The Tour de Mont Blanc Diaries Day 1 – Champex Lac to Ferret and a walk in the woods

Our train from Geneva airport skirted around Lake Lausanne heading for Martigny on a journey that would take us back to Champex Lac, where we had ended our Tour de Mont Blanc walk last year. There’ s a bit of history here, as my friend Julia and I had decided to hike this Alpine trail in stages of a few days at a time and we were back for a third year of what will probably be a four year journey for us both. An elderly man in the seat across the aisle beckoned to me confidentially and spoke first in German, then in English when I looked blank. “What are the three fastest ways to spread news? he asked, looking pleased at his riddle. The answer ; “Telegram, Telephone, Tell a woman”. Not quite knowing what to make of the joke, I smiled politely and gazed out of the window, as the medieval castle at Montreux sped by. Lake Lausaune was so big that we could only just make out the far shore and a haze hung over the water in the warm sunshine.

The journey from Martigny

At Martigny we changed to the local line on the cheerful, red St Bernard Express with the dog on the side that was once used to rescue people in the mountains, although nowadays the helicopter is more in demand. A quick change at Sembrancher which I almost missed, in my desire to take just one more photo, and our train journey ended at Orsieres where we picked up our bus connection to take us up the winding hairpin bends to Champex Lac. The bus was full of primary school children heading home, who were creating a riot all around us, until a stern French aunty told them to pipe down. A long day of travel and we were back where we ended last year, pulling off our boots and putting on our Crocs at the Gite Bon Abri. Not much had changed in the year we’d been away; we had the same 6 bed bunk room to ourselves with red flanellette sheets and duvets and the same supper that started with an aperitif of sweet wine and some home-made cheese straws. The mules were grazing outside, ready for the next day when they might be carrying someone’s baggage up the mountain. The forecast was good and we were all set fair for our few days walking on the Tour de Mont Blanc.

Setting off from Champex Lac

Our first day was planned to be our longest, although the terrain was gentle with not too many steep climbs in altitude. Julia had experienced serious problems with accute mountain sickness (AMS) during our walk the year before, and she had prepared herself to avoid it this year with a large water pouch which she could sip through a tube and some medication (Diamox). Our little joke was that she’d told all her friends that she was on Viagra, as I’d heard somewhere that they are in the same family of drugs and both work by increasing the blood supply!

As we came down the hill at 8.30 towards the lake, all the shops were shut but the fishermen were lined up along the bank. Being conscious of the etiquette of the Tour de Mont Blanc, I must have said about ten Bonjours as I passed them one by one along the path by the lake. I even spotted a few of those naughty children who were causing a riot in the bus out fishing with their dads. We nearly got lost before we had even started, but a little way down the road we picked up the yellow and black diamond TMB signs, and turned into the woods. The walk was cool and shady and the carved wooden sculptures that we’d spotted outside Gite Bon Abri and also on the lake continued with a menagerie of carved wooden animals and other sculptures along the route.

The Sentier des Champignons

A forest sign told us that we were on the “Sentier des Champignons” but although we saw a wooden mushroom sculpture, it was too early for the autumn crop of real champignons. At a bend in the path, the clanging of cow bells warned us that there was a dairy farm in the building below the path, but thankfully no cows blocking the way as we had experienced last year. As the forest cleared, we walked down to the road at the village of Issert, which was full of pretty old houses and took some photos on the bridge that crossed the rushing mountain river. The path skirted along the open meadow and through the small hamlet of Les Arlaches where workmen were repairing the attractive old wooden barns and the houses were in various states of repair. Through gaps in the houses we could glimpse some fertile vegetable patches with orange home grown pumpkins and a large cross marked the end of the village.

A walk through the Alpine meadow

The path continued through an Alpine meadow and next we reached the somewhat larger village of Praz de Fort where we crossed the river again and stopped to have an early lunch on a fallen log overlooking the river, keeping a safe distance from a row of multicoloured bee hives. It was only 11.30 and although we had been walking three hours, the map showed us that we had only walked around a third of our walk for the day, so we couldn’t afford to linger too long. We nearly got lost again among the outskirts of the village where a lot of new houses seemed to have been built and then passed through the forest along a causeway created by moraine left by the retreating Glacier de Saleina, with the light dappling through the pines.

