Tour Du Mont Blanc - Day 3

Friday, 5 July 2019

Day 3 started with a 7am wake-up call from a flock of sheep as they were hearded past our window through a town bottleneck. Some of them were wearing sheep-bells so it was quite the racket!

    

After breakfast downstairs, I went to buy our lunch supplies from the only shop in town - the goat's cheese shop.  Each day of the hike I carried our 2 baguettes and Jon carried the cheese and ham for lunch.  This strategy suited us really well as a) it was cheap and b) we didn't need to rely on coming across a Refuge or cafe along the way. At the goat shop in Les Chapieux I bought a large thing of freshly made goats cheese for about $5 which was a huge bargain and so delicious.  It turns out my bag is perfectly suited to baguette transport!

   

Then we set off up the hill.  The profile of the days' walk was much the same as day 2, only this time the Col would be in Italy!  First we had to trek up the valley - while lesser hikers whizzed past us in taxis to get higher up the valley before hiking.  After an hour or so they joined us on the trail and we promptly left them in our dust.  We also caught up to the sheep, so take that you noisy fleece wearing ovines!

  

  

After about 5 ks it started to get pretty steep. We had occasional switchbacks to make things easier. And occasional rest stops.

 

 

Three hours from starting we reached Italy, and the Col de la Seigne. I took this photo in Italy, while the rest of the family is in France:

 

And here we all are in Italy. This was the first time I had worn a jacket since we arrived in Europe.

 

Then it was down down down to the bus stop and the bus which would take us the 25 minutes in to Courmayeur.  This is a common option for TMB hikers as the overnight stop at Refuge Elisabetta (near the Col) is slightly too short a day for many people (13km), but to reach Courmayeur is a long 28 k. Our day ended up being about 15k of walking which was perfect.

  

We stopped for our delicious baguettes before the final 5k of descent. 

  

  

    

 

 To celebrate arriving in Italy we ate (well we partially ate) these table sized Italian pizzas. Yum. 

Then we watched the soccer semi final from the comfort of the giant hotel bed. (The hotel was conveniently in Courmayeur and not somewhere else).

 

Whilst we still had a bit left to go to get back to Les Houches in France I was very sad that we had finished the main part of our TMB hike. It was absolutely amazing and fantastic and the weather was great. I'd like to do the rest of it sometime - ideally before my knees become old and creaky as it was a pretty tough up and down walk for anyone with dodgy knees.

2017List
Euro Day 54 - Not a rest day Friday, 16 August 2019
Euro Day 52 & 53 Thursday, 15 August 2019
Euro Day 51 - Drammen & WOC Tuesday, 13 August 2019
Euro Day 50 - Hello Norway! Monday, 12 August 2019
Euro Day 49 - SOW Day 6 Sunday, 11 August 2019
Euro Day 48 - SOW Day 5 Saturday, 10 August 2019
Guest Blog: Today's tip for aspiring young uncles Friday, 9 August 2019
Euro Day 47 - SOW Day 4 Friday, 9 August 2019
Euro Day 46 - SOW Rest(ish) Day Thursday, 8 August 2019
Guest blog by Paul the favourite uncle Thursday, 8 August 2019
Euro Day 45 - SOW Day 3 Wednesday, 7 August 2019
Euro Day 44 - SOW Day 2 Tuesday, 6 August 2019
Euro Day 43 - SOW Day 1 Monday, 5 August 2019
Euro Day 42 - Switzerland to France to Switzerland to France.. Sunday, 4 August 2019
Euro Day 41 - Sweden to Switzerland Sunday, 4 August 2019
Euro Day 40 - Island Idle - Part 2 Friday, 2 August 2019
Euro Day 39 - Island Idle - Part 1 Thursday, 1 August 2019
Euro Day 38 - If it's easy, it's not worth doing Wednesday, 31 July 2019
Euro Day 37 - What Next? Wednesday, 31 July 2019
Euro Day 36 - Back into the forest Monday, 29 July 2019
Euro Day 35 - O-Ringen - Race Day 3 Sunday, 28 July 2019
Euro Day 34 - O-Ringen, Race Day 2 Saturday, 27 July 2019
Euro Day 33 - O-Ringen - Race Day 1 Friday, 26 July 2019
Euro Day 32 - O-Ringen Thursday, 25 July 2019
Euro Day 31 - Hello Stockholm! Wednesday, 24 July 2019
End of Part 1 Wednesday, 24 July 2019
Euro Day 30 - Salzburg! Tuesday, 23 July 2019
Euro Day 29 - Hello Austria! Tuesday, 23 July 2019
Euro Day 28 - Even more Bohinj Sunday, 21 July 2019
Euro Day 27 - More Bohinj! Saturday, 20 July 2019
Euro Day 26 - Bohinj Friday, 19 July 2019
Euro Day 25 - Bled Thursday, 18 July 2019
Euro Day 24 - Hello Slovenia! Wednesday, 17 July 2019
Euro Day 23 - Plitvice Lakes National Park Tuesday, 16 July 2019
Euro Day 22 - Hello Croatia! Monday, 15 July 2019
Euro Day 21 - Dolomites to Trieste Monday, 15 July 2019
Euro Day 20 - Dolomites 3 Day - Day 2 Saturday, 13 July 2019
Euro Day 19 - Dolomites 3 Day - Day 1 Thursday, 11 July 2019
Euro Day 18 - Venice to Predazza, Sea to Mountains Thursday, 11 July 2019
Euro Day 16 & 17 - Part 2 - Venice Wednesday, 10 July 2019
Euro Day 16 - Part 1 - O-Nerding in Venice Tuesday, 9 July 2019
Euro Day 16 - Thunder and Lightning in Venice Tuesday, 9 July 2019
Euro Day 15 - Thunder and Lightning in Florence Monday, 8 July 2019
Euro Day 14 - Pisa and San Gimignano Sunday, 7 July 2019
Euro Day 13 - Cinque Terre Saturday, 6 July 2019
Euro Day 12 - Transition Day Friday, 5 July 2019
Tour Du Mont Blanc - Day 4 Friday, 5 July 2019
Tour Du Mont Blanc - Day 3 Friday, 5 July 2019
Tour Du Mont Blanc - Day 2 Friday, 5 July 2019
Tour Du Mont Blanc - Day 1 Thursday, 4 July 2019
Euro Day 7 - Annecy to Les Houches Sunday, 30 June 2019
Euro Day 6 - From St Etienne to Annecy Saturday, 29 June 2019
Euro Day 5 - Heading towards Lyon Friday, 28 June 2019
Euro Day 4 - Castles Castles Castles Thursday, 27 June 2019
Euro Day 3 - Goodbye Paris hello Loire Valley Wednesday, 26 June 2019
Euro Day 2 - Sore Feet! Tuesday, 25 June 2019
Euro Day 1 - Paris - so French!! Monday, 24 June 2019