We were on our feet for 17 days and slept in the tent for 18 nights. On average, each day we climbed and descended the equivalent of Poludňový Grúň from Vrátna — twice. Even though we had 11 km more to cover to reach that altitude.

Our original plan was to just do the GR 54 (around Écrins National Park) and then wander around a bit afterward. We had a big buffer in case of storms, and also because this trek is considered one of the toughest in the Alps. But the weather was on our side and our fitness was genuinely good, so we managed to finish it in just 7 days. We can confirm: GR 54 is definitely tougher than the TMB. In case we had a few days left over, we’d considered heading into the Vercors range, but it just felt like a waste not to put 10 free days toward something better.

So we decided to head into Vanoise National Park. And it was a good call. You can’t just pitch a tent anywhere in Vanoise, so we tried to sleep just outside its borders and once booked a bivouac spot by a mountain hut. Vanoise is really beautiful, and the climbs were less demanding. We always planned about two days ahead. Our days ended up a bit shorter, mostly because of the weather, but I think our tired bodies appreciated it too. Once we’d wandered across the whole park, we still had a few days left, so we decided to cross the Massif des Cerces, back toward GR 54, to Le Bourg d’Oisans, the town we’d started from.

And it really didn’t fall short of the national parks. If you ever happen to find yourself in that area, don’t skip Mont Thabor — we didn’t get better views in any direction anywhere else on the whole trip. To finish things off, we treated ourselves to something every cyclist would envy: the Col du Galibier (last year the Tour de France went over it twice — we’re currently watching the Netflix series about it). It was the last proper climb on our itinerary. The final stretch was genuinely steep, and it was there, for the only time on the whole trip, that thoughts of “why am I even doing this to myself” crept into my head. But once we reached the top, it was all good again — like it always is once you drag yourself up some peak or pass. Driving up to Col du Galibier isn’t much of an achievement. Cycling it, now that’s something. And walking it is the peak of madness.

Coming home

Coming home is tough. Slotting back into society is never exactly a favorite activity. In Grenoble we wanted a coffee, but right by the station was a Muslim neighborhood with a market going on and a million people around. So we ended up in a bakery, and even went to McDonald’s, just so we wouldn’t have to bother finding food at the airport. At the airport we repacked our things so Jozef’s backpack would come to 10 kg, and wrapped it in plastic film. We went to drop it off at check-in and the woman told us it couldn’t be wrapped like that — by the way, there was a paid wrapping service right there. We then read the rules and apparently it’s not allowed to be wrapped in film from home. Honestly, I have no idea what the actual difference is. So we took the film off and secured it some other way with straps, but we’ve had it happen before that they’ve damaged the backpack a bit. On top of that, they sent us over to the oversize counter (even it weighed only 10 kg). The staff there had no idea why we’d been sent over, but they took it anyway. We flew to Kraków. We weren’t seated together — I ended up next to a bunch of kids, Jozef was sitting next to a Frenchman, with whom he even spoke in English during the flight. So he does know English after all. In Kraków we wait at the baggage carousel, wait until it stops completely. No sign of our bag. There’s another girl standing there too, who says she was also sent to oversize with her backpack. So off we go to fill out a lost luggage form. They’d left it behind in Lyon. It’s supposed to arrive on the next flight, on 2 August, and then they will send it to us. Because of all that, we miss our train and don’t leave Kraków until almost 8pm. I handle the navigation. Part of the route takes us down a genuinely narrow road through a forest, but Google showed it as the fastest option. By quarter to eleven we’re in the Kysuce region. We eat something, chat a bit, and go to sleep in an actual bed! The next day we head off at 9am to Partizánske with 6 buckets of blueberries. We don’t even stop at home first, straight to distributing them among the family. We get home at 2pm. Once everything’s unloaded from the car, the apartment looks like a bomb went off in it. We hadn’t been home in almost a month. Jozef cooks pasta puttanesca while I sort out what I need for work tomorrow. In the afternoon I fall asleep on the couch, and toward evening we go for a bike ride. Our fitness is fantastic. Róbert Fekete’s is closed, so we grab a beer at Osemdesiatka instead. And that’s really the end of our journey. It was amazing. There were harder moments, easier ones too, but we got through it together. Hope you enjoyed this diary, and that at least through the photos you got a little taste of the French Alps.

