GR 54 – day 1
13.7.2023 Thursday
Le Bourg d’Oisans – Lac Noir
→ 33,95 km ↑ 2792 m ↓ 1083 m
Alarm’s at 5:30. I look out of the tent and see low clouds overhead, so we don’t feel like getting out. Jozef makes coffee and breakfast — chocolate oat porridge for me, and a homemade savory rice porridge for him. It rained quite a lot last night. The tent held up fine, only the inside wall is wet from condensation. Packing and washing up take us a while, so we don’t set off until 7. We still have yesterday’s 800 meters of climbing ahead at the start. We look for the trailhead, but where the map says it should be, there’s private land. So we start on asphalt toward L’Alpe d’Huez, often part of the Tour de France (not this year though). After a bit we spot a marker for a shortcut through these switchbacks. It’s quite a challenge, not exactly my cup of tea or my hour of the day. Jozef has to wait for me. After about an hour we pass some French farms and continue along the La Sarenne river.
We climb gently up to Col de Sarenne pass at 1,999 m, popular with cyclists. A paved road runs up there.
Then we go back down 800 meters into the villages of Clavans-le-Haut, Clavans-le-Bas and Besse. The way to Besse is tough for me, since when I’m hungry I whine and lose all my strength, and it was uphill again too, so I have some chocolate and push on thinking of a cup of coffee.
We get coffee in Besse. Everyone here makes really good espresso. Next door we buy some food for tomorrow, since it’s Bastille Day and we think everything will be closed. We buy three baguettes baked by a lady there, peaches, salami and a piece of cheese from the region we visited last year. We walk to the edge of the village and lay out food. We eat two baguettes with a piece of Beaufort cheese, which just melts on your tongue, and realize we could actually use a few more baguettes. We try the baker right next to us, but he says he’s closed and only opens at 15:30. So Jozef goes back to the lady and brings more baguettes and more peaches too, since those were really good. We still don’t know where we’ll sleep tonight, but we know we’ll at least reach the Plateau d’Emparis, which means 7 km and 700 meters of climbing. The climb is tough, because it’s pretty hot. Along the way we meet a stray sheep, which startles Jozef, and we try to give it some water since it’s not scared of us at all, just lying curled up in one spot. It doesn’t do anything, so we move on. Soon after we meet a hiker coming the other way, so he’ll probably mention it in the village. We keep climbing, and beautiful views open up with every meter we gain.
We already have 30 km in our legs and our feet start to hurt. It really reminds us of Georgia here, few people around and stunning views of the surrounding mountains and glaciers.
We got beautiful weather, no sign of any storm, so we pick the high-elevation Lac Noir for sleeping. Just two more kilometers and about 250 meters of climbing. I’m pushing on with my last bit of strength, but the view that has opened up before us is unbelievable.
It’s 17:35, we look for a good tent spot, drop our packs, and filter water right away, since we drank all we had. I go take a look around the lake. It’s completely wild here. Just past the lake there’s a 1,200-meter cliff. I walk to the edge, still at a safe distance, and my legs are shaking the whole time.
Then we pitch the tent and finish drying our things from the morning. Jozef cooks pasta with smoked tuna, olives, garlic and our special dried pasta mix. Fancy.
I hear thunder in the distance, so I check the weather right away. Luckily it’s far off and not headed our way. On the other hand, I see it’s supposed to drop to 1°C by morning, so we prepare all our warm clothes for the night. There are quite a lot of people around the lake, since it’s easy to reach from the road. Some are just arriving, some are swimming. We’re already fed, washed and resting by 8.
I like it much better this way, starting early so we don’t have to stress about where we’re sleeping, and we get to enjoy the view and rest a lot. Today was probably our toughest day, so we’ll see how our legs feel tomorrow.