A view of the glaciers at La Fouly

An hour or so later, we approached La Fouly, a larger village that looked as if it saw a lot of visitors in both summer and winter, judging by the numerous cafes, equipment shops and information centre. Had we been looking for a more lively location for our night’s stop this would probably have been it. The village has wonderful views of the hanging glaciers and we settled gratefully into the sunny outdoor terrace of the Auberge des Glacier for a reviving Orangina, surrounded by lean climbing types with wraparound sunglasses. The cafe was full of colour, with orange striped deck chairs set on green astroturf, electric blue sun umbrellas and window boxes full of pink geraniums framing the glacier in the bowl of the mountains.

Eventually we prised ourselves from our deck chairs and mustered the energy to walk the final hour up the valley to Ferret, the last village before the road ran out. We had booked a room at Hotel Col de Fenetre, the only place in town, where we were thrilled by our en suite twin room, a real step up from some of the dorms where we had slept in previous years. The day ended with a cold beer, a meal of pork in mustard sauce, finished by a slice of ice-cream that had a red Swiss flag embedded in it – what a novelty. Today had been long but easy terrain through Alpine meadows and pretty villages. Tomorrow, we would get away from the road and up into the real mountains.

To be continued…..

More Tour de Mont Blanc adventures from last year

Walking on the Tour de Mont Blanc – Podcast
My Tour de Mont Blanc diary Day 2 – Col de Balme to Champex
My second year on the Tour de Mont Blanc – video diary 2011

 

Resources for the Tour de Mont Blanc

We took the train from the station at Geneva Airport buying a combined ticket that covered all the changes and the integrated bus service to Champex Lac. The route was via Martigny where we changed to the St Bernard Express to Orsieres with a brief change at Sembrancher. At Orsieres we waited half an hour for the bus to Champex Lac. The whole journey took around 3 hrs 30 mins and cost 59 CHF one way.

On the first night we stayed at Gite Bon Abri at Champex-de’en-Haut, which we highly recommend, with private rooms and dorm rooms. The cost was around CHFR 76 per person including dinner and breakfast in a 6 bed dorm room and the Gite may be booked in advance by e-mail. The second night we stayed at Hotel Col de Fenetre at Ferret. The twin room with en suite bathroom cost 95 CHF per person including dinner and breakfast. The hotel does not have a website but reservations can be made by e-mailing bertrandmurisier@bluewin.ch Tel. 027 783 1188

For mountain clothing I recommend mountain sports specialist, Ellis Brigham who have a wide range of waterproof jackets, trousers and other walking gear you might need for a trek on the mountains, which are available both through their website and UK stores.

We used the Cicerone Tour of Mont Blanc guide by Kev Reynolds - we found it to be an excellent guide for both the clockwise and anti-clockwise route with detailed route guide, maps, accommodation information and points of interest along the route.

www.flickr.com heatheronhertravels’ Tour de Mont Blanc 2012 photoset

This article by Heather Cowper is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

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My Tour De Mont Blanc in Instagram Photos

This September I was walking in the Alps on the Tour de Mont Blanc for the third year running with my friend Julia. This mountain trail makes a circuit around the Mont Blanc Massive, taking you through France, Switzerland and Italy and would normally take 12-14 days to complete the whole circular route. However, we decided that it would be too arduous and difficult to fit in so much time off work, if we did the TMB in one go, so we’re walking the trail in stages and hopefully will be back to complete the final stage of our Tour de Mont Blanc next year.

Our first year took us from Les Houches above the Chamonix valley to Lac Blanc and finished at Flegere. The second year we started at Flegere and walked into Switzeland, ending at Champex Lac and this year we started where we left off at Champex Lac to walk as far as Courmayeur in Italy.

Although I was away from any wifi, I was able to capture the journey in photos on my iPhone which I posted through Instagram onto my Twitter and Facebook feeds, as well as e-mailing to my family, to give a live stream of the journey, using the tag #tmbwalk. The pictures below are all my #tmbwalk photos and if you hover over each one you can see the commentary – bear in mind that the photos at the top are from the end of the journey. At the bottom of the photos, I’ve given some information in case you’d like to do the same – it’s certainly an activity I plan to use again on future trips.

