Our most avid readers will have spotted that we had only walked to Chatillon yesterday, and yet we started from Verres today. The intervening section from Chatillon to Verres is 20 kilometres long, on the south facing side of the valley so in full sun all day, and billed as “challenging” which we understand to […]
Monthly Archives: July 2022
DAY 85 – NUS TO CHATILLON
This morning we decided to go for it and complete the section of the walk we didn’t manage to do yesterday. Our night’s sleep was disturbed by Saturday night revellers and motorbikes roaring through at 1.30am, but the Ibuprofen did the trick. First we needed to find an open cafe for breakfast as the hotel […]
DAY 84 – AOSTA TO NUS
We intended to walk to Chatillon today, but the heat was intolerable and Tom’s left calf was playing up again, so at 3.30pm with only half the walk done we bailed out and got the train from Nus to Chatillon where we were already booked into an hotel. We decided to start walking as soon […]
DAY 83 – REST DAY IN AOSTA
We felt very much in need of our day’s rest today. Are we getting too old for this caper?! In part it is the searing heat which makes the physical effort of walking feel that much harder. Anyway, we didn’t have to walk anywhere today, though we chose to do some sightseeing after a late […]
DAY 82 – ETROUBLES TO AOSTA
Another very comfortable night at the Hotel Bon Sejour. A large room with balcony facing the evening sun helped dry our daily laundry quickly. At 1280m it was considerably warmer than at the Col. We spent a convivial evening with our Hungarian friend Rosita and our two friends from Zurich Beat and Martin. Rosita started […]
DAY 81 – LE COL DU GRAND SAINT BERNARD TO ETROUBLES
The Auberge wing of the Hospice was very comfortable and the demi-pension supper more than adequate. Although our room overlooked the main road over the pass, the traffic quietened right down overnight, so we got a good night’s sleep and gave ourselves an extra hour’s lie-in as well. It was surprisingly cold overnight, necessitating full […]
DAY 80 – BOURG-SAINT-PIERRE to LE COL DU GRAND SAINT BERNARD
Today was a big day, much anticipated since we were in Kent in early March and saw the sculpture representing the whole of the Via Francigena. It made crossing the Alps look extremely daunting – almost insurmountable. We needed to climb 1100 metres in total today, allowing for losing and regaining height during the day. […]
DAY 79 – ORSIERES TO BOURG-SAINT-PIERRE
Jenny wasn’t wrong: we had a good meal in the hotel restaurant last night, and Tom liked the beer. He was actually a bit taken aback to be given an extra beer for free, but didn’t feel he could turn it down. This morning we found a small supermarket around the corner to buy provisions […]
DAY 78 – MARTIGNY TO ORSIERES
We awoke to another day of bright sunshine and warm temperatures. The saving grace is that in the mountains we are getting the benefit of a cooling wind as slabs of colder air drop off the tops. The two local boulangeries advertising that they are open on Sunday mornings were both closed, so no filled […]
DAY 77 – REST DAY IN MARTIGNY
We were taken aback to be told when we checked in last night that the hotel restaurant would be closed tonight and the wifi was likely to go down because the hotel would be full. In fact, we were the only guests at breakfast this morning and the hotel still appears to be quite empty. […]