Hotel instead of lodge means that I can order eggs for breakfast. Mind you, just as in Courmoyeur, they don't come cheap at 3 Swiss francs each!!!!! I order 3 of them this time, and again load up with bread, yoghurt and orange juice...and NUTELLA...!!! :)
Gulp down a couple of ibuprofen to manage the knee pain, and minimise any inflammation. Also started to have blisters on the tissue just covering my hip bone. The rucksack's weight is almost entirely supported by a strap with thick padding at the hips, and going downhill usually causes the sack to wobble ever so slightly, and this has caused the tissue to blister. A few plasters there, and we're good to go.
Set off to the mini market, where I buy bandages to strap my knee. I already had tube knee supports, but these are not tight enough to provide the support my knees require, and they seem to slide off periodically.
At this point, we have crossed the midway point of the TMB, and today is meant to be the easiest day. What it actually equates to, is recovery day, since we might attack a very demanding section on the following day, depending in the weather conditions.
Walking through the forest, we follow another stream before coming to small mountain village named Praz de Fort. Every house there is stacked with huge amounts of firewood. This place must be beyond freezing in winter!!!!
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| Yes, that's firewood just for 1 house...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
Continuing our path, we again lose our way at an unmarked fork. Luckily, the damage this time is relatively minor, with only a 15 mins setback. Return on our steps and rejoin the TMB route to Issert, the lowest point of the day where we remove excess layers in prep for the upcoming climb.
Whilst peeling out his layers, Jeff finds out that the hotel keys had remained in his pockets!!! Too late to turn back, we decide to sort the issue at Champex, which is the destination of the day.
Start the gradual uphill, and we reach a trail called Sentier des Champignons. Pretty self explanatory, with a poster of every edible mushroom that can be found in these woods.
Gradual uphill leads us to Champex, which is yet another tiny mountain village, this time, overseeing a lake at 1466 m elevation. On the way, I manage to crack one of my trekking poles!!!! The constant pounding on the ground probably took its toll on it.
We reach Champex at around 1pm, and immediately look out for a restaurant, since we (read I) was starving. Entrecote steak with shoestring fries (Merci Ani), free Wi-Fi on a sunny easy day, what more can we ask for?
Proceed up a tiny uphill to our lodge, and find a note on the door saying that it's not open till 4 pm...
Use the time to buy some supplies at the grocery store, and a trekking pole at the outdoors shop of the village. There I bump into an old lady who takes notice of my funny Mauritian accent when speaking French. When she finds out I'm from Mauritius, she can't help but tell me one of those racy Boodhoo jokes. An old Swiss lady who has never been to Mauritius, settled in London, on holidays in her native country, telling Mauritian Boodhoo jokes to a Mauritian in Switzerland, how more funny can it get? :P :P :P
We return to the hotel at 4 where we are welcome by a huge 11 months old, friendly and playful Swiss mountain dog. I don't mind dogs but this one is far too 'licky' to my liking...
We arrange with the person at the reception to have the hotel keys to be sent to hotel Eldelweiss at La Fouly.
Drop the heavy stuff, and go to the center to grab a drink... ... ... And ice cream... ... ... When the outside temperature is about 6 degrees Celsius… … … I have 2 scoops, melon and coffee...really yummy...
Meet a group of old retired peeps at a local pub, who spend all year round hiking, and they mention that they have hiked around Everest (not climb cos that's madness in terms of price and danger). The landscape there is so spectacular that they can't help but go back there every year!!!!....hmmm...next trek???
Return to the lodge at 7 for dinner, where we find that there are only 6 other people spending the night there. There's a quiet German duo that we met in the dorms on our first night in Bionassay, an old French couple who we met on the crazy day at Refuge des Mottets, and a young Swedish couple. The Swedish guy actually hurt his knee on one of the treks, and it's his girlfriend who is doing the heavy weight lifting as a result. To shed unnecessary weight, she's been ripping apart a book that she brought to the trail, page by page, as she finishes reading them. I know of a few people out there who would be offended by such uncivilised behavior…
As we're chatting away, we find out that everyone else at the dinner table had been taking modern shortcuts along their TMB route. The Swedish pair took the ski lifts as well at Courmoyeur because they heard that that section was 'knee busting', which we confirmed at great pain. Everyone else was also taking bus rides to skip sections of the trail.
Menu:
Salad
Some weird chicken in coconut city without spices
Tinned fruits with Chantilly cream and scoop of ice cream
As I get ready for shower, Ian, the underwearless Brit guy shows up. Jeff had invited him for a drink at our lodge.
He is camping tonight!!!!! Talking to him, we find out that he used to do a lot of Rock climbing in his young age, and circumstances of life and illness forced him to quit his passion a decade or so ago. He had gained over 20 kgs over the inactive part of his life, and recently decided to resume rock climbing. Unfortunately, in the last few months, he had developed a weird condition where the toe next to his big toe, crosses over his big toe, and rock climbing shoes don't fit him anymore. He's on the waiting list on the NHS to have surgery to have that condition fixed, and has taken up hiking and cycling to shed weight, and for leisure in the meantime.
The huge aforementioned dog at some point pops in, and Jeff decides to play with it. The dog leaps on him, head butts Jeff on the lips unwittingly, before the owner takes control and sends him away.
Result: smashed lips. Picture is actually taken a day later.
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Stats of the day:
17 kms
4 hours 15
1741 kcal spent
https://www.
Champex: 1466m
Praz de Fort: 1151m
Issert: 1055m
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