Back on GR 54 – day 17
29.7.2023 Saturday
Col du Galibier – Le Bourg d’Oisans
→ 13,39 km ↑ 219m ↓ 875 m
We get up around 7am, no rush today. No more mountains waiting for us. We just want to link this section back up with GR 54, so it’s all nicely closed off. Breakfast is mushroom soup and coffee. Glad the gas canister held out. It’s a clear morning, so the glaciers are on full display.
We pack up slowly, finishing the soup on a bench. We head down the switchbacks, watching the last of the marmots along the way.
We meet a grandma with a genuinely stylish haircut, walking poles and a hiking backpack. She starts talking to me in French, but I pull out my trusty line, “No parlé francias” (translation: “I don’t speak French”). And, as usual, that’s followed by simplified French and a lot of expressive gesturing. She asks if we hiked up to the pass on foot. I say yes, and she replies in English, “very good.” Genuinely lovely grandma. And there really are a lot of older people out here — at least half the hikers we’ve met were over 50, often well over. After that we’ve still got a short climb up to the busy Col du Lautaret (2057 m). We grab a coffee and charge our devices for a bit, since last night our power bank died completely at 15% — something we’ll need to look into once we’re home. Today’s destination is Villar-d’Arêne, which we passed by on day two. Still 7.5 km to go.
We follow the GR50, which loops around the Écrins national park. It’s longer than the GR54 but with less elevation gain. First along a mowed path through meadows, then on asphalt all the way to Villar. This is where the main road to Grenoble runs, and we want to hitchhike to Bourg d’Oisans, which is on the way. Along the road Jozef mentions he read somewhere that hitchhiking in France is notoriously bad, so we’ll see. We find a decent spot and stick out a thumb — the very first car stops. It’s only going as far as La Grave though, so we keep hitchhiking. A minute later another car stops, also headed to La Grave, and a minute after that, another one. Finally we flag down one going further. It’s a tiny Škoda that Jozef barely manages to squeeze into. An older French couple gives us a lift, and they speak a bit of English, so we attempt some conversation. The woman teaches me how to say Bourg d’Oisans since she couldn’t understand me when I asked where they were headed. Turns out you just drop half the vowels and say it as fast as possible. The result comes out something like “BOODOZAHN.” The ride takes 40 minutes and it’s genuinely a bit dangerous — lots of tight bends and narrow tunnels. Every few meters there’s an avalanche warning sign, some even with light signals. This place must get pretty rough in winter. At 1pm they drop us off at the edge of town, close to a campsite, so we head straight there. We were deciding whether to go or not, but we do need to unwind and clean ourselves a bit before the flight, and they’re forecasting thunderstorms for this evening.
It’s very muggy out. After showering, pitching the tent, and sorting out our gear, we head into town. First stop is a shop, where we grab a pasta salad with crab sticks since we’re starving, then we go send some postcards. We’ve got time to spare, so we get coffee and later pizza too. It’s starting to get dark and we can hear thunder in the distance. On the way back to the campsite we stop to buy Prosecco — I really want some tonight. As we step out of the shop, it starts drizzling. Looks like it’s going to keep raining for a while, so we hurry back to the campsite as fast as we can. A proper downpour breaks out over the last 200 metres, so we run back to the tent. I finish writing yesterday’s blog post and we drink some Prosecco. Jozef goes to have a shower again, but when he goes to put his shoe on, he finds a huge slug inside it. Pretty disgusting.
Later that night, when we’re heading to bed, there are actually three of them in there. I guess the amazing smell drew them in. Just to be safe, we bring absolutely everything into the tent. It’s still raining pretty hard. Glad we’re not somewhere high tonight. Tomorrow all that’s left is the trip home.
