GR5 Stage 1 from St Gingolph to Chamonix

GR5

Stage 1 from St Gingolph (Geneva) to Chamonix July 2013

 Friday 19^th July

 We packed our rucksacks and put them in the big black luggage bag which we would then empty when we arrived at Geneva and leave at the left luggage before setting off for our walk. At the last minute RB decided to unzip his trouser legs and put the bottoms in there too. We stopped off at Ormskirk on the way to Liverpool to buy a battery for Richard’s Suunto watch.  Got to the airport in plenty of time and parked up (Row 13). We walked to the airport and RB realised he had left his glasses in the car so he had to walk back to the car park. It was a very hot day and it took him ages. I thought he had got lost.

 Eventually he returned with the glasses.

We handed our big black luggage bag in and went through the various controls. I was frisked! The flight was uneventful and we landed in Geneva on time in red hot sunshine.

 

 

It was difficult to find our way to the left luggage at the railway station but we did eventually. So, with big black bag deposited safely and rucksacks on our backs we were ready to head for St Gingolph, which is a small town on the other side of Lake Geneva where we would stay the night before starting our walk to Chamonix.

 

The GR5 is a walk from Geneva to Nice in the south of France. It can be completed in 21 days. The first stage of the walk, (6 of 7 days) from Geneva to Chamonix involves walking along valley bottoms and up and over mountain passes every day.

 

 The heavens opened, there was crashing and banging with a thunderstorm almost overhead. Luckily we were getting on the train which took us round the lake, through Montreaux to a little place called Aigle. The train journey was lovely with views across the lake with mountains in the distance. At Aigle the weather had improved and we hopped on a bus for the final short journey to St Gingolph. The TIC at St Gingolph was closed so we just walked along the main street to a hotel “The National”. Madame showed us to the room which had diner/kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and views across Lac Leman. It was wonderful. The sky darkened and we saw lightening and heard thunder in the distance so we got a shift on and went to the nearest restaurant.

  

 

  

We got soaked, as the storm arrived sooner than we expected, but we soon dried out in the restaurant. It was at this point that we realised that the bottoms to Richard’s trousers were still in the big black luggage bag at Geneva railway station. Oh, well, no long trousers for him on this holiday! We had a lovely meal as the rain bounced off the pavement outside and the wind blew in across the lake in front of us. After we had eaten I went to the loo in the restaurant and when I returned to the table RB was nowhere to be seen. I sat down and waited, and waited. Eventually he appeared – he had been waiting near the wrong door and so missed me coming out! We were dry and the rain had stopped. We walked the 500m back to the hotel at 10.15pm.

 

Saturday 20^th July

We had a lovely breakfast in the conservatory overlooking the lake. At 8.45 we set off walking up the road. It was another very hot day and we had to walk to La Chapelle d’Abondance via Novel, Col de Bise and Chalet de Bise. The rain had dried from the road and the paths.

 

 

 

 

The way was uphill from the road to a track and then on to the little hamlet of Novel (3,115’). We thought the guide book said that we could get food in Novel, but it was a small hamlet and no shops. We had been mistaken.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We followed the GR5 way markers until we reached a sign that said “Nice 21 jours”.

 

  

We weren’t going to Nice! In a while we came to a water trough and refilled our water bottles. Within a minute I realised that we were being savaged by the dreaded cleggs. We ran up the road to escape them. I’ve never been bitten by anything in France before.

 

 

As we climbed up through fields and woods we got higher and higher.

 

 

 

 

There was just the two of us for quite some time.

 

 

 Then we passed an old couple who were just walking for a couple of days.

 

 

 

There were lots of beautiful wild flowers, including orchids, very pretty. At one point I saw something shimmering on the ground. It was the size of a dinner plate and on closer inspection I saw it was lots of those very small blue butterflies. Their wings were closed but just moving slightly, so as a whole they made the ground look as if it were shimmering.

They flew off in all directions when we tried to get closer to take a photo.

There must have been over 50. 

 

 

 

 

From where we were we could see Lac Leman way below in the distance behind us. We had not waited for the shops to open in St Gingolph so had no food and it was so hot that the water was getting low.

