Tour du Mont Blanc
The Tour du Mont Blanc or is one of the most popular long distance walks in Europe. It circles the Mont Blanc Massif covering a distance of roughly 170 km with 10 km of ascent/descent and passes through parts of Switzerland, Italy and France. Having already been to foot of Everest high up in the Himalayas this seemed to be the next logical step for me in my quest to walk some of the best available long distance walks the world has to offer. This is my account of a fantastic adventure with wonderful scenery and great company. I hope you enjoy it.
(Note: This walk is kindly contributed by Neal Lever)
Day 5, 27th June 2012:
I did not sleep too well last night. I guess the camping catches up with you a little and back stiffness does not help. Also the snoring had reached an all-time crescendo and not quite in tune. I guess I should have taken a leaf out of Ted's book and brought some ear plugs. I could have let fireworks off in our tent and he wouldn't have woken up. Mind I suppose he would have really, he would have had to help put out the blazing fire. Now don't get me wrong I can snore with the best of them but when you're awake and it is you listening it's a nightmare.
I decided to get up and write for a while whilst no one was around. I was sitting writing this very journal with the cloud slowly burning off after a night of showers when I spotted a totally black squirrel. Graham soon joined me and explained that there are indeed red and black squirrels. The reason why they are black is because they eat the pine cones from the Arolla pine tree and the pigment over the years has turned their fur black. Not sure on that one Graham. Sounds good though and what an intriguing chap Graham is. We also discuss mountaineering and whether or not oxygen should be used during climbing. We both agreed that if oxygen was not available the tourist queue that stretches from base camp to the summit of Everest would diminish. The mountain would be left to the real mountaineers and not the tourists. Walkers walk and mountaineers climb, its easy. Fewer deaths one feels.
Graham once worked on the F1 Jordon team and not many of us can profess to have done something as interesting as that. He told me all about it then everyone seemed to be getting up and I soon had that morning cup of coffee in my hand. Matt's father still was not still feeling himself so he decided to check into a hotel in Chamonix and book a flight home. Sad but a wise decision one feels. There will always be another time.
The lake and Champex
Squirrel Nutkin
Breakfast finished and with the support van packed we push on to La Fouly our next destination. We walk into the town of Champex and around the lake anti clockwise and there we meet a forest path climbing up and away from the town. We soon gain height and then come across some wonderful carvings in the trees of squirrels, toadstools and mushrooms amongst other carvings. Now on the east of the Mont Blanc massif we walk south, descending through the woods to the Val Ferret and onto Issert 1055m and other small pretty alpine villages.
There is a tricky descent at this point so keep your eyes on the tree roots that are trying their best to derail you. Soon we stop for a coffee and just sit in the shade for a while. I take my boots off just to dry out a bit because it is really warm now and my feet are hot and sweaty.
Praz de Port old Border
Beautiful countryside near Praz de Port
Not much further on we cross the valley and walk past open fields on an old road that drops us into the timeworn village of Praz de Port. This was once the Swiss Italian border. The Italians knew only too well about the fertile land this valley possessed so they stole it. But the Swiss being Swiss were having none of this and eventually over the years fought the Italians back to where the border originally was, which is at the pass at the Col de Ferret which we will climb tomorrow.
We leave Praz de Port and cross the valley once more and climb deeper into the forest where we find a suitable place for our lunch stop. Cheese, salami, red peppers and pesto sauce today. It is nice to eat in the shade today as the forest is quite dense in parts so the temperature is considerably lower here. We move on up the valley floor towards La Fouly and the forest is more broken here with a large waterfall cascading down on our right. Soon the Glacier de L'a comes into sight on our right as we arrive at La Fouly campsite. This is a big site at the head of the valley and Lewis, fine chap, has set up camp right next to the clubhouse with TV. Luxury! We may even get chance to watch Portugal and Spain in the European Championship final. Lee, myself and Lewis sneakily plan dinner to coincide with this.
After tent pitching and a lousy powerless shower that ate more Euro's than a Swiss bar I join Graham on a saunter into town and, you guessed it, a bar. The bar in question, Chez Maurice, was owned by a friend of Grahams, Maurice of course. He had helped Graham out on one of his walks and fed the group when they had problems with the support vehicles cooking facilities. He did this at very short notice and at a very reasonable price. Graham had not forgotten this and in his hand was a very fine bottle of malt to thank him.
A cool one in Chez Maurice
La Fouly campsite
Beer blonde for me and Graham but Maurice was not around when we arrived so a few more beers are consumed. We were soon joined by Lee, Ted, Rosie Luke and Haley and we all squeezed onto our by now very jovial table where the odd pronunciation was missing from our conversation. Others turned up later, Frank and Janet and also father and son Mike and Kevin who all dived onto another table. The view Of the Glacier de L'a is outstanding from here. Graham duly meets Maurice and delivers his well-accepted gift and we all trundle back down to the campsite for a perfectly timed dinner.
I learned that Keith had walked all the way to the start of the Glacier but the snow and Ice made the onward ascent a little dangerous on his own so he retreated back down. Wise move. We managed to get the soccer final on the TV after Lewis's hearty dinner and the match goes into extra time but I cannot keep my eyes open to watch it. I trundle off to bed without knowing the result.
