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. That’s about 3,600 feet.
Our auberge last night was simple and comfortable, and our hostess was very friendly and helpful, pressing bottled drinks on us to help us on our way this morning. We had to decline the extra weight as we’re already carrying two litres of water each.
We decided to make an early start this morning to try to complete most of the walk before the hottest part of the day, and set out before the sun had risen over the top of the mountains. Although we only had 11km to walk, we needed to gain over 1100m overall to reach the Col.
The day started inauspiciously with an ascent followed by a descent and river crossing, but we then had a steady climb up to the dam of the Lac des Toules. It was good to get most of the climb done in the early part of the day. The views up and down the valley were magnificent, and today the wild flowers were beautiful and profuse.
On the way up to the dam we surprised a group of marmots out enjoying the early morning sun. They scampered off to a safe distance and looked back at us before disappearing into their burrows. They were much too quick for us to get a photo, but we saw some stuffed marmots in the museum at the col later – so you can see what the photographer missed.
The path then followed around the west side of the lake above the dam, undulating in and out of ravines and crossing streams pouring off the mountains. As with all the mountain lakes we’ve seen, the water was turbid with sediment coming down off the mountains. Along the lakeside we were overtaken by two Swiss gentlemen who had also walked up from Martigny and are heading onto Aosta, and we later overtook them resting. They passed us again later, so we had several good chats with them during the day.
At the top end of the lake what had looked like possible fish farming from a distance turned out to be banks of photovoltaic cells floating on pontoons. Far better practice than covering productive arable land with them, as we’re doing in the UK.
The wild flowers were abundant and beautiful throughout the day, in lower pastures and on the higher ground above the tree line. The butterflies liked the flowers too, and we saw several that were different from those we’d seen previously. Unfortunately, like the marmots, they were too quick for the photographer.
Above the lake we kept hoping and expecting to get a glimpse of the col around each corner. Tantalisingly, however, it was only within the very last thirty minutes that we could actually see it. We did get a good look back at the glacier we’d seen from lower down the valley though, sparkling in the sun on top of Mont Velan, towering far above us to the east.
We were intrigued by several well made sections of the path and wondered whether their origins might be Roman or Napoleonic. Both brought armies through here and made themselves very unpopular with the locals by devastating the countryside to feed their armies and leaving the local population starving for several years afterwards. On the other hand both the Romans and Napoleon improved the infrastructure so as to maintain the security of the pass, a key strategic and trading route.
The final section up to the col was the steepest of the day, but with the col in sight we just kept plugging away.
It isn’t until you’re right on the col that you can see the huge buildings of the Hospice. Hard to imagine that in winter the snow is stacked deep against these large buildings. The title of Hospice refers in this case to a place of refuge for pilgrims and other travellers, rather than our present English usage as a home for the terminally ill. The Hospice de St Bernard was first established by St Bernard (of Aosta) in the eleventh century, Since then it has been run by Canons Regular. Today the eastern building contains the accommodation for the canons, the chapel and dormitories for visitors. The western building contains an hotellerie, where we stayed.
Just beyond the col is the lake and Italy, where we’ll be heading tomorrow.
Of course a visit to the Col du Grand Saint Bernard wouldn’t be complete without checking out the St Bernards, and so we did the tourist thing as we had arrived in good time. We were disappointed to find that the dogs were completely unresponsive to humans, but perhaps they’re too used to being gawped at all day and bored by visitors. We hope they also get some exercise and stimulation at other times.
There is also an interesting museum about the history of the Hospice and the role the dogs have played in mountain rescues, particularly in winter when they’re reputed to be very good at finding people buried in snow. There is an ongoing breeding programme to continue the line of the first dog, Barry, who came to live with the monks in 1800.
Inside the hospice there is a surprisingly large chapel with a striking painted ceiling and richly carved choir stalls. It appears to have been well supported historically as the treasury has some very beautiful and priceless items in it, including old illuminated manuscripts and other beautifully crafted objects which were given to the monks over the centuries.
We had hoped to attend a service in the chapel but, having arrived for the appointed time, nothing happened so we gave up and went to supper.
In many ways this was the best day of our pilgrimage so far. Spectacular views up and down the valley, all in sunshine with a pleasant breeze blowing up the valley. Beautiful wild flowers everywhere, and lots of pretty butterflies enjoying them. The horizontal distance we covered was relatively short at about 12 kilometres – most days we’ve been walking 18-25 kilometres – and the vertical height gained proved not to be as arduous as we had anticipated. All in all, an excellent day – one of the best so far!
CdGSB was a balmy 14 degrees – a tad cooler than Norfolk, we’ve no doubt. Yes, downhill from there, but dropping in two days what we’d climbed in four was tough on the calves and knees. Thank goodness for lekkie poles!
Good to see you are keeping on, keeping on! Still Italy next and it’s all downhill from now ( mostly ), and hopefully it won’t be too warm, or even hot. That 3d model just shows how easy it ought to be, as most of us could easily do that in a morning, rather than faff about with hundreds of kilometres of walking. We’ll see you when you get home. Keep safe.
Chris