More Tales from the Tour de Mont Blanc

Off to the Alps – More adventure on the Tour de Mont Blanc
Walking on the Tour de Mont Blanc – Podcast
The Mountain Clothing you’ll need for treking the Tour de Mont Blanc

Information about creating the photos above

• I have been using Instagram for my last few trips to take photos on my iPhone – there is an app for both iPhone and Android.
• The Instagram app enables you to take photos on your smartphone, resize them in a square format, add filters with different effects and then post to your Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr feeds, your Flickr account and e-mail them to anyone you wish as well as being visible on Instagram for your Instagram followers to see in their feed.
• Although I used #tags on previous trips such as #loveguernsey #Houston #Texas with my Instagram photos, for this trip I decided to create a unique tag of #tmbwalk that no-one else was using which proved to be a good plan.
• By creating a unique tag I could use the WordPress Plugin Instapress to create the effect above. Instapress enables you to create a photo montage like the one above or to add your Instagram photos in a sidebar widget to your blog. I’m still working out how to customise the widget as so far I haven’t found out how to include only photos with a #tag from my own stream – if others are using the same #tag it picks up their photos too – hence the importance of using a unique #tag
• An alternative to Instapress is Snapwidget which can be used to generate code that you paste onto your blog that will create a similar photo montage to the one above.

Information for walking the Tour de Mont Blanc from Champex Lac to Courmayeur

• We flew to Geneva and took the train/bus to Champex Lac. There is a station in Geneva Airport and you can buy tickets at either the machines or at the ticket booth. The combined ticket took us from Geneva Airport/Martigny, Martigny/Orsieres (Changing briefly at Sembrancher) Orsieres to Champex Lac by bus. The trains ran from Geneva about every 30 minutes and the whole journey took around 3 hours. The cost one way was about 59 CHF (€48 £39 $63) If Courmayeur is your starting point you could also look at flights to and from Turin which has good public transport connections to get to Courmayeur.
• We stayed at at Champex Lac at Gite Bon Abri; Ferret at Hotel Col de Fenetre; Rifugio Elena; Rifugio Bonatti, at Courmayeur at Hotel Bouton d’Or. We reserved rooms by e-mail in advance for all of these but Rifugio Elena who did not answer our e-mails (we later found that their office is in the valley rather than at the Refuge) so we phoned to make a reservation when we arrived. Check for the best hotel prices in Switzerland and book here.
• At the end of our walk we caught the SAT bus from Courmayeur to Chamonix through the Mont Blanc tunnel. The bus runs around 3-4 times a day and the journey takes around 45 minutes and costs €13 one way, €20 return. The bus leaves Courmayeur in front of the Tourism Office where you can buy tickets at the bus office and drops off at Chamonix station where there is also a booth to buy tickets.
• Finally we took the efficient and reliable minibus transfer with ChamExpress from Chamonix to Geneva Airport for our flight home – the cost is €29 one way + tax

www.flickr.com heatheronhertravels’ Tour de Mont Blanc 2012 photoset

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com - Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

 Don’t miss out – subscribe to Heather on her travels

21 Walking on the Tour de Mont Blanc – Podcast

In Travel Podcast 21 I’m walking the Tour de Mont Blanc with my friend Julia. The TMB, as it’s known, is a long distance mountain trail that takes a circular route through France, Switzerland and Italy, but rather than take 12 days to walk the whole thing we decided to walk it a few days at a time each year  and this was our second year on the trail. In the podcast you’ll hear about the highs and lows of walking the trail, the pretty hamlets we passed through, the wonderful mountain scenery, the rather basic mountain refuges where we stayed and our encounter with a herd of mountain cattle with very sharp horns. Although my friend Julia had some problems with altitude which meant that we couldn’t walk as long or as far as we wished, thanks to the kindness of strangers,we made it to our end point in good spirits, ready to come back for more mountain walking next year.

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The Ultra Trail in Chamonix

After we’d settled into Hotel Slalom in Les Houches, we went into Chamonix to stock up on provisions, get some cash out of the machine for both France & Switzerland and found that the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc was taking place that weekend, with four different long-distance races through the mountains on parts of the Tour de Mont Blanc trail. We sat in a cafe having a beer, watching the exhausted runners coming back into the finish at the end of the race. It was touching to see their families waiting for them, running through with them to the finish line ringing bells to welcome them back in. Another race was starting that evening from Chamonix and was due to pass by our hotel in Les Houches.

