Put him onto the ref ‘s shelves, now I am 3-500g lighter. Go out, pitch, there are 5 other tents. Go look over the valley and get signal for a bit. Eat: have one evening of cheese, and a bit more of bread, and apricots left. This from Modane so doing well.
Thursday 6th: my weekiversary, although I didn't start walking until… Saturday. It already feels like forever. Last night the tarp happily survived a bit more rain; this morn was quite dewed up but it didn't percolate inside the s’bag. Also warm enough not to need thermals. Up just after 7 in for b’fast few others yet. Sun well behind hills but beautifully through clouds on opposite side, makes pretty picture with ref. Pack with tarp outside since it's wet. Off 8:30. I want to go to Les Arcs (and so will others). Can the signage bring itself to mention the A-word? No. Lac des Moutons it is then. Up in shade, sun at lac 2574 9:20 absolutely gorgeous refl of blue sky and distant snow peaks (quite possibly Mont Blanc). Still. Over the far side, more lacs, and the first signs of Les Arcs ski infrastructure. To Les A around 11. It isn't great in summer but it isn't terrible: they have grouped it well and avoided spread. Relax over coffee and catch up on the world. Phone poor Ma who has cracked a rib. There don't seem to be any close supermarches and maybe not en route so get a huge €16 block of Beaufort then a lunch blow-out of sausage roll (sort of) and quiche chevre. 1:45: get up to go, pack… where is my pole? Search around, I have moved several times… inside? Back at the cheese shop? Aha! In the tourist office! Whew. 4:30: Viclaire, after a long descent. The first two hours rather grim on ski roads mostly; then after Villaroger-chef-lieu on a nice voice vert (note: this worked out but perhaps I should have gone R not L from VR to St Foy). Resto here will hopefully open 5:30 and I will get a coca. It does; I do. And a second; and nice waiter finds me a prise to charge phone. Sit till 6:30; no friendly clouds come but the path up through forest is shaded. Then roads, gradually fading out. It is a long way.and hard. Will I make the ref Archeboc? Yes, eventually, at 9:30 with the sunset fading. No place, but bivvy, and b’fast tomorrow at 7. Goodnight I am thinking of home. Notes added Fri: yesterday evening pull up was hard, not just the physical but also mental. I should write down for my future self and any readers: it isn't all cowbells and harebells sparkling in the morning dew. Being alone in the mountains, in lonely places, is fine; walking ghost like through little villages with hardly a soul to see is odd. The little village of overhanging houses, le Clot I think, was lovely see pix but I couldn't stop. And the sprig of dried flowers in the doorway of the little chapel just before the ref. When I bivvied last night it was 10 and I was slack, so I just put down the carrymat and didn't use the inflatable (dark: couldn't see if there were sharps) and the wx looked fine so used the tarp as groundsheet and cover. And the wx was indeed fine, brilliant stars, Milky Way, a meteor, a bizarre sweeping searchlight poss from Les Arcs; but as I really knew there was dew. So I should have put up the tarp to cover at least my lower half. Oh, but Mme. was impressed I’d come from Mont Pourri. Hut notes: small. B’fast nominally 6-7 but I was first in at 7 and didn't finish till past 8. Lights out 9:30 dinner 7. B’fast better than usual: fresher bread, nice Tomme and jams, big pot coffee. Bivvy area down and around the back inside fencing but not terribly convincing in dark so I went further at risk of cows.
Friday 7th: up 7 for b’fast leave 8:30 now resting at 9 with perhaps an hour to go to the col and Italy. Wx: blue. 10:05: col at last (just inside sign time) whew. You don't see it until the last moment. Grateful for a long rest at the top, and to dry the dew off s’bag and tarp. Still feeling y’day perhaps. Reading Odyssey by Samuel Butler now that I have finished M. Twain. Off 11:10 cowsheds 12 down 1 to tiny portacafe and have a large coke. No network. I sunned my legs quite a bit this morning despite some promising clouds so need to rest midi. Path down is unmade road on side of valley but it looks like it could have been over grass on the valley floor. But last bit to Useleres does avoid roads. 100m down the road are a few buildings - and many cars, this is the roadhead - one an auberge that might open later. Water trough. Also portaloo (comedy: is nominally wheelchair accessible but has been placed with door pointing out over steep bank. Later a bloke comes and swaps it for fresh). Sit in shade of pines and prepare to while away a few hours. Argh. I do not have my orange raincoat. Did I leave it at the col? The hut? I cannot bear to go back I think. Well, I have a binliner… Oh well, it is just a thing (that I would be wearing now to keep the wind off me). Off 3:30. Ref Brezzi at 5, mostly in shade. I luck out: it has wifi. Email Archeboc re coat; I feel that's my duty, at least I have tried. Bezzi a bit sniffy about me not reserving but get a bed. And a biere. Bed is up in the loft and seems quite nice. Veronique of the Archeboc replies, and has my coat! Certainty makes all the difference. I then ask if anyone is coming over, today several were, but alas no. So… I will go get it. I can stay a second night here, and travel light, it might even be fun.
