France is one of our favourite destination for hiking. Beautiful sceneries, few people, almost everywhere it’s possible to bivouac, and in addition good food and cheap coffee.
27.7.2023 Thursday Valfrejús – Les Grands Lacs → 22,47 km ↑ 2016 m ↓ 1046 m The morning is not good. I drank too much Prosecco and got too little sleep. Honestly, I didn’t even want that Prosecco yesterday. When Jozef first asked if I wanted some, I said probably not. But he asked again,…
26.7.2023 Wednesday Val-Cenis – Valfrejús → 40,16 km ↑ 2573 m ↓ 2382 m We get up at 6:30am. Finally a calm night, just a bit of rain and no wind at all. We slept well. For breakfast is instant soup with extra pasta. We pack first, then eat. We set off at 7:45am. First…
25.7.2023 Tuesday L’Illaz camping – Val-Cenis → 31,23 km ↑ 1633 m ↓ 1960 m At 1:45am, I wake up to constant lightning across the sky. It’s not raining yet, so I go take down the laundry. Within 10 minutes, it starts raining. Judging by the thunder, the storm’s still 6 km away. Lightning flashes…
24.7.2023 Monday Refuge des Evettes – L’Illaz camping → 20,69 km ↑ 169 m ↓ 1042 m Frost yesterday, a hailstorm today. That’s how the mornings go now. Jozef was out before 2am taking photos and tells me how warm it is outside. Then one storm came, then another, maybe even a third. I lost…
23.7.2023 Sunday Refuge de la Femma – Refuge des Evettes → 31,64 km ↑ 2069 m ↓ 1899 m We wake up to a cold morning. It’s below zero and there’s frost on the tent. The sun’s still behind the mountains. Breakfast is mushroom soup and coffee. Dessert is pain au lait with Nutella. We…
22.7.2023 Saturday Pralognan-la-Vanoise – Refuge de la Femma → 27, 62 km ↑ 2212 m ↓ 1287 m Alarm’s at 6am, but we really don’t feel like getting up. There’s low cloud cover, so we don’t know what it’ll be like in the higher mountains. Breakfast is hearty, sausages with baguette and a tomato-onion salad…
21.7.2023 Friday Ritord – Pralognan-la-Vanoise → 13,79 km ↑ 284 m ↓ 871 m We get up at 5:30am and pack fast. We’re on a busy trail and don’t want to hang around here long. We set off at 6am without breakfast. We reach a hut 2.5 km on and make breakfast and coffee. Next…
20.7.2023 Thursday Le Bourg-d’Oisans – Modane – Ritord → 18,79 km ↑ 1808 m ↓ 865 m Alarm’s at 6:30am. I slept too well and feel a bit tired from it. Breakfast is pain au lait with praline spread (the local version of Nutella in a plastic package). I repack my whole backpack and spend…
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…
18.7.2023 Tuesday Valjouffrey – Col du Vallon → 22,8 km ↑ 2688 m ↓ 1640 m Today we want to at least try to avoid the heat, so we get up at 6am. It takes us quite a while. Breakfast is mushroom soup and, of course, coffee. We start walking at 7:25am. First is Col…