Archives for %s

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.

Archives for %s

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.

Archives for %s

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 de Côte Belle pass (2290 m). So what we descended with such difficulty last night, we climb straight back up this morning (1000 m). It’s a green pass, probably shaded well by the surrounding peaks, not as dry as the others.

Climbing doesn’t go well for me, my legs are heavy after yesterday. After just half an hour I have a cookie, and we eat a few strawberries along the trail too. Even though it’s morning and we’re in shade, it’s pretty muggy, weather’s still uncertain. After over two hours we reach the top. The other side of this hill looks completely different, all shale and rock.

Next comes a 500 m descent over 4.2 km. Nice switchbacks, so it goes well. On the way down we watch a scary-looking pass ahead of us, Col de la Muzelle (2613 m).

At the bottom we have baguette with cheese and ketchup, and we filter water. Flies are trying to eat us alive meanwhile, we must smell pretty bad by now. At 11am we start climbing another 1100 meters over 4.5 km. It’s terribly hot. The higher we go, the windier it gets, the more water we drink and the pack gets lighter. Well, Jozef’s is lighter, since he took my water too so I could keep going. The last 250 meters go through dense switchbacks over a steep shale rock wall.

It’s really windy up here, so I have to watch out that a gust doesn’t knock me over. I try not to look down. We try to get to the top as fast as we can, so I keep a constant pace without stopping. At the top a view opens up over Lac de la Muzelle, where we’d planned to sleep tonight. Still 500 meters down to it. We jog down, passing a group of trail maintenance workers. On the way down a view opens up over the Muzelle glacier too.

We dip our feet in the lake, for only 30 seconds since it’s freezing.

I want to finish editing photos, so we go up a hill where there’s signal and have tea. My phone dies, so I put off uploading the blog for later. We decide to push on a bit more today, it’s only 3:30pm. We climb toward the last pass on the route, Col du Vallon (2531 m). Once our legs warm up, it goes fairly fast. We take a photo at the pass.

We wanted to reach Lac Lauvitel, but don’t know if there’s a sleeping spot there. Plus it’s another 1000 meters down over 4 km. We catch signal up here, so I finally get the blog together and Jozef watches the Tour de France. The map shows sleeping spots just below us, so we stay here, at 2350 m, with a lovely view.

There’s already a French guy here. It’s still early and we shouldn’t pitch the tent yet, so we just lay out the tyvek groundsheet and rest. After a bit the Frenchman comes over and we chat in poor English. He has a friend from Slovakia who runs a farm in the Tatras. We also talk about how Slovak bears ended up in the Pyrenees, since a few years back there were only three left there, so they brought some over from us. He’s a botanist, so he’s traveled to a lot of national parks and reserves. He tries to give us some hiking tips for the Alps, and we try to explain what else we have planned, but the language barrier’s big. Or rather, my understanding of French pronunciation and his understanding of non-French pronunciation. After 7 we pitch the tent and Jozef cooks pasta with our dried mix and cheese. There’s something bitter in it, so it’s not as good as yesterday, but I eat it anyway, because I’d wake up starving at night otherwise. Tomorrow we just have the last 16 km back to Le Bourg d’Oisans. So we turn off the alarm and enjoy our last night on the GR54.

Archives for %s

Camp Les Bouleaux – Valjouffrey

→ 27,65 km ↓ 2100 m ↑ 1998 m

Alarm’s later today, at 6:30am. I texted last night that we’d leave at 7am. I was really tired yesterday. We pack up fairly fast and have breakfast, some protein rice porridge for me and Asian instant noodles for Jozef. I finish writing the blog and pick out photos. Takes me quite a while. Jozef gets restless, bored, and has to wait for me. Just after half past 8am we set off. Every evening I tell myself how much my legs hurt and wonder how I’ll walk the next day, and every morning it’s somehow magically fine once I get moving. We have 4 km to town and it’s already pretty warm.

