DAY 34: Thursday July 5th: Champex to La Fouly: 17k 5hrs: No wind, a little cloudy, foresty day, midday storms, 7°C to 18°C
We've now turned the corner around the Tour de Mont Blanc (click here for the map) and on the homeward stretch. Today was an easy peasy day - 8k down through pine forests, 9k up through pine forests, through pretty Swiss villages - typically Swiss without a blade of grass out of place. No cols or mountains today. But there's something relaxing about a stroll through the forests, arriving in La Fouly in time to have lunch then watching the Wimbledon tennis and the Tour de France on the TV in our room.
6am we're up and skyping home. Then showered - that's nice in the morning - packed and down to breakfast. Hot bread, hot tea - that's all it takes to make a nice breakfast. We're out the door before 8am and buy a really fresh Baguette from the Boulangerie, then down to the small grocery store - one tomato and a small slice of cheese. After our slimy salami episode I'm banned from shopping by myself. Prices are very expensive in Switzerland - about 3 times the cost in France - and 4 times the cost in Australia - so a baguette costs less than 1 Euro in France but almost 3 Swiss Francs - about 3 Euro in Switzerland. Likewise for everything from yoghurt to cheese.
It's a cool morning at 7°C, slightly overcast but no mist. Storms are predicted soon after lunch so we need to get a move on. Most of the track is evenly graded through pine forests so it's easy to walk at 5kph. We're soon down from Champex (The Swiss pronounce it Champecks, the French call it Champay - take your pick) and strolling along the Sentier des Champignons - path of the mushrooms - but with the rain yesterday, people have been out pucking everything in sight - we come across one solitary mushroom.
Down into the Vale Ferret - with really pretty Swiss villages dotted along the stream - Issert, Praz de Fort, Prayon - with very very old solid timber buildings, narrow streets, flower boxes and a few newer more modern Swiss chalets. The streets are immaculate - there's not spec of anything along the streets - it's as though someone sweeps them every hour. The wood piles are all perfectly aligned - they must take hours to cut, stack and align. That's the Swiss way - everything is super tidy and clean.
At 10am we spy a seat beside the village fountain in Praz de Fort and have a coffee - there's a few old men chatting in the streets and an old lady tending her garden. We feel as though all eyes are on us to make sure we don't leave any rubbish behind. It's still coldish, so a hot coffee and some Swiss chocolate goes down well. Our big gas can is on it's last legs but we have another small one ready to take over - Ian has been carrying it for 10 days - he doesn't mind carrying extra gas for coffee but not dead sausages.
Moving off the road away from the villages to a track in the forests, we walk along a long straight path carrying a water pipe and come to a bench seat we recognise - It's Graham's seat - where he left his rubber sit-mat behind last time - it's long gone with the wind. We carry a small square of rubber matting to sit on for morning teas and lunches - it's soft, and keeps your bum dry. It rolls up to the size of a cucumber and weighs nothing - mine is 75 grams to be exact.
We move higher up the valley. The waterfalls are in full gush after the storms in this valley yesterday. There's also obvious signs of mud slides across the roads from the torrential downpour that forced 2 walkers we met at the Refuge last night, to take a taxi some of the way. As we near La Fouly, the storm looms at the end of teh valley and we pick up the pace. It starts to rain, so we have to stop and put on ponchos. At 1pm we roll into La Fouly. The local shop is still open - according to the sign it shouldn't be - but there's a lot of people in town for the start of the ultra-trail race on Saturday around Mont Blanc. So we both go in (remember, I'm being watched now), and buy a bag of green lettuce, yoghurt and a demi bottle of red wine to have with our lunch today.
Down the road a bit is our Hotel Edelweis. There's a collection of bags from a group outside. Inside, we are shown the boot room then taken up to our own room with views to the mountains behind. The storm is still lingering at the back end of the valley where we're headed tomorrow - and where we experienced cold miserable weather 3 years ago - on the Grand Col Ferret. Before we do anything, it's time for lunch - the most relaxing lunch we've had for a week. Really fresh bread, left over chicken from the table last night, lettuce, tomato, cheese - all spread with yoghurt - and of course our own salt and pepper brought from home. While Ian gets it ready, I try to re-arrange the prongs on the fork that we used to gouge out the cork from the wine bottle last night.
Time for a hot bath and then to wash our clothes - there's refuges for the next 3 nights so not sure if we'll get to wash anything. There's a TV in the room - I think our very first on this walk. And we have the choice of Wimbledon or the Tour de France - Ian watches both - he's a flicker - while I blog and wonder why the TV commentary suddenly switches.
I look for an English commentary on the Tour de France on my MacBook Air while we watch the French version on TV. I find something on Eurosport and for the last 30 mins we watch TV, turn the volume down and listen to the English commentary on Eurosport. Andre Greipel wins the stage again but the Australian Matt Goss is a close second - he went too early.
Two red wines later to finish off our bottle and it's dinner time in the dining room looking up to the mountains in all directions. The weather has fined up a little - there's hope for the morning. Dinner is really nice. Green salad, vegetable broth and a light curried chicken and rice with sliced zucchini - followed by creme caramel - with a demi bottle of red.
The hotel is quite full - a large group is on the other side of the dining room- there's also a small English group whom we believe to be a family with a personal guide. There's 2 kids about 12 and 14 and the guide is geeing them up for tomorrow - it's almost as bad as taking kids fishing when they don't want to go - there's no way home.
When we return to our room, the washing is almost dry - it should be fully dry by morning. That's good. We have 3 days of hutting and the weather is unpredictable for the next few days. But all of a sudden we hear thunder and it's pouring with rain outside now - really heavy rain. Better now than in the morning.
Ian checks his Samsung for the next few days maps and finds he needs to download a section near Courmayeur.
Time for a warm bed.