Monday 1 August 2019
| Distance (km) | 6 kms | |||
| Distance (time) | 3.5 hrs | |||
| Climb / Descent | 360m / 770m | |||
| Hard / Soft surface | 30% / 70% | |||
| Landscape |
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| Weather |
 12°→ 24° 3 Bft
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At 5 in the morning we are awakened by cow bells as a group of cows passes our tent. Lupita looks a bit anxious, but it's better to remain silent rather than trying to chase them away by making noise from within the tent. Usually this feeds there curiousity and they would approach the tent instead of move on. And indeed, they pass quietly so that we can sleep a bit more. But by 7 we really have to get out as breakfast must be ready soon. During the night it got clouded and so now it's grey and chilly.
Breakfast is ready indeed. Not very luxurious with just bread, butter and jam and instant coffee or chocolate or simple tea. But at least the bread is freshly baked and good. In the meantime the grey skies opened and now it's seriously raining. Nobody is really eager to leave while the rain pours down. The caretaker wants to clean the breakfast area and so we're sent off to the adjacent space where we don't have light as at that very moment the generator decides to call it a day. The rain lasts until close to 10:30 and people start to gear up and leave. We first have to pack the tent, and so we do. Packing, filling water bottles, last sanitary visit and some stretching and it's 11 o'clock by the time we leave. Good thing is that today is a short walk. A short walk, but going up straight from the beginning. Good we did a warming up and also nice it's still clouded and fresh while we slowly step-by-step climb to Pas de la Bosse. Of course in the mountains weather can just change in the blink of an eye and so halfway we're already walking in the sun making the second part of the climb still rather warm. Nevertheless, without difficulties we get to the pass and have a last look over the valley and the mountain refuge. We make a short break to refill our stomachs as breakfast is long gone before we descend to La Chapelle. And a decent it is. First gentle but later more steep. My right big toe that already hurt yesterday in the final descent is being increasingly painful today. We have a short break at Chalet de Bosse where I hope that I can ease the pain (at least for a while) by taking of my shoe and give my foot some fresh air. Well, it only works for 100m or so. Every step is painful and we only descend very slowly. The last part to the parking in the valley is fortunately a forest track gently going down so that I can walk at more ease. In principle we're down, but not in La Chapelle yet. From here there is a short stretch along the small stream before joining the tarmc access road to the parking again. Considering my toe we decided to just follow the tarmac road directly from the parking. And so we enter La Chapelle d'Abondance. The bus stop is along the route and within 10 minutes we have a bus to Châtel from where we take a shuttle bus to the camping site. Time to assess the damage....my big toe is not swollen or red, but the toe nail is blueish black. A few day's rest then and see how it develops. |
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