 

 

 

 

 

As we rounded a corner a couple of chalets came into view and there was a water trough outside one and a man was pottering about. I just pointed at the trough and said (in my best French), Puis-je? He nodded, so I filled our water bottles, said merci, and carried on up further towards the Col de Bise (6,283’). It was a long walk to the top.

 

 

 

There were a few people already up there. There was a small patch of snow left from the winter. What a view, looking back we could see Lac Leman  (Lake Geneva) in the distance ....

 

 

... and then looking down to where we had to go next.

 

 

 

The sun was beating down and we were starting to feel hungry. It had taken us about 4.5 hours. The Chalet de Bise (4,941’) was way down in the valley bottom hidden from view. We started down the very steep path. It felt hard with rucksacks on.

 

   

 

As we eventually drew near to the chalet I walked on ahead and got 2 oranginas and took them a short way back to RB. We then went inside the chalet and had an omelette each. They did taste good. That was about 2.30pm and we weren’t staying there – we had another col to climb out to before dropping down to the small town of La Chapelle d’Abondance (3,350’). We looked back to see where we had come down from the Col. 

 

 

 

The Chalet de Bise together with the Refuge de Bise. The Refuge is unmanned and so without food we could not stay.

 

 

My socks were feeling very damp (sweaty) so I changed them for some fresh ones and we were ready to set off again. Outside the chalet were lots of goats. It was so hot they were trying to get shade by lying under cars that had driven up to the popular picnic spot. We refilled our water bottles and off we went up the next big hill!

 

We walked steadily but slowly.

At the top there were more magnificent views looking back and then ahead of us.

 

 

 

 

We dropped down through alpine pastures.

 

 

 

 

 

 Looking back at the col. 

 

 

 

We were pleased to reach the outskirts of Chapelle d’Abondance. We had to look for accommodation and there was a hotel, but I suggested we walk further into the town rather than stopping at the first hotel we came to, so that we could make a good start the following morning. We got to the main street and asked at a hotel if they had a room. No, they were full so I asked if Madame would ring round for us which she kindly did. The only hotel with a vacancy was the first one we had passed so it was back up the hill (only about 800m).

 

Back at the first hotel we were given a room on the top floor, no lift! While we were catching our breath RB noticed that he had lost his Buff from his rucksack chest strap. He went downstairs to see if it was in the lobby, but it wasn’t. I said I would go back to the hotel in the town and ask if it had been handed in. I put my boots back on and jogged down the hill. Much easier with no rucksack on. There it was on the reception desk. Madame said she had run after us, but we had gone. I thanked her and walked back up the hill. I was really tired.

We would eat at 7.30pm at the hotel. We were hungry and ordered tartiflette for 2. Madame said it would be 20 minutes. Fine. It was over 45 minutes. I was starving but it was worth waiting for. Followed by crème caramel for me and ice cream for RB. Did some washing and ready for bed at 9.30pm.

We had walked 11 miles and total ascent of 6,135’. Total descent 4,020’. It had seemed a lot further in the blisteringly hot sun.

 Sunday 21 July

Woke up at 6.30 and packed our stuff before going to breakfast at 8am. Clegg bites just begging to be scratched uggh!  Really good breakfast so we took enough for lunch too. 

We left the hotel at 9am. Today we are heading for Refuge du Chesery. A refuge is a place where you can sleep usually in dormitories (bunk style beds) and you can get a meal. They range from luxury to very basic. Some have no hot water and most you have to pay to use the showers. Most are situated way up in the mountains and have to have their provisions delivered by helicopter so are not particularly cheap.  It was hot.

  

We walked along the valley bottom turning right at the metal cow to walk along the river.

 

 

 

We turned up a track through the woods. Up and up and more up!

We past this cascade on the way.

 

These were like the little blue butterflies that we had seen earlier on the journey.

 

 

 

 

Eventually we left the woods for open pasture.

Lots of flowers, including gentians, butterflies and a few lizards.

 

 

Near the col there was a patch of frozen snow to cross. I was very nervous as a fall on that and who knows where I would have ended up. I was glad I had brought my walking poles and they came in handy for steadying myself across.

