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 for lunches for the next few days as there will be no supermarkets in the remoter places near the Grand St Bernard pass. By then the tourist office was open too so we were able to get our pilgrim passports stamped.
We first crossed the river Drance d’Entremont and then began climbing up out of Orsieres, initially following tracks through meadows and then mixed deciduous woodland, with wonderful views back over Orsieres and the valley we ascended yesterday. We passed several wooden chalets with stunning views and pretty gardens which looked like they are probably holiday homes. Not a bad place to spend your holidays!
on the mountain to the left
Most of today was spent gaining altitude, from about 890 metres at Orsieres to 1640 metres at Bourg-Saint-Pierre, so a decent chunk of the total 2480 metres height at the Grand St Bernard pass, but there is still a fair amount of climbing to be done tomorrow.
Mid morning saw us descending back down to the river which we followed upstream briefly, and then had to climb very steeply up and over a spur.
And then back down the other side, but now we had magnificent views ahead and by lunchtime we were walking through the village of Dranse. Having scrambled over extensive road works to install sewers into old houses we spotted a wooden barn sitting on staddle stones which provided both somewhere to sit and shade.
Just up the road we found a tap to refill our water bottles, though had to compete with a group of young cyclists keen to push in before we’d filled all four of our bottles. Expecting people to wait their turn seems to be a peculiarly British trait. Adjacent to the tap and water trough was an attractive, simple, open sided stone chapel built in 2001. What a beautiful location for it. We noted that metal grilles had been fixed over the effigies – rather than locking out the people who might steal them – hurrah!
Onwards and upwards for the afternoon. The path came out of meadows below a concrete reservoir, and then continued up the river valley.
We were making good progress and anticipating arriving at our destination by about 4pm, but then encountered a massive rockfall which had completely taken out the path. It extended a good 200m above us, where we could see a huge rockface which had collapsed. We could actually see where the track emerged the other side, but it was some distance away. New growth of saplings amongst the blocks of rock suggested it wasn’t recent, but it was difficult to determine how stable it was. Moreover there was no obvious route across the mess of large rocks and fallen trees. It would have been very difficult to get across it with our rucksacks, and we didn’t want to risk breaking any bones or twisting ankles.
We decided that the only option was to retrace our steps some 2km back to a bridge over the river and cross over to the east side of the valley. Given that we’d been about 15 minutes from the edge of Bourg St Pierre, the backtracking, loss of height and the reclimbing seemed tiresome.
We were now walking in full sun instead of woodland shade and regaining height, so it was tough going, especially with the thought that we should by now be showered and resting, but the views were glorious in all directions.
The last half kilometre was on the main road but the traffic was much less than earlier in the day so it wasn’t too bad. We found our auberge in the middle of the village, away from the main road, and received a very friendly welcome.
Highlights of the day – one spectacular view after another, and getting to 1640 metres. Only about 800 metres more to be gained tomorrow, which is probably going to be our toughest day so far.