We wake in the morning to light rain that turns into heavy drizzle which turns into full on rain, wind and as we rise up high, snow. We cannot see more than a couple of feet in front of us as we climb vertically up the rocks for hours on end. Our only respite is walking behind a glacier that we can not really see but at least it was not up. Like all good climbs there is a corresponding descent and this one is a doozie. Mud for hours as we slip and slide our way down and get overtaken by runners training for the 3 day run around Mont Blanc. Not good for the ego that's for sure.
Feeling confident after two days walking we head out and do 14kms in the wrong direction. All I can say is that we gave a lot of people a good laugh as we hitched a ride back to the beginning of the days walk. We cross to Italy and we have been told that the sun always shines in Italy and we are not disappointed for a day at least. We have a great day's walking just feeling like we can reach out and touch the Mont Blanc Massiff. We meet Rob in Courmayeur after a gruelling descent - most take the cable car but no not us. We arrive battered and exhausted and can barely walk but looking forward to our rest day. We brake our vow of abstinence and succumb to a wine or two that night. Our rest day is perfectly timed to go to the outdoor spa resort. Although we feel as if we are in the movie 'Cocoon' our feet relish the rest. We wave goodbye to Rob as he heads off to Oz into a completely different world of experiences than what we are having.
We get smarter and wiser we have added a compass to our pack, special liners in our boots and we read the maps and trip notes before heading off. As we get further and further into the walk our fitness improves and our rooms no longer stink of dencorub and the panadol osteos are held only on standby.
Although "Losers Limp" set in most afternoons, and those pesky marmots jumped into our packs for the last couple of kilometres, we managed to arrive at our destination before sunset.
The refuges are special places to stay, the comraderie of the fellow walkers, all feeling the same as we haul in our heavy packs, exhausted, finding our beds in rooms with sometimes 3 stacks holding 8 people in a row; that's 24 people in a room. 2 minute showers and long tables for dinner and talk which ends by just after 8pm as everyone heads to their beds hoping to sleep and recover to do it all over again in the morning. We are lucky enough to always have a room to ourselves thanks to Alpine Exploratory but we do not avoid the 2 minute communal showers. The people we meet there we cross paths with often over the coming days.
The weather improves a little although it is still freezing cold and we are dressed in head scarves that makes me look like a bowling ball, hats, gloves, fleecys and raincoats most days but no more torrential rain and most of the time we can see where we are headed. We cross into Switzerland and more stunning beautiful countryside and villages. We stay in Champex a high mountain lake area and its beauty just takes our breath away.
We feel that we have experienced it all by now until we hit the Bovine. Now this is the easier of the 2 routes crossing over this mountain range and with our new mantra of 'Enjoy not Endure' we take it. However it was not to be easy, a gruelling climb up deep rutted tracks for hours on end and it is not called the Bovine for nothing. We try to keep out of the way of the cattle that inhabited this area. They were not sweet dairy cows but big black aggressive horny beasts, a few times we detour around them walking ankle deep in muddy manure paddocks.
Our next rest day we take the train into Chamonix with all the excess from our packs so that we only carry the essentials the last 2 days. This proves to be an excellent idea of Susans' as the next day we do a 1200m climb using ladders and steel hand holds. It is exciting and thrilling and bloody hard work. The weather has improved and it is hot for the first time. Our views of the majestic Mont Blanc are worth all the hard work as we lay in the grass beside the alpine lake. That night we sit out and watch the sun set over Mont Blanc. A sight that will be with us in our dotage.
We walk back into Chamonix after 11 long, hard days walking, 2 rest days and putrid weather to more rain and mist, but it is comforting to return to the lovely warmth of the very French family at the Hotel Richemond. We have walked 200km with ascents of 1200mt and descents of 1000mt in any one day. We have walked from France to Italy and across to Switzerland and back into France. We have had to dig deep into our physical and mental reserves. We are very proud of our achievement!!
