Sunday 24 July 2022
| Distance (km) | 5 kms | |||
| Distance (time) | 2 hrs | |||
| Climb / Descent | 540m / 50m | |||
| Hard / Soft surface | 30% / 70% | |||
| Landscape |
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| Weather |
 33° 1 Bft
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Last 2 years we started with a short day and that worked out very well, so therefore we decided to do that again this year. It does need a bit of
puzzling though to get that done. We decided to pitch our basecamp close to Briançon (in La Vachette to be precise) and use public transport to
get to Modane. Starting from 2022 there is a direct bus from Briançon to Modane....the only downside is that during weekdays it goes very early
in the morning and in the evening. But in the weekend there is a bus in the early afternoon as well, and so we will start our walk on a Sunday for change.
After driving 2 days and arriving quite late due to the heavy traffic we're not completely awake yet on Sunday when we have to take the bus. There is a possible slight complication and that is that exactly this Sunday 24th of July are the annual village festivities. The bus stop is reachable though and according to the bus company the bus will stop get to the village anyway in spite of the main street being blocked and just leave the village the same way it comes in. And so we're standing 15 minutes early at the bus stop for the 12:53 bus to Modane. And 12:53 passes....and it becomes 13:00....and 13:10. And there is no bus. So in spite of what the bus company promised us, the driver deciced single handed to just completely skip the village. Lovely. So time for plan B: we head back to the camping and grab the car to just drive to Modane. We will pick up the car later when we're back at the camping, on Tuesday or so. You may wonder why this isn't plan A in the first place. Well...first of all we prefer to leave the car at the camping rather than at a public car park and secondly the shortest way from Briançon to Modane is into Italy and then back into France through the 13 km long Frejus tunnel. And that's a toll tunnel for which the return price is a wooping 63 Euro. So by taking the bus we can save us that money. Well, it turns out we can't. . And so we arrive in Modane by car, park the car close to the railway station and start walking. It's very warm and so we decide to go for a quick glass of something in the local bar so that we can also use their toilet. But close to 15:30 we then really start walking... First along the main street and then heading south over the railroad and up into the mountains. One of the very last buildings we pass is a modern church and here Lupita already needs a break as the heat is getting the best of her (it is close to 35 degrees Celsius in the build up area). Fortunately there is a public tap here and we can throw some cool water in our face and over our head before we continue. We pass a sports field and then it starts really really climbing. First we pass underneath the A43 motorway and then we enter the forest where it is hot and sweaty and steep and it seems to go on and on and on until we finally reach some 4x4 gravel road that marks the highest point today. From here we have to descend a bit to cross the Charmaix stream. From here it is a short gentle climb to get to the ski village Valfrejus where we have booked an Airbnb for the night. We get some breakfast for tomorrow in the local supermarket and head for our overnight stay. It's a cosy little place and in the same building there is a restaurant so we can save ourselves the walk to the center for dinner. First day done and we already feel cooked. |
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