GR 54 – day 2

14.7.2023 Friday

Lac Noir – Le Monêtier-les-Bains

→ 44,37 km ↑ 1507 m ↓ 2329 m

We went out to photograph the stars last night. I haven’t seen stars that bright in a long time. There was strong storm far off in the distance. Alarm was set for 5:30, but we don’t get up until 5:50. Getting out of a warm sleeping bag is hard, but the surroundings are beautiful. The forecast of 1°C didn’t come true, so it’s 5°C. I can’t say for sure, I forgot the thermometer at home. But we weren’t cold in the night. We get up, Jozef makes coffee and breakfast, and I go up the hill to take more photos.

Then we pack up pretty fast. The tent’s dripping with condensation, since we were right by the lake, and at 6:50 we set off downhill. Since we made a detour yesterday for the sleeping spot, this morning we still have 6 km back to our original route. We start our journey at the edge of a cliff and another lake, Lac Lérié.

Along the way we meet our first marmots. We head across green hills and past cows into the village of Le Chazelet. We go down steep switchbacks beneath a cable car. In town we get coffee, and want a croissant too, but they sold the last one right before us. No matter, there’s another town soon, Les Terrasses. There’s no shop there. They’re repairing the road, and a lady explains how to get around it, in French of course. So we just smile, nod, and let her finish. We thank her in French and go the way she pointed. We go down even more steeply into the town of La Grave.

Even with the holiday, everything’s open, so we buy a baguette, cheese, tomatoes and a Pilsner. Next door at the fruit shop, apricots, and flan at the bakery. With all this we head to the edge of town, where there’s a campsite and benches, and set up a feast. Meanwhile we dry our things and rest. It’s already lunchtime and we still have a lot ahead. Next comes a stretch alongside the La Romanche river. We tell ourselves that following a river means easy walking, but we hadn’t noticed a two-kilometer stretch that veers away from the river with a serious climb. Luckily we move fast and soon pass by the town of Villar-d’Arêne. I need a toilet, so Jozef waits on the trail while I go into town. They have public toilets in literally every village and busy tourist spot here. Properly clean, with toilet paper. And they also have little libraries at bus stops and drinking water everywhere. It’s great.

Next comes a few nice, easy kilometers along the river, and we reach completely full parking lots. There are lakes where we wanted to swim, so we figure there’ll be a ton of people. But we get there and no one’s in the water, so just to be safe we check the sign for whether swimming’s allowed, and it is. Our route turns off right there and we don’t have much time, so we just dip our feet in. Now we know why no one’s in the water. It’s brutally cold. We manage 10 seconds with our feet in.

We handle this quickly, and then an 8 km climb awaits (600 meters of elevation) up to Col d’Arsine pass (2,340 m). It starts gently, but it’s very hot and muggy. After a kilometer there’s another parking lot, then a steep climb begins. By the lakes we each grabbed a liter of water, the most we’re carrying so far. We drink a good bit of it on the way up. But once we get through this, a pleasant wind start to blow, and the trail continues through a wide valley surrounded by beautiful mountains.

All people from the parking lot are here too, and I don’t blame them. Beautiful weather, easy hiking, and it’s a holiday too. Most head toward the hut. We avoid it and rest a few meters further by a small stream. We filter water, drink an electrolyte tablet, and I dip my feet. The sun’s strong, so we put on sunscreen again. Even Jozef puts some on his neck willingly today, since he got burned yesterday. Further along we meet more cows than people and look out for marmots.

Just after 4 pm we reach the pass, and a view opens up on the other side. A sign says it’s 3 hours (800 m) down to the village, but we want to push 4 more kilometers, so we jog a bit. We pass stylish blue glacial streams, and in one of them there are tadpoles. I don’t get how they survive in that icy water.

We try to descend fast, but the tiredness is really setting in. We stop for a bit in the shade and refuel with baguette and cheese. At 6pm we manage to reach the village of Le Casset and think about whether to continue. At first we say no and fill up water bottles, planning to find a sleeping spot somewhere in the next kilometer. But it’s a busy spot and the road’s flat, so we walk fast. We pour the water out and walk quickly to Le Monêtier-les-Bains, hoping to catch the shop before it closes.

We just buy cookies, cheese and a tomato for breakfast, sweet soda and beer. We’re pretty much running on low energy at this point. Only 1.9 km left to our planned sleeping spot, but of course we can’t find water in this town. So we head to the spot, drop our stuff, and Jozef goes to a stream to filter water. Meanwhile I pitch the tent and blow up the sleeping pads. Jozef then cooks mashed potato with tuna and garlic, and I add ketchup. We do everything fast tonight, since we need sleep. Tomorrow shouldn’t be as tough, so hopefully we recover a bit after these two days.