Thursday 11th September: Sunny morning, overcast afternoon, rain late afternoon: 8°C to 18°C
Moede Anterne to Sixt-Fer-a-Cheval: 22.0k: 8am to 4pm: 8hrs
High Tetras behind Refuge
Mont Blanc, last white cap on right
Edward and Sue about to leave
Now we can see Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc in full glory
Col d'Anterne 2257 metres
But I'm still getting to the top
In awe of Mont Blanc
Over the Col d'Anterne
Lac d'Anterne in High Plains
Misty moorlands
Best photo in 10 shots of marmot
Refuge Alfred Wills Anterne
Coffee by waterwheel Alfred Wills
Crossover of GR5 and Via Alpini
High Plains of Anterne
Sixt-Fer-a-Cheval 1000m below
Cascades de la Sauffz
cascades du Roguet
In garden of Gite de Selvagny
InWe had thought this leg of the trip would be unspectacular, having left the Alps behind, and heading for the wetter lower mountains around Lake Geneva. But far from it today was totally different in a most spectacular way. First we had some of the best views of Mont Blanc we have ever seen, then the High Plains of Anterne with it's lake, and deep gullies with spectacular waterfalls cascading down.
We were right. The thermos tea was cold by 7am. We suspect the two wardens have day jobs, don't have time to prepare o decent evening meal and need to leave early in the morning with no time to boil the water for a hot cup of tea. In addition to the like warm tea, there was only cold toasted bread and jam. Other than that, the Refuge Moede Anterne was very nice and we had a lovely chat to Edward and Sue who were on a 3 day walk from Chamonix before saying good bye.
It's cold outside, our food bag is very cold when we pack up to leave at 8am. But the sun is fast rising over the mountains in time to see the glory of Mont Blanc, two mountain ranges and two valleys across. It sits high above some fluffy white clouds and stays in view for an hour until we reach the Col d'Anterne, a short walk up behind the Refuge. The breakfast tea was so so awful that we stop early for a hot cup of billy boiled tea on the top of the col with Mont Blanc in full view. It will be the last time this trip that we see Mont Blanc.
Down the other side on a stony path to a huge flat plains area with the Lake d'Anterne. There's people camping along it's edge. Along the flat for a few k, then over a petite col with marmots running everywhere. 10 photos later, Ian has one good one of a fat one to slow to run fast. They're shifty little buggers. Down a very slippery muddy slope for a few hundred metres, we walk past another refuge, the Refuge Alfred Wills d'Anterne. It's 12pm and time for another coffee to make up for this morning. It's very busy as we sit by the old water mill near the refuge and watch about 50 day walkers going past in all directions. This refuge is a cross over point for the GR5 from Amsterdam to Nice and the Alpine way from Slovenia to Monaco.
Up and over another petite col, way below the gigantic mountains of Anterne high above, we start our long down hill trek of about 1000 metres into the valley of the Gorges des Tines. The meadows turn to moorish scrub, and the underground varies between spongy and muddy to shaley and slippery. We (as in I ) need to be careful going down. The csrub becomes pine forests and at 1.30pm, there's a sunny spot besdes the Cascades de la Sauffaz. You can't beat French bread, Beauort cheese, tomatoes, Mace with dried ham.
We've had two morning teas and lunch so far today (morning teas take 15 minutes, lunches last 30 minutes) but there's still a long way to go, so we're pleased we're stopping in Sixt-Fer-a-Chaval and not going all the way to Samoens as suggested in the guide book. Down and down we pass another set of falls, the Cascades de Rouget and from there it's just another 30 minutes to Selvagny, the little village next to Sixt-Fer-a-Chaval, where we have booked the Gite de Selvagny. But it's closed until 5pm, so we sit in the garden and use up all our battery on the MacAir and Samsung waiting for the guardian, Christophe to arrive.
At 5pm, Christophe arrives with a smile. Our double room is a double bed, a small double bed - but it has clean sheets and we have towels. The shower is down the hall and i'm first in. A hot shower at last. After Ian's shower, time to wash eevveerry thing we have. There's two more nights in huts that mightn't be as nice as this one which has a drying room downstairs.
Dinner is at 7.30pm so time to do a bit more blogging, check the weather - it's good for the next 2 days and have a beer and nuts - Micks nuts are still lasting but will run out tomorrow. Time to check the supermarkets in Samoens where we'll be by morning tea tomorrow to buy lunches and re stock our backpacks. There's a Carrefours, equivalent to a Coles or Woollies, it's a but out of the way but worth the extra 2k.
There's 5 other people for dinner, 2 girls and 3 guys, all walkers. Dinner is superb. A green salad with tomatoes, followed by really tasty sausages, beans and little bitty pasta, all with fresh bread, and desert is ice cream and apple tarts. And we have a double room to ourselves, hot showers, sheets and towels, dinner and breakfast, all for 45Euro pp. Some place just go to that extra trouble and others don't seem to care. We're stuffed when we leave at 8.30pm, checking on our washing in the basement (it'ss till wet) on our way up to bed.