From Flegere to Tre-le-Champs

The next day we caught the bus from Les Houches into Chamonix and took the lift up to Flegere to where we had finished our walk last year. We traversed the track that skirted the mountainside and after about an hour reached a waterfall cascading down the mountain. The weather was not too kind and we were surrounded by cloud and drizzle which got worse as we gained altitude. We reached a point where several paths crossed at which point we needed to make a decision on whether to take a route that would take us down a series of metal ladders which was the quickest route, but Julia wasn’t too keen as she suffered from vertigo and we thought that drizzle and slippery ladders were not a safe combination.

Deciding to avoid the ladders due to the rain, we climbed higher and higher until the rain was practically snow and my hands were freezing. Scrambling down a rocky couloir we came out on the other side of the peak to see the road in the valley far below and the weather started to improve. Having climbed so hard to get up high, we wished we didn’t have to come down into the valley and lose the high ground.

Tre-le-champ on the Tour de Mont Blanc

Lunch at Tre-le-champ Auberge la Boerne

We managed to overshoot the correct path to take us down to Tre-le-Champ and so had to walk 15 minutes down the road at the bottom of the valley to reach the pretty hamlet with wooden houses with window window boxes and hanging baskets filled with geraniums and wood piles stacked up for the winter. The Auberge de Boerne there seemed a very pleasant place to stay and we wished we could have spent the night there, although we only stopped for a lunch of quiche and salad.

Tre-le-Champs to Refuge Col de Balme

From Tre-le-Champ we climbed up through shady forest until we were above the tree line and headed higher to the peak of Aiguille de Possette, one of the highest parts of the route. It was an arduous climb with many false peaks but from the top we could look down into different valleys in all directions. As we descended on the other side, passing several green mountain pools, below us we could see a grassy meadow and a ski piste. From here we had to walk up a further hour and by this time it was 6 pm and the darkness & mist was coming in. As we got closer we met a herd of cows on the mountainside which Julia was terrified of, as she had been chased by herd of cows as a girl, so we stepped off the path and waited until they had passed by.

Julia was suffering from altitude sickness and had to go slowly but finally we reached refuge Col de Balme in darkness. At first I could not spot any signs of life, but seeing a car parked there I know there must be someone inside. As I skirted around the refuge, I finally saw an old man through the window who asked what we wanted and finally let us in. Inside a warm stove was burning and we were served an Omlette Jambon with bread and local cheese. After we’d eaten a couple of other Italian men with a teenage boy arrived, but there were no other guests. We all had to sleep in one dorm despite the fact that other rooms were available but Madame told us that they were all shut up. She gave us three blankets between the two of us – giving Julia an extra one as she had not been feeling well. When I asked whether I too might have another blanket she told me it wouldn’t be necessary as with 5 people in a room it would be warm enough. I spent the first half of the night feeling cold and trying to put on extra clothes to keep warm without disturbing the others in the room. After our restless night, we were up at 7.30 and after a breakfast of bread and jam we were on our way again. Read my diary of Day 1 on the Tour de Mont Blanc – Flegere to Col de Balme.

Refuge Col de Balme on the Tour de Mont Blanc

Chalet du Glacier near Trient

Refuge Col de Balme to Champex

On the suggestion of the other walkers and the man at the refuge, we took a different way to the one suggested in the guidebook which gave us a great view of the Glacier du Trient hanging above the valley. From the glacier we descended through forest to a river running at the bottom of the valley, hoping to reach Col de la Forclaz before too long. On reaching the valley bottom and crossing the bridge, however, we realised that the cafe here was not Col de la Forclaz but Chalet du Glacier. It appeared to be a favourite weekend spot for people to walk along a flat path to a picnic spot by the cafe. By that time Julia arrived, she was feeling so unwell due to the altitude so we had to stop and rest for some time in the cafe. As the route to Champex was a further 4 hours walk, we realised that there was no way we would reach the hostel before nightfall unless we made alternative plans.

