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.
No comments:
Post a Comment