Day 11 – Lac Blanc to Chamonix

I set my alarm for before sunrise. I didn’t need to  – I hadn’t really slept and watched the time tick by since 5am.   I got up as soon as I heard the first rustle of a sleeping bag in the dorm.  In the dark I tip toed down the stairs to the pitch black boot room to get my pack ready for a swift exit.   It was my last day and I felt I’d spent enough time in this spectacularly located but dark , cold hut.   Using torch light I cleaned my teeth and took off some of the layers I had slept in .   It was hard to imagine that after 15 km I would be in the lovely hotel I had booked in Chamonix as my end of walk treat.    I began to panic that the sight and smell of me might lead to a ‘sorry but we have no booking under that name ‘ … I felt so thankful that Chamonix being the home of hiking and mountaineering would be used to people arriving in similar states .

I headed for the door, after dinner I wasn’t holding out much hope for breakfast so I grabbed a few thin slices of bread and butter and off I went.    This remote hut , it’s completely unique position and the towering views around it are staggering.   On a night with electricity and showers it would be a hut highlight on the walk.   I was glad the walk to get to it was my penultimate day as it had taken a toll on my legs .   Perhaps this is why the walk is suggested to be done in an anti clockwise direction .
Just when my thighs were screaming for a day off I was about to give them one.   I could not believe though in 11 days how strong I felt ,   I had felt stronger each day – my legs, my back , my shoulders , my calves.   The ascents getting harder but my getting up them easier.   I felt so grateful to these legs for supporting me and thankful that the training I had done prior had got me to where I wanted to go.

And so on this final day when my appreciated legs and feet were appreciating that there was an end in sight my head and heart felt quite differently.   I didn’t want this to end . I didn’t want to stop looking up at mountains,  I didn’t want to stop walking .   I felt tears fill my eyes as I hauled my pack on in the cold air thinking of the first morning I had done that and how full of anticipation I had been . How much I had loved each unique day not knowing what it would bring and loving heading off to find out . On my own , in quiet, with just my map and my choice of pace . Stopping when and where I wanted to.   I wanted to go back to that first morning .  Walking is addictive.   With each trail I would spot others I would long to explore.  I would hear hikers talk of other places they had been and pepper them with questions .   It has filled me with profound happines.    With all these thoughts filling my heart and head I thought it best not to leave making a snivelling scene so off I went.

As if this Lac Blanc stop was trying its hardest to test me a large notice hammered to the trail marker told of the track being shut for maintenance.   The instructions directed me back down the way I had come up instead of the path that would continue on the route to Chamonix. I was not keen on doing that and reversing down any ladder section so I decided to take a higher route across the top to avoid this . It would mean I would wind up at Le Brevent – the high point before the descent to Chamonix.
This way was way more challenging than I realised and involved a lot of climbing over rocks and thin ridges on the side of rock faces with iron railings to hold you on .  It was exciting walking and a very big finale but by the time I had negotiated this section I was starving and feeling every muscle in my legs.   I stopped at Col de la Gliere at 2461 metres to take in these views.  It was worth the 3 hours of pushing myself .  It was as wild and remote and rugged as I had been.  Off the trail and up high.   It was a grand finale that had a taste of everything.     I finally began a descent after stopping to empty my back pack of any remaining nuts and chocolate , scrounging like a wild woman for any bits of almond that had escaped down the sides .  It wasn’t enough after my tiny dinner and tracing paper like bread slice!   As I began to carefully pick my path over rocks and boulders to descend,  the sun rose to seemingly sit right on the summit of this walks namesake.  And as if on cue the clouds kindly moved from the top and I walked down with the most incredible view of the the towering Mont Blanc.

It was a spectacular descent and I was smearing dust and tears as I came to my final steps of 170km.    I felt elated .    Chamonix was bathed in sunshine when I finally made it .  I caught a bus to retrieve
my big bag and walked into the reception of my hotel for the night and the next.     I dropped my bags
 with the lovely lady who pretended not to smell me and who discreetly averted her eyes from my stiff, matted head of hair and headed right back out . Before a shower I had to do something I’d been thinking about since 5am .    My feet flew as I wound through the streets heading by some animal instinct.  And there it was .   The shop window of a bakery I had seen 12 days earlier .  I threw myself against the glass looking desperately hoping the same sight would greet me.   And Yes!!    There it was .  The most gorgeous looking chocolate cream filled French chocolate eclair .    I was so hungry… there were baguettes filled with everything I could imagine .   I couldn’t order quick enough . I sat outside, a little table by myself ,  Chamonix bustling by – a baguette filled with ham , cheese that was worthy of a standing ovation , a pot of tea and that glorious eclair .    I will never forget how I felt sat there .

I thought of the trail and the defining moments where I had pushed myself , the new experience of staying in huts , every beautiful and kind person I had met along the way , the caring they had shown this solo walker , the scenery that had taken my breath away , the quiet of being all alone in such a vast landscape and the faces of the people that had made me laugh until I ached .   I felt so grateful sat there to my beautiful mum, dad and sister who had moved in to support me while I was away , encouraging me,  filling me with confidence and caring so lovingly for my two precious daughters .    And I thought of my girls – my incredible Kate and Charlotte .  So strong and selfless – every day teaching me what strength is.   And that was how I felt sat there.    I felt strong .    Xxxxx

.