Tuesday 6th September: Weather: 16°C to 20°C: Cool but sunny most of the day
Day 21 Ollomont to Rifugio Letey Champillon: 5k: 5hrs 30 mins 9.15am to 2.45pm: 1 x 30 min fluff around on the wrong track, 1x 30 min coffee break
Ascent/Descent: Ascent 1,079m, Descent 34m, Total up and down 1,113m
Accommodation: Rifugio Lete Champillon
Beautiful 16°C morning Ollomont
Magnificent view Snow capped alps
Hand dug tunnel on wrong path
Circle 1, triangle 1, different paths
Views down to Ollomont in valley
Magnificent day in Alps
Magnificent day in Alps
Morning coffee at Church
Morning Coffee with a view
Morning Coffee with a view
Ian’s shirt is wet from slog uphill
Above the tree line to Champillon
Rifugio Champillon at 2,433 metres
Storm 6pm at Rifugio Champillon
Day 21 highlight was leaving Ollomont on a fantastic clear day, the alps all around making a perfect picture. Today is 5k, our shortest and easiest day. There were no cols to climb today, just a 1,000 meters ascent up to Rifugio Champillon, where we arrived at 2.45pm, our earliest day yet, despite an unexpected 30 minute detour in the wrong direction.
We’re awake at 6.30am and have a cup of tea from the electric jug in the room, then shower and pack before making a few phone calls to the family. There’s no hurry it’s a short day. Breakfast is at 8am and it’s a magnificent spread of everything you could think of - yoghurts, fresh fruit, muesli, breads, jams, croissants, cakes, tarts with a lovely hot cup of tea or coffee. We don’t eat too much - we’ve been caught out before eating a really big breakfast before a big up hill when we taste breakfast the whole way up.
I pay the bill of 157 euro which was very reasonable for the Bed n Breakfast plus dinner, wine and beer the night before. We leave at 9.15am back down to Ollomont, and follow the signs up hill to Rifugio Champillon. Soon we’re on a wide and very flat balcony walk overlooking the valley, through a strange man made walking tunnel hand carved in a huge rock. The balcony keeps on going until it almost meets the rising valley below at the village of Vaud - then we realise we’re on the wrong track. We’d been following the number 1 in a circle sign, when we should have been following the Number 1 in a triangle sign - very confusing. So back along the track, back through the tunnel, and we eventually see where we missed the turn to the Alt Via 1 sign (Triangle 1) which rises steeply up through the pine trees. By this time we’d done and extra 1k up and 1k back on the level horse track.
Up and up through the pine forest on a steep zig zagging track until we emerge from the pine trees and see the Champillon dairy farm with a chapel above it which we head to for our morning coffee. By now it’s 1pm and we’ve been going for almost 4 hours, albeit 30 minutes, in the wrong direction. The chapel is the perfect place for morning coffee with Arnott’s spice Fruit rolls. There’s steps to sit on and a magical view across to the alps.
A sign to Champillon says 1 hr to go and we still have another 400 metres to climb. But we’re refreshed after a coffee break and do it in 40 minutes, arriving at 2.45pm to a noisy Italian group sitting inside having lunch. We’re shown to our room - we have chosen the “comfort room” - a double bed with shower to ourselves - a bit squishy but so nice. We have a shower and wash some clothes which are again dusty from the dry track. There’s a clothes line out the back where we hang shirts, socks and undies, before sitting inside to have lunch of cereal bread and cheese with a cold beer - as usual Ian has a blonde and I have a red, this time a stout.
The group having dinner is noisier and noisier and our host Leo suggests we retreat to the outside sitting room with a heater. It’s nice and cosy - and quiet. We have a long wait til dinner at 8pm, so time to relax before we tackle the last 3 days of our Tor des Geants hike. It’s been an unbelievable journey and I can’t believe we’re almost back in Courmayeur.
Before dinner we have a glass of the nicest Tourette wine made from Petit Rouge grapes - tiny red grapes. We had this wine at Alpenzu and it beats hands down all the other reds we’ve had on the trip. While we’re sipping wine, a storm erupts with torrential rain for 30 minutes and a beautiful rainbow appears over the valley. Good thing we’re not out in it and we had retrieved our washing earlier all dry.
Dinner at 8pm and we’re sitting at a seven person table for dinner - us and 5 other hikers, mostly doing 4 and 5 day hikes in the area. First course is a bowl of hot spaghetti followed by slow cooked pork with fried Polenta looking like fish sticks. Dessert is a cup of Mascarpone. It’s almost 10pm when we finish chatting and eating, then go to bed on a full stomach and squirm.