At Col de la Forclaz, we investigated public transport options and found there was a train from Martigny but unfortunately the bus to take us there would not come for another 2 hours. We looked into taxis but were told they would cost ¢70, so in the end we decided to hitch hike which I had never done in my life. We stuck out our thumbs and within 5 minutes a Frenchman stopped with his teenage daughters at the back and dropped us to the station at Martigny where we could get 2 trains and a bus to reach Champex by evening. We realised that the times given in guidebook were underestimated and so we will make sure we plan for shorter legs for next year. Read my diary of Day 2 on the Tour de Mont Blanc – Col de Balme to Champex.

Waiting for the train at Martigny

Chalet Bon Abri on the Tour de Mont Blanc

What to pack for the Tour de Mont Blanc

It’s worth planning the mountain clothing and equipment that you’ll need when walking the Tour de Mont Blanc, ensuring that you take just what you need, as you will have to carry it all. Key items are a comfortable pair of walking boots with ankle support, a waterproof jacket such as the gore tex jacket that I got from my local Ellis Brigham store and walking trousers made out of lightweight quick-drying material, which often have zips around the legs. I also took a pair of stretchy running trousers and some lightweight running t-shirts that would also be quick drying and not feel sweaty to wear. I recommend taking waterproof trousers but I found I didn’t use them very much so it’s probably not worth spending a lot on them.

The first thing to do when you arrive at a mountain refuge is take off your boots and normally the refuge will lend you plastic clogs or slippers, then you have a shower and change into clean clothes that are just for wearing in the refuge. I also found that it can get cold at night even in summer so a couple of fleeces are also necessary. As the refuges normally have mixed dorms, I would just sleep in your refuge gear rather than bringing special nightwear. A pair of walking poles are also essential and if you can get ones that are telescopic then they will fit more easily in your luggage. Read my article on what to wear  for the Tour de Mont Blanc.

Our last day at Champex

The bus set us down in Champex and we walked up the hill to Chalet Bon Abri where we spent the night which was a lovely, efficiently run Swiss Gite and a total contrast from what we had experienced the night before. Read my article on A tale of Two Refuges to see what I mean! Champex is a pretty lakeside town and the next morning we took a turn around the lake beside the sparkling water and relaxed on the lakeside terrace of a cafe. Although she had felt quite weak due to the altitude, Julia had enjoyed our trip but decided that she needed to be fitter next year and would look into ways to avoid the altitude problems. We felt that we had under-estimated the distances involved and found that we were taking far longer to walk each part of the route than the times given in the Cicerone Tour de Mont Blanc Guide. The two different refuges we stayed in were a complete contrast – the first was run by an older couple who only unlocked the bathroom the morning when we left, making us realise how lucky we were to have the luxury of electric light rather than only a head torch to clean our teeth by, while the second was very comfortable and modern and even had wifi!

In September 2012 we plan to do the next leg of the Tour de Mont Blanc, starting at Champex and ending at Courmayeur, so look out for more Tales from the Tour de Mont Blanc later this year.

 

Resources for those walking the Tour de Mont Blanc

On the first night of our walk we stayed at Refuge Col de Balme (Tel 04 50 54 02 33) and the cost was around €40 per person with dinner and breakfast in a 6 bed dorm room. On our second night we stayed at Gite Bon Abri at Champex-de’en-Haut, which we highly recommend, with private rooms and dorm rooms. The cost was around CHFR 76 per person with dinner and breakfast in a 6 bed dorm room and the Gite may be booked in advance by e-mail.

For women’s mountain clothing I used Ellis Brigham who have a wide range of waterproof jackets, trousers and other walking gear you might need for a trek on the mountains.

We used the Cicerone Tour of Mont Blanc guide by Kev Reynolds - we found it to be an excellent guide for both the clockwise and anti-clockwise route with detailed route guide, maps, accommodation information and points of interest along the route.

At the start and end of our walk, we stayed at the modern, stylish, budget boutique Hotel Slalom that is perfectly placed in Les Houches for summer walking opposite the start of the anti-clockwise TMB route. Double rooms in the summer season €86-99 plus €10 breakfast. Check for the best hotel prices in Switzerland and book here.

We booked our transfer from Geneva airport to Les Houches through Chamexpress and found them to run an extremely efficient airport to hotel service – cost was €28 + tax per person each way.

www.flickr.com heatheronhertravels’ France – Tour de Mont Blanc 2011 photoset

 

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com - Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

 Don’t miss out – subscribe to Heather on her travels

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