Tag: mountains

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Tour du Mont Blanc Day Nine – Champex to Trient

When we step outside to boot up for day nine of our Tour du Mont Blanc there are ominous dark clouds drifting through the valley. A blanket of grey covers the mountain tops and mist hangs ethereally around the pines surrounding Auberge Gîte Bon Abri. Just as we are about to start walking the heavens open and a torrential downpour sends us for cover under the giant gazebo in the grounds of the Auberge. It’s going to be one of those days.

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A walk up Puig del Vilar, Mallorca

I am back for a second attempt at walking up Puig del Vilar. My first, halfhearted and unprepared effort was abandoned after having my legs scratched by thorn bushes and my hands scraped on the serrated, sandpaper like limestone that forms the Serra de Tramuntana mountain range in Mallorca. Thrust up from the seabed by the collision of Africa 170 million years ago and never ground smooth by any ice age, walking in these rough and rugged hills can be unforgiving, especially in the blazing sunshine.

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Tour du Mont Blanc Day Eight – La Fouly to Champex

For the last week we’ve been in the heart of the mountains. Walking along narrow rugged trails surrounded by snow topped pinnacled peaks with precipitous drops. We’ve gazed in awe at long serrated ridges with sprawling ice blue glaciers creeping down from the heights. It’s been a full on, exciting and immersive mountain experience. The contrast with today’s walk from La Fouly to Champex is stark, the mountains are replaced by meadows and the sound of cow bells replaces the roaring rivers. We will be walking next to the mountains, with glimpses of them but we will not be walking in them.

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A walk up Walla Crag and Bleaberry Fell.

It’s the second day of a settled weather pattern that has brought crisp, calm and freezing weather to Lakeland. There is not a breath of wind and the bright sun shines down from a cloudless azure sky. The air clarity is as clear as crystal. It’s pretty much perfect walking weather and I’m looking forward to my first walk in the Central Fells, a walk up Walla Crag and Bleaberry Fell.

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Tour du Mont Blanc Day Seven – Rifugio Bonatti to La Fouly

Today we will enter the third country on our walk around Mont Blanc. This country is a land of mountains, cuckoo clocks and precision timing, holey cheese, delicious chocolate and secretive bank accounts. And of course the Swiss Army knife, one of which I have in my rucksack. We cross into Switzerland over Grand Col Ferret. At 2532m (8,307ft) the col will also be the highest point we will reach on our walk as we’re following the regular Tour du Mont Blanc route without variants.

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Tour du Mont Blanc Day Six – Courmayeur to Rifugio Bonatti

“The beauty of adventure is to dream of it, to give air to the imagination, then you also try to give substance to your dreams”.
Walter Bonatti

As I climb up the steep rise above Rifugio Bertone, the noonday sun is beating down, my lungs are busting and I am soaked in sweat. All this is forgotten however when I reach the grassy knoll above the Rifugio and am confronted by a sight of sublime magnificence. Across Val Ferret, so close it can almost be touched is the Mount Blanc massif. Once again, I am astounded by the majesty of this huge mountain range of jagged rock and ice. Its scale and beauty is difficult to describe. It is indescribable. And once again, a balcony path stretches ahead of me ensuring that I get to revel in its awesomeness for the rest of the day.

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Cloudbusting in Kentmere

It’s been a while. My summer has been spent elsewhere but the seasons wait for no one and in my absence autumn has arrived. Golden yellow leaves, having enjoyed a brief summer of life are falling to become mulch and then food for leaves waiting to be born. In the cycle of the seasons the land is going to sleep, preparing and protecting itself for the cold dark months ahead. There has been rain, lots of it and the ground is sodden underfoot. Moisture hangs in the air and I can smell the scent of Lakeland on the fresh morning breeze, moss and manure, wood smoke rising from the cottages, comforting and familiar. It’s good to be back.

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Tour du Mont Blanc Day One – Les Houches to Refuge du Fioux

The storm eventually passed over in the early hours leaving behind a dry but overcast morning. Steve slept right through it all, not a care in the world, that’s an Irishman for you. Although it’s dry now, more thunder and lightning are forecast for the afternoon, just as we will be at our high point on the Col de Voza, so there is some urgency to our efforts to get out of Les Houches and on the trail in order to beat the storm.

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Brock Crags from Hartsop Village

From the car park at Hartsop the lush green tree peppered slopes of Brock Crags, my objective for the day rise up blocking any view to the north east. The view up the valley compensates with Gray Crag and Hartsop Dodd, their tops clear of cloud today, looking down from their lofty heights, silent observers of daily life in this small attractive lakeland village. The parking is free but donations are encouraged to support the local primary school. I went to school in a city and as I get my boots on I wonder what it must be like to go to a small rural school, surrounded by sheep and mountains in one of the most beautiful National Parks in the country.

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A Harter Fell Round from Sadgill

It’s the second day of my stay in the little hamlet of Sadgill and I had another silent and restful nights sleep in the van. Yesterday afternoon I walked down Gatescarth pass and this morning I’ll be retracing my steps as I make my way to Harter fell. From there I’ll essentially be walking along the eastern section of the Kentmere horseshoe taking in Kentmere Pike and Shipman Knotts before following the old cart track back to Sadgill.

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