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

Wimbledon in the Alps

Our walk round the Champex Lake provided a nice easy start to the day, but it wasn't the usual style of Tour de Mont Blanc walking as it was far too flat. We expected it all to change very quickly and that we'd be toiling uphill as soon as the lake was behind us. However, we were in for a surprise; there were some ups, but they were a lot shorter than those of previous days, and there were longer periods of relative flat, not quite flat as our home territory of Norfolk, but not too taxing. 

We walked through some woods for a bit, but there was no danger of us getting lost, as there were plenty of trees bearing the distinctive Tour de Mont Blanc way mark; the yellow diamond with a black border.   

 

As we walked, we kept being buzzed by a helicopter which was very busy transporting tree trunks from the slopes above us down to the bottom of the valley. We learnt that it was helping clear ground to make a new piste for the next skiing season. 

The woods were full of interest, and we much preferred the sculptures here to those around the lake. Our favourite was this majestic eagle, and what a view Yorkie and I got from our perch on his head.  

 

We didn't need to cheat and hitch a lift though, as our path was heading downhill at this point. It took us down to a road as it passed through a small village, complete with coffee stop. It felt very different having our refreshment break in relative civilisation, with cars whizzing past, as we'd got quite used to finding buvettes in the middle of nowhere, so remote that supplies had to be brought in by helicopter.

For the rest of the day our path continued to undulate through the wonderful Alpine scenery we'd come to expect. Everyone had enough energy to chat, and Simon, our guide, told us lots of climbing tales from all over the world. We learnt of some horrible accidents, including climbers losing their heads (literally) in rock falls, and we vowed never to compromise on safety, and to heed all safety warnings, when in the mountains, and we hope all our readers will do the same.

Our campsite that evening was in a stunning location, with 2 glaciers as a backdrop.

  

It was just a shame that shortly after this photo was taken the rain returned and continued throughout the evening. While trying to keep the rain out of our tent, the zip broke, this time beyond easy repair, so we had to do a very fast tent swap, and took possession of the tent named 'Dru'.

The good news was that we had a completely enclosed large wooden building to eat and shelter in. It had a wood burning stove and a television, so we all enjoyed catching up on the Wimbledon action and we even got to see Andy Murray play.

Back soon,

Lots of love, George, Yorkie and Gio xxx

Champex and its Lac

The afternoon of the bovine route ended with an easy stroll down the road to a lovely sunny campsite. It did feel quite strange to be walking on tarmac though. On the way there were opportunities for yet more refreshments at a shop cum cafe, where several people stopped for a pistachio cornetto. This sounded rather more exciting than the usual vanilla or strawberry, but we'd done enough snacking for one day, and had one of Ben's delicious camp meals to look forward to, so we passed on the ice cream and concentrated on the rather lifelike wood carvings instead ...

... and took the opportunity to get a bit of climbing practice in.

The next morning started with some walking on the flat - quite unusual for the Mont Blanc Circuit! The first stretch was into the skiing town of Champex, which was a delightful small town, although no doubt it looks very different under snow in winter.

Not only was the town lovely, but it was only a few steps down a side street, to reach a small, but perfectly formed and stunningly beautiful, lake. There was good news from Simon, our leader, that we could take 15 minutes out to make a quick circuit.

 

We made the tour of Champex lake and every step was full of charm. It was clearly popular with the fish as well, as the local fishermen were reeling them in. The only things we weren't too sure about were the man made additions. These were some outdoor artworks, which, how else can we say it? were rather strange.  You see what we mean ...

... somehow a rabbit cuddling a fish doesn't seem quite natural, and neither does the length of those ears.

Before we take you any further on our tour, we will answer one of our reader's queries (Aunty G we believe) about what arnica looks like. We can offer you a picture, although you must appreciate that, at the time we were taking a photo of Gio, not the flower, so we didn't capture its best side. Hopefully though, it will give you a flavour of its looks ...

... it's very yellow, and, if we're honest, not disimilar to a dandelion.

Back soon,

Lots of love George, Yorkie and Gio xxx

Bovines on the Bovine Route

Our leaders chose the wild camp with the biggest shelter. We suspect they'd seen the weather forecast, since, as soon as the camp was in sight, the rain started again. However, with a shelter as big as this ...

... which was all ours to use, the rain wasn't too much of a problem. There was plenty of space for cooking, eating, relaxing and we could have cleared a dance floor, if our legs had felt up to it. We had a delicious spaghetti carbonara that night, but it was our team's turn to wash up and, believe us, trying to wash a pan coated with cream sauce, with cold water only, was quite a challenge.  

The next day dawned fine and dry. That morning we were following the bovine route, and before we'd even started that path, we had a bovine warm up, with Swiss cows lining the approach road ...

... they weren't the traditional brown Swiss cow, but they did have big bells and they sounded great.

As we plodded up the long uphill of the route proper, we encouraged ourselves with the thought of the refreshment buvette that would be close to the top. We'd come across enough by now to know they could be relied upon. Guess who arrived first to get to the head of the queue? - none other than our piranha friend Yorkie ...

We knew we were on the right path, as the buvette name was the Bovine, with rather scary pictures of cows locking horns. 

We tucked in to chocolate squared (hot drink and cake) while keeping an eye out for any aggressive cows. There weren't any, but a rather well laden mule did arrive with another trekking group. We were pleased when his load was taken off him so he could have a proper rest, but we were rather surprised to observe that most of the bags he was carrying seemed to contain his clients' lunches, rather than their overnight gear. Talk about big lunch boxes - they definitely weren't Brits.