In town we buy a nonsensical amount of food, but that’s always the case. Outside the shop I have a croissant with banana and Jozef has pizza. Then we get coffee, and just before 11am we start a 1300 m climb to Col de Colombe pass (2423 m).

We had a choice of route, along the river, over one pass, or over two passes. So we choose the middle option. It’s very hot. Halfway up, by a waterfall, we eat to lighten the backpack a bit. Baguette, a slightly moldy Camembert, ketchup, and Jozef adds onion too. It’s nicely cool here.

Then we continue, it’s terribly muggy, we drink liters of water and dip our buffs and caps in water wherever we can. Below the pass we have a nectarine and study the harder route that joins here. It’s genuinely steep, and I’d probably be pretty scared on it. We cross a lot of rock fields, so we move slower.

Once we cross the pass, it’s just a short way to Lac Lautier, where I’d originally planned to sleep. But we covered more ground yesterday, so today we continue further. We stop there for a bit. We filter water and dip our feet.

A group of hikers passes us, probably from some club, since they all wear caps with an extended flap protecting the neck from sun. We soon catch up to them.

We reach the Refuge des Souffles hut and get coffee. The owner’s probably Moroccan, judging by the style of everything there. One more fairly high pass awaits us, Col de la Vaurze (2500 m). Still no sign of rain today either, so we set off before 4pm. First the trail just rolls along a contour line and heads toward some waterfalls. Then it climbs gently up 600 m through switchbacks.

Just below the pass my stomach starts growling, so I pull out a pain au lait and nuts. Jozef says he’ll wait for me somewhere in the shade. I catch up to him, and he’s sitting in the sun instead. He’s watching marmots — today’s first ones. He’d been worried there wouldn’t be any today. We reach the pass, probably the most beautiful trail we’ve walked here.

I thought the way down will be easy, but it’s not. We have a descent of 1300 m over 5 km ahead. For comparison, Kráľova hoľa is 1052 m over 6.2 km. And here we even climb a bit in places. There’s a lot of loose, dusty ground, and the sun keeps shining strong. I don’t think I’ve ever had a worse way downhill.

It takes us an hour and a half going down, and we tried to jog wherever we could. We finally reach the bottom, and in the village the sun’s already hidden behind the tall mountains. We set up right by the water and each drink a liter, Jozef dunks his head in too. We’re both pretty sunburned. In Valjouffrey we go to the Les Écrins bar. We have a beer, and I ask the waitress if we can pitch our tent in their garden, I’d read that in a review. She says yes, once she’s done serving, and then she’ll show us. This village doesn’t feel very French, with half-built houses, overgrown gardens, and about twenty flies on our table.

We want another beer, but they’re out. So we get a glass of prosecco instead. A song from Amélie gives it a French touch. The waitress goes to show us the sleeping spot.

We thought there’d be more people, but we’re on our own. We set up the tent, I inflate the sleeping pads, and Jozef cooks dinner. Might not sound fancy, but it’s the best trail dinner we’ve had. Mashed potato, garlic, onion, dried tomatoes, stock cube and tuna. Really good.

Every day I think we’ve made it through the worst, but something always surprises me. I’m curious what tomorrow brings.

Archives for %s

Cabane du Jas Lacroix – Camp Les Bouleaux

→ 37,8 km ↑ 2289 m ↓ 2956 m

Alarm’s at 5:30am, but we really don’t feel like getting up, so we just lie there. At 6am we start packing, eating breakfast and drinking coffee. We set off at 6:42am. We’re getting better at this. Today we have a lot of elevation and a lot of passes planned. First a climb to Col de l’Aup Martin pass (2761 m). It’s more than 900 meters over 8 km. We start gently. At the shelter where we wanted to sleep yesterday, there’s a shepherd with a flock of sheep in a fence next to it. The valley slowly widens and we’re surrounded by tall mountains. Walking feels nice, the sun’s not up here yet.

