GR 54 – day 7
19.7.2023 Wednesday
Col du Vallon – Le Bourg-d’Oisans
→ 17,75 km ↑ 491 m ↓ 2184 m
The night was pretty windy, and it drizzled a bit here and there. I thought I heard thunder too, but maybe I was just dreaming. This was actually the first rain we had on the whole trip. So I think the weather really worked out for us. It was really hot, sure, but not a single storm, which can get pretty bad in the mountains. I don’t get up until almost 8. Jozef’s already made coffee, and the first hikers are passing by . Right as I open the tent door, they joke that they’ve come for coffee. One of them tells us camping is banned here, but I’d checked the park’s website specifically about overnight stays, and as long as you pitch in the evening and leave in the morning, it’s fine. Every hut has designated spots where it’s allowed. But I think that’s mostly practical, since there’s a big concentration of hikers there and they don’t want people scattered everywhere. We pack up fast and jog down fast too. We pass everyone. We reach Lac Lauvitel.
We could’ve pushed here yesterday too. Plenty of tent spots here, and we could’ve swum too. I just dip my feet now, and we have tea. The men from this morning arrive too. Without any shame they strip naked and jump into the lake. After a few minutes they get out, get dressed and continue hiking. We finish our tea and go do the second half of today’s descent. We move fast, meeting a lot of hikers on the busy trail. Soon we’re at the Le Vénéon river. After that it’s just a gentle descent. We’re below 1000 m now, so it’s pretty hot. We pass Étang de Bucklet lake, so we go for a swim there.
Instantly better. Only 4 km left to town. We move fast on asphalt, wanting to finish this as soon as possible.
Before 2pm we reach the end of our route. We go buy a beer for celebration and nectarines. We rest in a park in the shade.
Then we check the price for a campsite closer to the center. Along the way we get flan and coffee, and buy a gas canister for the next days. The campsite costs €30, so we go with the one we stayed at last time. The woman remembers us and drives me to our tent spot in her little car.
L’Alpe d’Huez (1860 m), right above us, hit a record temperature of 29.5°C today. At the campsite we shower right away, unpack our things, and I go do laundry. I wash by hand, since almost everything’s merino. After a week of hiking, it’s pretty dirty. Then we plan out the next few days. At 7pm we go eat at a quirky restaurant, Restaurant de France. We have Tartiflette, potatoes baked with 4 kinds of cheese, and for some reason it comes with a salami platter too. There’s also a special for hungry cyclists, some kind of Asian noodles. Parked out front is a Royal Enfield motorbike, above the entrance hangs a bike frame, and inside all sorts of artifacts. An old, kind man, the owner, serves us. Afterward we go shopping for the next few days. We wanted to celebrate with a prosecco tonight, but the shop had curtains drawn over all the alcohol, and when we tried to ask about it, the only staff left was security guy. Turns out everyone leaves at 8pm, and only the self-service checkout run until 10pm. So, a bit disappointed, we put an Orangina in the basket instead and head back to the campsite. There’s live music there tonight, and it’s actually good.
We’ve finished the GR 54. Instead of 7.5 days, we managed it in 6.5. To the surprise of both of us, my fitness was much better than we expected. On top of that, we had good weather, hot, but no storms. Since our return flight isn’t until 30.7, we’re going to continue. Where to, you’ll find out tomorrow. A few final numbers: 217.3 km total, 13500 m up and down, 33.43 km and 2077 m per day on average.