We just felt a bit sorry for the buvette owners as they weren't getting much custom from that group. 

After the buvette stop, was a lovely flat path on the edge of some very steeply shelving pastures full of wild flowers including arnica. Any cows grazing those fields would have needed legs of different lengths. 

When this path ended, it was quite a steep downhill with some muddy sections and some rocky sections. We had to watch where we put our paws and take it slowly, but when we did that we were fine, and guess what there was another buvette at the end. 

Lots of love George, Yorkie and Gio xxx

First Border Crossing

We really liked the fact that most our our camp sites were on the route, so we would pack up in the morning (bags, tents and packed lunches) and then very quickly be back on the trail. This is where we really wanted to be, as what a trail it was. In the winter, many of the paths are ski runs. Now, we've never been skiing, but it all looked quite different to what we've seen on the tele. For a start, how many skiers do you see sharing the slopes with such charming companions as these? ...

Shortly after meeting these lovely equines, we had the only real rain that we experienced while walking the Circuit. Fortunately, after his Camino experiences Gio, knows how to do a steady plod, so he plodded on uphill, with no hesitation or deviation, and with Yorkie and me following in his paw prints and doing a bit of slip streaming. Despite the rain, it was still a lovely walk and we could still admire the views. Before we knew it, we had reached our high point of the Col de Balme where there was another 'buvette' serving hot drinks and snacks. We enjoyed another hot chocolate and dried out in the warmth of the hut. When we ventured outside again, the rain had stopped! We had another, scenic, but not too difficult descent and had plenty of time for admiring the views, lunch and photo stops ...

By now we had crossed the border into Switzerland, but there was no need to show our bearports. We had all the time in the world, and, as we didn't have to walk as a group, it was nice to have the mountains to ourselves from time to time. As it flattened out at the bottom, and we entered into meadow land, the wild flowers abounded. Gio simply adores his flowers and loves to sit in the middle of them all ..

We had a choice of 'wild' campsites that night, but they weren't that wild, just lacking in hot water and showers, but they did have proper toilets and wash basins, which was good for our minders, although being bears, we'd have been happy to be completely wild ... for once! Lots of love George, Yorkie and Gio xxx

Why's it Harder Going Down?

Our first morning got off to an hilarious start as we all struggled to acquire the knack of taking down our Quecha pop up tents - there is a definite technique, including such descriptive moves such as the 'dying swan'. The tents take quite a lot of taming as they keep wanting to spring back up, not go down.

By 8.30 a.m. we were ready to start our Tour de Mont Blanc. It started with 2 modes of transport, neither of which involved walking! First we caught the local bus into Chamonix, and then we caught the telepherique up to La Flegere. The views were great, but being crammed into the car with big mountaineers who reeked of garlic and had loads of gear, wasn't much fun.

Despite gaining lots of height in the telepherique, our route was relentlessly up. It was quite a rocky path, but not too difficult, although we didn't skip along as nimbly as the ibex that crossed our path. Occasionally we had to cross small patches of snow which were deeper than Yorkie was tall.


After a couple of hours walking we reached a delightful plateau which was where we found the Lac Blanc which is behind us in our picture. I reminded us of our trip to Iceland where we saw lakes amid snow and glacier ice. It wasn't as cold as it might look but it was very windy. There was a conveniently (for us) situated mountain lodge serving delicious hot chocolate which was very rejuvenating. The lodge location wasn't so convenient for the proprietors though as there was no road to it, so all supplies had to be brought in by helicopter.


After our refreshment stop we started our descent. We like descents as being bears, we are sure and steady on our paws, but we know our female minder doesn't like them. We made sure to keep an eye on her but, after a steep start, she declared it o.k. and we all enjoyed the fixed ladder that helped us down an otherwise difficult stretch ...


... we weren't so keen on the weather closing in though, and yes, it did come on to rain. We descended many more metres than we'd climbed and it took quite a while, but we were enjoying ourselves and all got down safely.

It was quite a wet evening, but thankfully the camp site had a large wooden shelter and that night we were eating a set meal in the camp site restaurant, so we didn't get too wet except for dashing between our tents and the site facilities.

Day 1 of walking got the thumbs up and we were looking forward to more.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie and Gio xxx

Pedal Power Pilgrimage

Dear readers, Gio here, to temporarily usurp the Mont Blanc postings, to report on my recent cycle pilgrimage around North Norfolk Churches. Last Saturday was the Historic Churches Trust sponsored bike ride, and I took part, along with my minders.


It was a lovely sunny day and we set off bright and early to try and visit all the 37 churches in our local deanery. The countryside we pedalled through was beautiful and varied, and so were the churches we visited. There were some real gems and most of them were open for me to look round. My next picture shows me outside the church at Hempstead, which really took my fancy with its delightful thatched chancel.


As we had so many churches to potentially visit, we hardy stopped pedalling throughout the day. We did stop for a few brief minutes outside Cley church to eat a roll and for me to remind myself of my planned route and to count up the churches already visited and signed off on my sponsor form.


When we got to Blakeney and called in at the Methodist church, we were shown their new cafe in the church hall. I was delighted to find 3 friendly bears helping to run the cafe, and they were doing a great job. Sadly we didn't have time on that occasion to sample their fare, but I plan to go back when I have more time.


By 5.00 p.m. when the ride finished, both minders and myself were quite weary, but we'd had a great day. When we consulted the GPS I was amazed to discover that we'd all pedalled 64 miles each and visited 42 Norfolk churches. I thought that was a superb achievement and I'm very grateful to all of our readers who sponsored us.

Lots of love, Gio xxx