After half an hour I change into shorts. If we’d walked another 2 km yesterday, we’d have found plenty of sleeping spots. The day before yesterday we charged the camera battery, but the cable must be faulty, since both batteries are nearly dead. So we charge it while walking, not ideal since it moves around and the cable might disconnect.

We climb, and the green grass slowly turns into rocks, and those into gravel. The last stretch feels like the journey to Mordor. The end is genuinely tough.

A Belgian guy walked fast behind us, we keep passing on and off for the second day now, so we wait for him to take a photo of us.

Every pass brings a new view. But we don’t get to enjoy this one much. A few hundred meters later there’s another pass, Pas de la Cavale (2735 m), and from there we start descending toward the hut, almost 1000 meters over 5 km. All the way down on switchbacks.

It’s pretty brutal, and by the end we’re not enjoying it anymore, but then we spot marmots again, it feels better right away. This pass crossing took us 4 hours. At the hut we have coffee, make tea and eat (baguette with cheese again plus chocolate mousse). Jozef realizes he forgot his spoon this morning,. By noon we’re ready to set off toward the next pass, Col de la Valette (2668 m).

There are some clouds on the sky, so the climb goes well. We can smell sheep everywhere but don’t see any. There’s a fence at the pass, but none sheep there either. Next comes a short, unpleasant descent over shale gravel. It’s very windy, carrying dust and small stones that sting our skin and get into our eyes. We try to get through it fast.

Once we reach the grassy part, it’s fine again, and there are lots of marmots. Right after that comes another pass, Col de Gourian (2597 m). We only climb about 200 m. From there we can see the path up to the third pass.

Another Mordor, and in the background Aiguille de Morges like Mount Doom. We finally found the sheep. Guess they like hiking too. We pass a sign with photos and names of the dogs guarding the sheep. We’d come across this before, but here it’s translated into English too. They’re guard dogs and sensitive to anything that seems disruptive. So you’re supposed to learn the dogs’ names, and if they see you as a threat, just saying their name should stop them from attacking. But there’s no pronunciation guide, so not sure it would’ve helped us.

Before climbing the last pass I fuel up on cookies, and we watch marmots and sheep. We climb over very dusty ground with occasional snowfields.

When the wind blows, everything sticks to ours sweaty bodies. We’re covered in black dust. When we reach Col de Vallonpierre pass (2607 m), the wind nearly knocks us over. We take a few photos and head down.

The moment we drop below the edge of the pass, the wind stops completely. Only 2 km left to the hut where we want to camp tonight. We stop often for photos and to watch marmots.

We reach the hut at 4pm. There’s a lake here, surrounded by mountains on all sides. A genuinely beautiful spot to sleep.

But it’s still early, and we had no signal all day, and Jozef needs to sort out some work stuff. We try at the edge of the area too, but nothing there either. So we at least take a photo together. We decide to head down at least until we find signal. It’s 14 km and 1,300 meters down to town. The descent goes through switchbacks with beautiful views. From around 2000 m there are finally blueberries, though still pretty sour. We’re almost at the La Séveraisse river when Jozef finally catches signal. We rest a bit, eat more cookies and decide how far to push today.

There’s a campsite 7 km away, and we’re both covered in dust, and Jozef’s already been complaining today about feeling dirty and wanting a shower. Blueberries slow us down, they’re excellent at 1500 m.