 

Another 20 m and we were on the top of Col de Bassachaux.

 

The views of the Alps were magnificent. I don’t remember a lot about this day except that it was an awfully long day in very hot conditions. From the top we started to drop down the other side. It was not always obvious which path to take. However we didn’t go wrong so were soon going up another hillside where I saw a swallowtail butterfly.

 

 The path continued up and I stopped at a buvette to fill the water bottles again. We were headed to the Refuge du Chesery for the night, but we hadn’t booked so needed to get a move on so to be there before dinner if we were going to eat that night! We had to make a stop on the path as a herdswoman was bringing her cows down to be milked. They came past with the huge bells round their necks. What a racket! It was still very hot and we were starting to flag. 

 

This is one of the signs that shows us we are on the right path. 

 

 We reached the top and in the distance we could see the Refuge nestled into the hillside with the Swiss flag flying high above it. That was a wonderful sight for two tired travellers.

 

I got there at 6.15pm in time for dinner at 7pm. There were about 8 people already there. It was a very small refuge in the middle of nowhere.  I booked us in with my very poor french and left my rucksack there while I went back to see if RB was ok. He was having trouble with his breathing on and off and I had been bitten on my shoulder by one of the cleggs earlier and the weight of my rucksack had compounded it. It was now very sore and a bit swollen. What a sorry pair?

 

 

Inside the Refuge.

 

The dormitory was very small with only that very small window with no glass, just wire netting. At night you just slid a piece of wood across the hole to keep the light and cold out. At this altitude it could be very cold even in summer.

 

 

The view from the back of the Refuge.

 

Richard outside the front of the Refuge.

 

 

We were shown to the small dormitory of 12 beds. At 6.55pm a girl arrived at the Refuge. Luckily she had booked. She was Finnish and full of interesting talk. She was aiming to walk all the way to Nice. After a good meal she went for a swim in the nearby Lac Vert. It must have been freezing at that altitude (6,470’). There was also a Frenchman called Gerard who was hoping to get to Chamonix, so we may see him again. We got a good night’s sleep but lots of crampy moments in my calves. This was a lovely refuge that appeared to be in the middle of nowhere, however in the morning, I noticed there was a 4x4 outside, so maybe not so remote as one would think!

 

13 miles today, ascent 4,905’, descent 1,790’.

Monday 22 July

We were up early for breakfast at 7am. Away by 7.30am. The destination for today’s walk is the small town of Samoens.

 

A short hard up hill to the col ...

 

 

Lac Vert

 

 Looking back to Refuge du Chesery with Lac Vert bottom right.

You can just make out the red roof.

 

Richard

 

 

 ... followed by a long way down.

 

  A remote farmstead.

 

  More pretty gentians, smaller than the first ones we saw.

 

  We walked along the side of the mountain on a good track.

 

  The track turned right and the path took us up towards the border.

 

Very hot all the way then along for a bit before more up again. A group of 30 french walkers caught up with us so it was noisy up to the Col de Cou(x) which is the Swiss/French border.

 

 

RB was determined not to stop on the way up and was absolutely jiggered by the time we got to the top. It took him about 10 minutes to recover. There was a concrete building that had been used by border guards at one time but there was nobody checking us today. We sat down to recover and the group of french walkers turned around and went down the way they had come up.

 

  The view from the border post and Richard recovering from the long slog up to it.

 

 Me crossing the border!

 

 

We started down the other side of the col to a little place called Chardonniere, where we would stop at a buvette and have omelettes for lunch.

 

 A good path led us down the mountain. It was still very hot.

 

 

We did a slight detour on a rather steep path to Chardonnaire to have our lunch. After a relaxing hour we walked across and up the valley towards Col de la Golese.

 

 

 

 The weather behind us was changing for the worse.

 

The heavens opened, thunder and lightening. We put our waterproofs on sharpishly.

A party of french schoolchildren were making their way up to the col too. 

Rather than attempt to go down the other side of the col when there could be more bad weather I suggested we stay at the Refuge de la Golese, which was just a few hundred metres from the top of the col.