Saturday 8th: o'night rain lightly maybe but clear now. Sleep well (loft is not well blocked off from rooms below so can hear kids; but they stop at 10). B’fast 7 at a table with some friendly indeed giggly on the female side Italians. In Italy you're not expected to clean your table. Off 8 down:50 I ran a bit. Cowsheds 9:45 brief break and apricots x 3. 10:35: ruin. Rest, ap x 2. 11: col. 11:40: ref. And my coat is there, in the external cupboard as Mme. had said. Say thanks and order a cafe and then a cheese omlette. Then cherche somewhere to snooze away a few hours; end up lying on terrasse but wearing thermal trous to keep sun off: it is cloudless. Retreat behind ref to a plank in the shade. Above, motes of dandelion seed spiral up in the breeze. Off 2:20 after a last cafe and the guardienne tells me to n’obliez rien with a laugh. A couple of small rests and col at 3:30; off 3:40 after watching raven hop-fly. Track fork 4:05, this time take the grass branch. 4:15: river! Half hour rest “swim” ie wallow. Stream is just deep enough to cover me, eventually I am brave and put my head under. 5:30: down. The “plain of grass” was lovely, much better than the cow road. Have a coke and apricot croissant in the little cafe. We are now in shade! 5:45: head up, last pull. Initially on unmade road as before but at “the bridge” swap over to the which I am pretty sure is a path up… and so it proves: grass road till the cows run out (say bona siera to old cowherd who happily replies and then ignores me, I had half expected him to tell me to turn round. His cowdogs come up for a sniff but are good; they have bells) then track, over several streams, some bridges, then go slightly past ref to a bridge over the main river and I am back: 7:15. Whew. Thanks to swim I am quite fresh but have (cold) shower anyway. Of the hut: good, quite big, quite crowded, with noisy Italians. Fortunately the loft is sparsely populated. Its old stone core has been bizarrely wrapped in a brutalist wood shell.
Book review: Have His Carcase
Have His Carcase is a 1932 locked-room mystery by Dorothy L. Sayers, her seventh novel featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and the second in which Harriet Vane appears. The book marks a stage in the long drawn out courting of Harriet Vane by Wimsey. Though working closely with him on solving the book's mystery, she still refuses to marry him, says Wiki. In fact the Vane-Wimsey lovey-dovey is fairly thin and could be ignored without losing much.Thursday, 30 July 2026
Book review: Inversions
Inversions by Iain M. Banks is not a Culture novel, whatever the lying PR folk may tell you. Instead it is very slightly Culture-adjacent; the Doctor and the Bodyguard are tourists from the Culture, one presumes.Friday, 24 July 2026
Book review: The Secret Commonwealth
A successor to Northern Lights and friends. Lyra is now twenty, a student at St Sophia's, but all is not well between her and Pan: they are estranged: not only can they separate (I forget the heart-rending circumstances from the end of The Amber Spyglass) but they really aren't getting on.Tuesday, 21 July 2026
CRA town bumps, 2026
The finest sporting event of the year returns. But alas I am in O2 (aka M2) this year, rather than O1, having lost at the seat racing; still it was a fair trial. And - apart from the lost glory of course - I sort-of gain, because M2 has been going out as a crew 2-3 times a week, whereas M1, being full of ringers, only really went out together last Sunday.
Thursday: back to M3. We have Christian in for DaveB at two, likely more power and definitely more stamina (sorry Dave...). A little late to the start - still spinning on the four minute gun - because the hard was crowded and I wasn't pushy. But we stayed calm. We're hoping for a row-over today, with little hope of catching Poachers. GPS. But to my surprise we're creeping up, getting to within a length, maybe better, so I exhort the crew to stay on it, and we do largely. They get a poor line around Ditton, possibly influenced by weed, but certainly they head off to the far bank and we pass them. Cheers all round and willow. And then O2... GPS. Our strategy is to go harder on the start and catch / scare them early... I had argued against this, and in favour of emphasising staying faster after the start, but I go with the flow. Anyway, it was a decent start, but it doesn't help, they are if anything further off than y'day (and GPS says our A14-to-Plough times are within a second all three days) until... yes, you guessed it, luck strickes twice and they also stuff up Ditton, probably weed on the rudder, and just as we're doing an all-out bumps-ten kind of thing - which does actually lift our speed - we've gone past them, and wind down. Cue more willow. Later: doring M1, who look to be about a length down around Ditton, and my drone can distantly see them on the Reach, though TBH I cannot tell one crew from another. But later it emerges they bumped up just before the Railway (which is their finish, but they could chase, their target being crew 8).
Friday: M3 down by First Post, to a scorching start from Poachers, a complete turnaround from yesterday when we gained on them off the start. GPS. I suspect some crew changes on their part; for our part, we had Kalus for Steve at stroke; and ?Anne-Marie? for Christian at two.