We woke up around 7 am, made coffee, and enjoyed breakfast in
the apartment. We enjoyed a warm morning on a gentle trail to begin, and then, once we got higher, we were in blueberry heaven. We've been able to snack on blueberries almost every day! They are perfectly sweet and the
leaves are reddening as autumn approaches.
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| Sitting in the blueberry patch for my morning snack - Photo by Sue Priest |
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| Looking up valley in blueberry heaven |
We usually take the more
mountainous route but opted for the easier hike today as the alternate one
was extremely steep and went up and down 1,500 ft more than the already almost half-mile hike up on this route. The alpine route even had ladders
in the steepest places – so, despite the tempting view, we opted for the main
route (Alp Bovine) for once. It was still relentlessly uphill and we gratefully rested and took in the views at the top. Colleen left an inexpensive rosary at the
cross at the top of the Col since she had found the much nicer one in Aosta. Almost every col and mountain top has a cross on it.
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| Colleen adds a rosary to the cross - Photo by Colleen Sinnott |
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| View down the valley from the Col |
The walk down was moderately steep, featuring an overview of
Martigny as we walked along through the forest. Unfortunately, Colleen's knee was bothering her by the end of the hike, making us extra glad we hadn't chosen the higher route.
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| View of Martigny, a town we had traveled through enroute to Les Houches! |
We made it to the "perched" town of Col de Forclaz and our hotel of the same name. We climbed up into an "attic" room on the 3rd floor with four bunk beds side-by-side. We all
took the lower bunks, showered, and went outside to get ice for Colleen's knee and sundowners for all of us!
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| Sundowners at Hotel Col de la Forclaz - Photo by Sue Priest |
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| We all admired the soap holder in the bathroom at the hotel! |
Day 10 Summary: Au Vieux Champex to Hotel Col de la Forclaz (Switzerland); 8.72
mi/14 km; 2344’/714 m up; 2181’/665 m down; 7 hrs on trail
