Hiking the GR6, GR5 & Tour du Mont Blanc 

DAY 4: Tuesday June 5th: St Etienne to Jas des Bailles: 22k walk (make that 30k); 9hrs 30 mins: blue skies, 15°C to 21°C

Well what can I say.  It was supposed to be an easy day.  According to my research it checked out every which way to be 22k.  But late in the afternoon with only a few k to go we looked down the hill to the path below and saw it was an almost vertical descent.  We'd need a parachute.  1,000 metres down on a 1.0k track is steep - 1:1 or 45°.  So what do we do? I'll fill you in later.

We arise at 6am, and sit in the lounge of the Saint Clair Hotel, as that's the only place with WiFi connection.  A few phone calls later, we sit down to breakfast.  It should be a sin that the French make such nice bread as I can't resist the Baguets and croissants.  There's yoghurt and some tinned apricots as well.  The coffee from the machine is superb.  I've never had a bad coffee in France.  

We pack and leave at 8.30 and walk the 2.5k into the village of St Etienne.  We buy jambon (sec, so it keeps 2 days) and bread, but the magasin is closed today.  Come back tomorrow when there's a market, we are told. So no tomatoes for lunch - time to bring out the Vegemite. 

We leave the village and it's all uphill.  The Hotel Saint Clair is at 520 metres and we are going up and up to the Sommet of the Lure.  The map says we climb to 1400 metres but then drop down to 856metres.  We climb and climb relentlessly.  The views looking back are magnificent.  We stop half way up to boil the billy for a tea and check out the map.  Whoops! The map is folded along the line of the 856metre height measurement when I suddenly realise that the fold in the map is hiding a 1 - a very important 1, because that makes the height 1,856 - ouch. Oh well, we are doing it anyway. 
Then on to the Notre Dame de Lure - a 12th century church in the middle of nowhere, complete with postcards and candles.  We move on through beautiful beech forests on a path covered in the autumn's leaves.  It's getting steeper.  I bring out my second trekking pole - good thing I haven't posted them back yet.  It's very shaley and gravelly, which makes it difficult to climb.  
We reach the ski station for a breather, the views looking back are magnificent but the best is yet to come.  We climb to the top of a knoll at about 1800 metres, just before the summit and voila, spread in front of us are the magnificent Alps.  We had seen part of them yesterday, but the whole Mont Blanc Massif is right before our eyes with Mont Blanc peaking a tinsy bit above a line of snow capped peak. It's a picture postcard day.  We sit on the grassy knoll and have lunch - bread, jambon, rice crackers and vegemite.    Time to relax and enjoy the view.  It's already 1.30pm but there's only about 5k left to go.  Should be at Jas dec Bailles by 3.30pm. 

We climb the Sommet of the Lure, adorned with communication towers, and wind our way down the ridge with views to the Alps to the north, and back to the valley of Provence to the South. It was so magnificent.  We walk a few k down the ridge line til we meet the road and look for the GR6 leading 1k down to the refuge at Jas des Bailles.  We find it and it's steep.  It's a vertical incline on shaley rocks.  We don't need a broken angle at this stage so we decide to take the road, but it's zigs and zags will make the walk about almost 10k longer - and it's already after 3pm.  We set off down the road resigned to the fact that it will be well after 5pm when we arrive.  But it's a beautiful day, still with the Alps to our left as we descend down to the valley.  There's not many cars on the road, just a few cyclists struggling up the mountain.  We see the GR6 cross the road and it looks a little less step so we cut off 1k by taking the track - steep but less steep than we had seen at the top.  My hips hurt, Ian's feet hurt, I'm thinking again what I can get rid of out of the pack as I manoeuvre it up and down and sideways to relieve the pressure points on my hip bones which are now only half a millimetre from the flesh since i've lost at least a Kilo in body weight today - I think I can find 2kg worth of undies and socks and shirts.  We stop for a quick cup of tea on the side of the road, only 5 k to go.  Ouch.  We stride off, our GPS gives us a huge boost in confidence as we know exactly where we are going and how far.   We roll into Jas des Bailles at 6.10pm and are greeted by the owner Nadine and Eric and Eric, two cyclists we met on the track at the point we were peering down the vertical slope and deciding to take the road.  We take off our shoes and have a cold beer at the picnic table.  

Nadine shows us to our room - any bed is good tonight.  We have a hot shower, do some diary - no WiFi here, and wander down at 7.30 for dinner.  There's a bit of a delay.  We are waiting for a few people from a Solar Team to arrive - 10 of them in all.  They have come to look at a solar installation for Jas des Bailles.  It will cost 60,000 Euros we are told, otherwise it is 300,000 Euros to put in an electricity line.  jas des Bailles has a gas heater for the water and a generator for the lights.  Apparently it is French Government policy for every person in France to have access to electricity so they will foot the bill and Nadine pays only 400 Euro per year to rent it from them.  Socialism does good things.

We finally sit down to dinner - it's worth the wait - carrot soup with a tang of orange, stewed meat with pasta (it probably has a fancy Provencial name), cheese, the chocolate mousse. We go to our room stuffed at 10pm - do a bit of washing then go to bed.  The bed is very comfy, the pillows flat and soft - just the way I like it.