We follow a gentle downhill path along the river, and it’s pretty hot. The last two kilometers I just put one foot in front of the other. I’m really done with all this climbing. We reach the campsite, which is a pretty basic. There are showers and a toilet, but otherwise everyone just camps wherever they like. The owner’s not there, so I text him that we’re there and will pay in the morning. We slowly set up camp. The shower was just what we needed, we even do some laundry and plan tomorrow’s route. Dinner is mashed potato with salami, garlic and ketchup. We’ve had better, but we’re running low on supplies. I wanted to finish the blog tonight, but I don’t have the energy, I’ll finish it in the morning.

Archives for %s

Le Monêtier-les-Bains – Cabane du Jas Lacroix

→ 32,98 km ↑ 1633 m ↓ 1410 m

I wrote the blog until half past 11pm last night, so I don’t get up until seven today. Jozef’s already made coffee and waits for me with breakfast, baguette with cheese. Just as the sun starts peeking out from behind the hill. We set off at 8. As a morning warm-up we climb to Col de l’Eychauda pass, 800 meters over 4.5 km. We go slow but steady, and reach the top within two hours. The higher we go, the more beautiful the views in every direction.

Several cable cars run up here too, but it’s all done nicely, so it doesn’t spoil the view much, and there’s just one hut, a wooden restaurant, not like the concrete rotunda on Chopok.

We watch marmots again, they’re everywhere here and we’re always happy to spot one. At the pass (2425 m) there are the last patches of snow.

When the sun’s out it’s nice, but the moment it hides behind a cloud and the wind picks up, I’d happily put a jacket on. We cross over the pass and completely new views open up on the other side. Spring’s still here at the top. The meadows are covered with thousands of blooming flowers.

We take a break sheltered by a rock and finish the second baguette, cheese and mustard. Almost 14 km of descending lies ahead. First 5 km of switchbacks with a nice view, then we join the road leading all the way to Vallouise.

The original route runs almost entirely on asphalt through the valley, but there’s also a green route that copies it, just set higher, through forest. We pick that one. It’s already noon and the sun’s really burning now, storm clouds starting to form over the mountains. Our feet hurt a lot after yesterday, so we push ourselves fairly hard into town. We need to charge the power bank, so we go to the tourist center. We leave my phone charging there too, along with all our gear, and go shopping without backpacks. Feels really nice walking without a backpack. The grocery store’s on its lunch break and opens at 2:30pm. There’s a bar here, so Jozef tries an Alphand beer, a Blonde style, and I get coffee. Then we go to the shop for baguettes, cheese, salami, olives, tuna and chocolate mousse. At the fruit stand we buy peaches, tomatoes and garlic. Then we go pick up our things. The power bank’s at 74%. That’s enough for us, so we go find a spot outside town for lunch. We stop right by the L’Onde river, which we’ll follow for the next stretch. We lay out food, and I wash my hair in the icy river and do laundry.

We continue at 4pm. First alongside the river through forest, where we walk fairly well. But then we turn onto asphalt and it’s a proper nightmare. We suffer. We try to get through it as fast as possible. Once we’re through, we rest a bit. There’s no nice spot to rest, so we walk another kilometer into the valley where we’ll sleep. We sit for a bit, eat peaches, and set off on the last 3.5 km. It’s pretty windy here, the weather looks uncertain too, and sheep passed just ahead of us, so we worry they might be right by the shelter where we wanted to sleep. We look around for a good spot, but there’s nothing but rocks and steep slope everywhere. After two kilometers we find one spot, a bit sheltered, but we hesitate. We go a bit further, but then we spot sheep on the slope ahead, so we turn back. We’re in a national park, so only bivouacking is allowed (meaning the tent can only be up from 7pm to 9am). It’s before seven, so we clear the spot of sheep poop, rocks and branches. Just in case, Jozef builds a makeshift fence in case the sheep come back. We pitch the tent, and Jozef offers to inflate the sleeping pads (something he hasn’t done before), so I can write and not go to bed too late.

There’s a stream nearby, so we wash up too tonight. Jozef’s unsure about cooking dinner, but I’d be starving by morning, so he cooks pasta with olives, dried tomatoes, garlic and tuna.

