Day I – Les Houches to Les Contamines

After spending a day in the stunning mountain village of Chamonix I was ready to be off early .    The weather was beautiful in  Chamonix for my pre walk day so I explored and decided to take the famous – Aiguille du Midi cable car. I was planning on doing this when I finished the walk to look out at where I had  walked and reflect etc.  This sounded like a good idea  but then I heard it can close in windy conditions .. change of plan .  I didn’t want to risk missing out  so as this was a clear, perfect blue sky, see for miles kind of day I hopped on to take a look at where I was going instead of where I had been .   At the top I stood in a bit of shock as it was 360 degree views of all the French, Swiss and Italian alps and an intimate first meeting with Mont Blanc.   It was breathtaking and a little daunting … I had never seen scenery like this before or been up this high.  The view of where I was walking all laid out before me.     I had to come down and have an ice cream .   Chamonix is like a fairy tale French town .. I was waiting for Belle and Gaston to walk by.   There were people actually walking along with brown bags filled with long fresh baguettes like they were extras in a film set but they weren’t, they were just people with baguettes .  I just kept grinning to myself.    I was in France!! After a lovely dinner sat on the street in a cafe and a wine .. I returned and packed my back pack ready to get an early start in the morning.  My pack is the perfect size yet I felt it weighed more than I would like.   I culled a few things and tried again . I needed everything in there so I would  just have to adjust to the weight. How can light weight , fast drying, moisture wicking clothes add up to feeling like I was carrying a human on my back!?!

I hauled it on and headed to the bus stop to get to the little town of Les Houches, the official start of The Tour Du Mont Blanc.    The day begins with a punishing 600 metre ascent .   It was a continuous and steep climb and I was peeling off layers as fast as I could .  It was a hard start and I felt every kg of my pack .  I finally reached Col de Voza where the decision is made to take the high variant or the low .   My map book ( the same brilliant trailblazer guide I used for the coast to coast) highly recommended the high variant in good weather .   There was a thunderstorm in the afternoon predicted and so other walkers at this point were taking the Low route .   I stood there at the cross road feeling disappointed  – I had really wanted to take the high  route as it was said to be one of the walks best.    So I hovered and waited .. I didn’t want to give up on it .  Then a lovely man from Vancouver noticed my hovering and asked if I was ok … I told him I really wanted to go up and he calmly said ., well if it storms it should only last 15 minutes so just shelter until it passes .  Then another female walker said .. I’m not going it’s my excuse and I’m a wus . That was it, decision made ..I was off . I shot up that hill with Mr Vancouver waving me off and shouting something that I was hoping was good luck but maybe wasn’t . As I glanced back I noticed him taking the low route! Probably chuckling away to himself .
The walk took me through alpine pastures and passed  the  Bionnassay glacier – a rope bridge crosses the roaring waters from the glacier and I was in heaven!    There was no one at all and I had this huge landscape wrapping around me all to myself .   The sky was cloudless and I walked on with every step becoming more stunning. I juggled my camera and my map book. I stopped regularly to check my map as I did not want to get lost on day1 .. I knew my confidence was hanging on how this first day went . So I sacrificed using my walking poles for map book clenching instead.     On I went until I finally hit the top of Col de Tricot at 2120m.    I threw off my pack – and clapped in delight . It had been such a magnificent start .   I was so thrilled I had taken a chance and come up to see this and had the absolute quiet of a perfect day.    With the sun beating down I too headed down .   A knee crunching descent all the way . I would of welcomed a drop of rain at this point .   I walked another 2 hours or so before finally reaching my destination of Les Contamines . A small village where I had my own room to ease me in gently to the next nights of shared dorms in huts .  I threw my pack down first outside the small shop and bought a pack of ham and crackers which I devoured on the side of the road .     I took a long shower that was the best feeling in the world and could only bear to put thongs on to stroll to  dinner.  It tasted like heaven.   French cooking heaven.
 I crawled into bed – hoping my legs would still work in the morning .    A defining day for me and a magical start  .   The storm never did come .   Life is funny like that .