Marmot Country

The day after our much enjoyed rest day, we went to Courmayeur again, but this time we walked there via a rather different, and much more interesting, if harder route, than that followed by the bus.

Strangely enough, our day did in fact start with a bus trip, but no, we weren't cheating, we were simply going back, in the opposite direction to Courmayeur, to the place where we had caught the bus to go to our campsite 2 days ago.

On the Tour de Mont Blanc (TMB), whenever you leave a road, there is always a steep uphill, but we were all fresh after our rest day and marched up with few stops. Then there was a lovely ridge walk, with a good path, so we really could look all around and safely enjoy the mountain vistas.

As always, we scampered ahead, but we were impressed to see our minders almost keeping up with us bears. We liked to wait for them in the sun on these way marking points. It is interesting to note that most of the places marked were the refuges which provided us with our coffee stops. As we sat waiting for our minders, we were pleased to note that one was coming up, the Bonatti refuge, just 15 minutes away. 

Just before our coffee stop we had a real treat, our first marmot sighting ... 

We were simply thrilled to see one of these elusive creatures and we loved what we saw. We had heard them many times and scoured the mountain sides to see them, but of course, what we were hearing was their distress call, so they had already gone into hiding and were not coming out ... until today.

After coffee, we did a bit more undulating before a steady climb up a glacial valley which ended in a steep climb to a col where we had a quick lunch as there was a rather cold wind. The climb after lunch was unbelievably steep -  it was almost vertical - but mercifully it was quite short.

Then it was downhill for the whole of the afternoon's walk. As you can see from our next photo, it was mostly a long gentle downhill, although when there was a steep section, it was steep.

This was also wild flower day and Gio was in his element. We had to keep an eye on him otherwise we'd have left him behind, communing with pink, yellow and gentian blue alpine flowers.

It seemed to take forever to get to Courmayeur and it was extremely hot. Thankfully, when we arrived, we found a marvellous ice cream parlour which served heavenly ice creams. From Courmayeur it was a choice of bus or walk to the camp site. Nobody walked!

Lots of love, George, Yorkie and Gio xxx

No Furry Ferrets in Sight!

The next morning the rain had stopped, at least for a while. We walked out of the campsite and down the road and had only just warmed up before we started to climb through some woods. Just as our paws were getting tired, we hit another road and it provided a flattish section, before we started the serious climbing, up ski routes, to the Grand Col Ferret, at 2536m, the highest point of the trek.

Part way up, there was the usual refreshment opportunity, such as we had come to rely on. We enjoyed our customary hot chocolate and it warm enough for us to sit outside and admire the views.

We really liked the ingenious table decorations; in case you can't see clearly, old walking boots were being used as plant pots. We hoped they didn't belong to walkers who had given up on the circuit. 

Just after this rest stop was a really steep section, although we were climbing up a very good path and we were getting quite fit, so we took it all in our stride. After 15 minutes or so, the angle of ascent reduced and we made good speed towards the Col. We couldn't afford to slow down as it was getting quite cold as we got closer to this important high point. The pockets of snow also increased and we found ourselves in the clouds. 

By the time we reached the Col Ferret cairn, conditions felt positively arctic and we ate our lunch in record time as we stood in a pile of snow just below the cairn with  gale blowing - bear in mind we were still in our shorts! We took it in turns to have a souvenir picture taken, but as you can see, it was difficult for us to stay upright in the strong wind. 

The significant thing about this Col, apart from it's height, it that it marks the border between Switzerland and Italy. As we started our descent into Italy, which seemed a lot warmer, we spoke our first (and only) words of Italian, giving a cheery Buon Giorno to everyone we passed. 

The descent to refuge Elena was another manageable one (full marks to Exodus for a great route) and as we got below the clouds the views and weather improved (a bit) and, guess what? the Refuge Elena provided us with another opportunity for refreshments. 

The flag on the balcony provided the evidence that we really were in Italy, as well as the cheaper coffee     

prices. 

From here there was a driveable track down to the road where there was  bus stop. We took the bus down the road to our first Italian campsite, where we consumed vast quantities of, what other than, that Italian speciality, pizza, from the campsite takeaway.  

Lots of love, George, Yorkie and Gio xxx