DAY 25: Tuesday June 26th - Refuge de Rosuel to Landry: 10k, 4hrs: Fine, cloudy, misty up high, 12°C to 25°C
Down through the forests - it's cool
Luke warm tea for brekky - within 1hr we have a hot coffee at Moulin
Dense forests and mists to Landry
We're still high - cloud over Landry
Eglise (Church) St Michel Landry
World Kayaking Championship- River Isere Landry
Afternoon stroll in Landry
Narrow flowering streets of Landry
Flowers adorn Landry village
Time to smell the roses again
Outside our window - flowers and the rushing torrent Le Ponturin
Maison Caramel - home for tonight
Today was a relaxing stroll 10k down the valley to Landry. It's almost a Rest Day. We are 2 days ahead of schedule so decide to have 2 short days then 1 day off in Les Contamines to shop and leave it at our hotel for when we return from the Tour de Mont Blanc - that's the plan anyway. Tomorrow is easy peasy too. Today, we trekked through picturesque forests and before lunch we are in Landry to find they have the World Kayaking Championships here over the next few days. A truly restful day.
We slept in at the Refuge Rosuel til almost 8am. Actually it was a very disruptive night. We stayed chatting in the dining room the night before while the 3 men doing the GR5 in race time are off to bed. By the time we get to the dorm, they're all snoring. Great. We switch on the light, re-arrange the beds and we're in bed but not asleep at 9am - I feel like swatting these 3 guys, all snorers. We sleep fitfully midst the thunder of snores til the alarm of one of the guys goes off at 4.30am, followed by another alarm at 5am - then they are gone to do their 40k or so walk to Refuge de La Leisse. It's all quiet and dark in the dorm with the shutters closed and its almost 8am, after 3 hours of real sleep, that the remaining 5 of us stir. I hope these 3 guys enjoy their marmot stew at Refuge de La Leisse tonight!!!
We have a luke warm shower but at least it's a shower and go down to breakfast - luke warm tea and stale bread - no excuses - hot tea is easy - reheating bread for 30secs over steam is simple. I don't drink or eat anything. Can't wait til morning tea. We pack and leave - really nice refuge - terrible breakfast.
It's 9am when we hit the trail - an easy stroll down through the pine forests with mist lingering in the skies - beautiful but not the stunning beauty of the Vanoise - we've been spoilt. It's not long before we find a picnic table and chairs in the middle of the small village Moulin. Billy boiled hot coffee is great - Ian has some left over muesli and yoghurt from a few days before.
Then down through more forests, the low cloud hanging in the valley below. It's a steep descent down but soon we see the spire of St Michel above the pine trees, the start of Landry. We're not sure where our Chambre d'hôte is but we know it's close by the church. We stand looking around. Then I recognise the name of the street - Chemin de Glieres, and there's the chamber d'hote right there - Caramel Maison. It's a place i have had earmarked for months now, and Sam and Alvaro have been very obliging as we have swapped and changed dates several times in the past month to fit in with our Tour de Mont Blanc Schedule. We meet them on the steps and are immediately shown to our room and offered a cup of tea - Sam is English, Alvaro is Spanish. They have 2 dogs Luna and Reg who greet us as well. The place is even better than I had imagined and we do our washing, hang it on the balcony overlooking a small stream, then have a delayed lunch of lettuce (washed to get out the grit from yesterday), cheese and yesterday's bread - all with mayonnaise.
Time for a stroll. A walk down to the village with sneakers and no backpack is a piece of cake. Sam had told us the the World kayaking championships are in the village for the next few days so we head off in the direction of the River Isere flowing from Bourg St Maurice. The streets are full of vans carrying kayaks and we walk down to the river to see a few kayakers practising downstream.
It's such a different environment to the Vanoise park with it's wilderness. Here's a pretty little river, crowded by forests, crashing down in the valley between high alps - we're heading up those alps again tomorrow. It's quite warm (25°C) as we wander to the next village of Les Granges and then back looking for a shop - not one - there's only signs to supermarkets 10k away - too far for bread and cheese. But the local Charcuterie right over the road from us sells meat and bits of everything - cheeses, salads and bread - and cold beer. Ian goes in to buy a few beers for the afternoon and we check the opening times for the Charcuterie the morning - 7am. We'll need enough stuff for 3 days as it's mountain huts until Friday when we're in Les Contamines - the start of the Tour de Mont Blanc and the start of the Tour de France.
We're back in our room by 4pm - a 6k stroll is nothing now - good as an afternoon off. Time to relax. Ian has a cold beer and does tennis stuff while I do some blog. We check our washing - it's almost dry hanging in the sun and breeze on our balcony. It's so restful listening to the rush of the torrent Le Ponturin right outside our window.
7.30pm and we go upstairs for dinner - Sam and Alvaro have gone home, and Sarah and Steve, a young English couple are doing the catering. They came as guests a few years ago, decided to stay in Landry and were offered a job at the Caramel Maison. We sit out on the patin with a magnificent mountain view and have aperitifs - cucumber and smoked salmon with a rose, then a nice salad, followed by chicken and potato with loads of green beans and broccoli with a really smooth shiraz like red. Dessert is a fine filo pasty with strawberries, cream and ice-cream. I's all 5 star - and we're stuffed.
We also find out that tomorrow is the official start to the World Kayaking Championships and they'll be starting at a little village downstream called Bellentre and finishing at Aime, even further down. So we have a change of plan. Instead of a cruisy day of about 8k up to valerian, we decide to wander down the path beside the River Isere to see the kayaking - sounds exciting and we have the time to do it so why not. We spend the rest of the night googling for a supermarket closer to Aime so our cheese and stuff won't melt in the forecast heat tomorrow. There's supposed to be a supermarket called the SOC distribution centre but we have no idea if it sells cows, cars or cheese. We'll soon find out.
Afternoon off - a beer on the bed
5 star dinner with a mountain view