Saturday 13th September: Sunny, sunny and sunny 8°C to 16°C with a cold wind
Chardonniere to Chesery: 16.1k 8.45am to 2.45pm: 6hrs with only a 30 minute coffee break. Lunch at Refuge
7am and cows lined up for milking
Up through the pine forrests
Looking back at La Chardonniere
At the top of Col de Coux 1920m
Switzerland on the other side
Out of cold wind at border hut
Typically Swiss with blue skies meadows and cows
Such a beautiful sunny Saturday
Glacier over the valley
Sunny and beautiful everywhere
So Swiss
Refuge de Chesery near Lac Vert
Lunch outside Refuge with a beer
Refuge de Chesery was an old barn
Our dormitory
Sunny sunny sunny and a very relaxing day with only 16.1k in 6hrs. And we're back in Switzerland just for the day where the GR5 crosses the border. Once we crossed through the old border hut on top of the Col de Coux, it's a very different landscape from France. There's higher Alps, Glaciers, snow on the Alps, greener pastures, more organised farms with cows, Swiss trail signs and less muddy with the drier climate just a mountain pass away.
Today we sleep in til 7am but we're awoken by the milking machine. Refuge La Chardonniere is a working dairy farm. The cows are all lined up, with the dogs keeping them in check, and the calves tag along to see what's happening to Mum.
Breakfast is not as nice as last night - stale bread and jam. But the tea is piping hot so it's half alright. Jean is planning to leave much later. He only has 3 hrs to walk down to Samoens. We're away at 8.45am and it's 9°C and cold. The higher we climb up through the muddy forests, the colder and windier it gets. After 1hr 40mins, we reach the Col de Coux at 1920 m. It's even windier and we hang around waiting for another couple to leave the little sheltered nook at the now defunct border hut used for passport control between France and Switzerland Pre EU. Finally, the other walkers leave and we sit huddled out of the wind and make a cup of coffee. It's so windy, our windiest day yet, we linger on and decide to have a cheese sandwich because we're not in a hurry today. We think it's only 16k.
The view into Switzerland on the sunny Saturday is typically Swiss. There's lots of day walkers and mountain bike riders out today. In fact on this part of the GR5, we've seen more day walkers than on any other part of the trip. Down the other side, the wind abates a little and my hands finally thaw. The trail is a wide gravel path and it's well graded and easy going up or down. We get to enjoy the view with glaciers over the other side of the valley, cows all around and blue skies. It's certainly a different feel being back in Switzerland if only for a day. Tomorrow we're back in France.
After walking down hill then around the contour for a few hours just strolling along enjoying the scenery, there's another serious uphill to do. Not a good time for lunch. It's 2.30pm by the time we've climbed the last uphill and down below the Lac Vert and the Refuge de Chesery come into view. In 15 minutes we're down the bottom, checked in, and having lunch with a beer on the seats outside. There's many day walkers having lunch at the tables, just sitting enjoying the sun and the view.
We're in a 20 bed dorm, but so far there's only the two of us. Fingers crossed. After a hot shower, time to wash and hang it in the sun at the back of the refuge. Sitting inside in the bar it's warm. It's already cold outside and most of the day walkers are gone by 5pm. There's been a phone call to Antoine, the warden. We're hoping it's not someone else booking in. We'll know soon enough.
There's only us. Two people in a 20 person dorm is good. Dinner is at 6.30pm and is an a la carte selection but there's only 3 choice, omelette, a cold plate of cheese and sausage or ham and eggs which we select. But when dinner arrives it looks really nice, in a round tart plate, but it's really about 1cm of melted cheese on top of two large thick hunks of probably stale bread, 1mm of ham and one egg on top - cheese fondu in disguise. but at least it's hot. You can only eat so much melted cheese before it goes glug in your stomach so we're full half way through.
There's a group of 8 people coming to dinner at the refuge but not staying - they seem to be friends and guess what they're having - cheese fondu. We sit and read up on tomorrow's route, Ian watches a movie, I read an ebook on Ann Boleyn for an hour and then it's off to a cold dormitory and bed.