We eat inside our sleeping bags. No signal here, so I just prepare the blog and post it tomorrow. We go to sleep while it’s still light out, since I want to set off as early as possible tomorrow. One brutal pass and three less brutal ones await us tomorrow.

Archives for %s

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.

Archives for %s

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.

Archives for %s

We already arrived in Kraków yesterday, we used a ferry too. We left our car at our friends’ place in the garden, and in the evening we went with them to a Czech restaurant for a beer. Jozef paid by card and by mistake tapped payment in EUR instead of PLN. This one-centimeter slip cost him €12, and he beat himself up about it all evening. But now we’ll remember, always pay in the local currency. This is the last time for a long time we sleep indoors, on a couch.

Today we fly from Kraków to Lyon at 12:30. Alarm’s at 8. We repack a bit and find out we have way too much food again. At 9 we leave the apartment and go for coffee. It’s a pretty modern part of Kraków, so there are lots of cafés. We just get an espresso, and it’s really sour. We buy some breakfast at a grocery store, and since we still have time, we go check out Schindler’s villa and factory. There’s a train station in the Zabłocie district with a direct train to the airport, so we choose that over a car, to avoid traffic. We arrive with plenty of time and buy tickets for 17 PLN from a machine. The trip to the airport takes 23 minutes. At the airport we repack our bags again. Jozef’s backpack is checked-in luggage, so it holds the poles, knife, cooking gear, toiletries and food. We wrap it in plastic film so nothing gets torn . At check-in the scale shows exactly 10kg. Then just the security check, which we pass fast as always, since we pack everything neatly. And as always, Jozef wonders why not everyone does the same, since they slow things down. We charge our phones and wait, we have 1.5 hours. It’s fairly busy for such a small airport, but we find a spot with a free outlet. Boarding goes quickly, but for some reason we’re half an hour late. We make it up in the air and land in Lyon at three. We get our luggage fast and then have over half an hour before the bus. We eat a bag of dried fruit to make the backpack lighter. We’re already sitting on the bus when Jozef realizes he doesn’t know where his phone is. He looks around and suddenly jumps off the bus and runs to a bench, where he’d left it. Usually things like this happen to me, not him. The bus ride is quiet. No music plays, no one talks loudly, so we just watch the landscape as more and more hills appear. Suddenly proper mountains rise up ahead of us, and we know we’re close. We get off in Grenoble and rush to a sports shop to buy a gas canister, since the bus was a bit late and we’re not sure if we’ll catch the next one.

We walk fast, so we make it. At Carrefour we buy Camembert, salami, ketchup and some sweet soda for a spare bottle. At the bakery next door, a baguette and of course flan.

We arrive at the station 15 minutes before the bus leaves. I try to buy tickets, but it fails three times. I give up and we wait under the roof, since a storm’s coming. I see a girl next to me has a ticket, so I ask her to help. The problem was I hadn’t inserted my card far enough, it needed a bit of force. A woman drives this bus, and Jozef has his doubts. The moment we get on, three-centimeter hail starts falling — we’re glad we’re inside. The bus goes pretty fast. We enter the valley where our destination is. The hills are unbelievably steep and tall. You’d expect this place to be thriving with tourism, but the houses along the road are pretty run-down, like no one even lives there. Quite different from Chamonix. We reach Bourg d’Oisans and head fast toward the start of the trail. A fairly strong storm is coming.

We don’t know what to do. Today we planned to hike 5 km with 800 meters of elevation gain and camp there. The rain’s coming in fast and the wind’s strong. We check a campsite, but reception’s already closed. So we go to another one. There’s still a light on there. We make the sensible choice and stay at the campsite for €20. We pitch the tent fast and cook Asian instant noodles. Everything’s ready within 20 minutes.

Thunder rolls in from every direction. I’m glad we’re here and not halfway up some hill. We even take a shower, and tomorrow we’ll try to push as far as we can, ideally to reach the spot we’d originally planned for tomorrow.

Archives for %s