 

 

We were allocated a very nice private room and got settled in.

 

 

When we came downstairs we saw the schoolchildren had also come in and they were staying the night too. They were just youngsters 8 – 11 year olds. Gerard, the french chap had made it and there was a very nice american lad who was doing a different walk from us. So the conversation at times was hard (language barrier), but very interesting. It was mid afternoon and was nice to have an early finish to the day although we would have to try and make up some miles tomorrow.

Before tea I went for a short walk without my rucksack, to see if I could see where we would be heading the next day. It looked a very long way down to the town of Samoens.

 

Our room was on the brochure for the refuge.

 

 Refuge de Golese.

 

We had dinner at 7pm. Soup, very rare meat, Dauphinoise potatoes, cheese, followed by crème caramel. Very good. Bed at 8.30pm. It was a lovely room with a good view in the morning.

 

We were supposed to do 15.5 miles today. Probably did about 12 miles. We will have to catch up tomorrow. Total ascent today 2,200. Descent estimated about 4,000’

 

Tuesday 23 July

Breakfast at 7am. Packed up and gone by 7.40am. We were aiming to get beyond Samoens to the village of Sixt today.

 

 Down a gravel track and it soon got quite a bit steeper. Part way down RB missed his footing and fell. He rolled but stopped with his good hand. Big chunk of skin had been scraped back on the gravel. It was dirty and looked very sore – about the size of a 2p piece. I got the first aid kit out of his rucksack and we managed to wash the dirt out. RB insisted I cut off the loose flap of skin, so I did and we bandaged it up. In the heat we were worried about infection. We still had a lot more gravel path to go down. 

 

As we approached the outskirts of Samoens we saw a sign that indicated we should turn right to reach Samoens in 30 mins. We followed the path and it turned up through some woodland, very steep, and hard for RB with his one hand bandaged and his other still plastered from his operation.

We were relieved to get to the town and find a Pharmacy. We bought some more bandages, plasters and antiseptic spray. We filled our water bottles and went to the TIC to book a bed for the night in/near a place called Sixt.

Interesting detail to the gutter on a house in Samoens.

 

 More lovely butterflies.

 

We bought food for lunch and the next day. We soon picked up the path along by the river. It was hot, but lovely to be on the level for a while. We had our lunch by the river and a French man came by. He had lost his hat. On parting he said “It’s a boy”. So I guess that is the Royal baby.

 It seems when we are on holiday the French can’t wait to tell us the English news. It was when we were in a remote part of the Pyrenees that an old chap told us “Lady Di est mort”. We hadn’t a clue what he had said until later that day when we got back to the campsite.  

We didn’t realise that neither of us had made a note of the gite that Julie at the TIC had booked us into! I wasn’t too concerned as I thought we would easily find it as I had thought we were staying somewhere fairly remote and that it would be the only gite there. (Wrong!). More of that later.

 

 

 We carried on walking across a meadow and then turning up through a wood to

 Gorges des Tines.

 

 

It was a little cooler in the shade of the trees. There was no water in the gorge and we had to climb three metal ladders to get up it and then cables to hold on to near the top. Richard managed ok.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The path continued through the woods until we came to a sign that didn’t have our destination on it, so we guessed at one of the paths, (wrongly), and went out of our way by 15 minutes. So back on right path led us to the village of Sixt.

 

 

 More interesting butterflies. We filled our water bottles and wandered up through the village looking for the gite and in the end RB telephoned the TIC who told us where to go!

Half a mile later we found the gite at 3.30pm in the village of Salvagny. The gite opened at 5pm so we made ourselves comfortable on the porch of the closed ski station. The heavens opened, thunder again. We were glad we were under the porch.

 

 

 At 5pm the rain had stopped and we booked into the double room. We asked Monsieur if he would ring the Chalets d’Anterne (now known as Alfred Wills Refuge) to book us in for the following night. They were already full so he booked us into the next refuge along the route, Refuge Moede Anterne. It would be a long day. The evening meal was at 7.30pm so we had time to wash and sort our gear out. RB’s hand looks awful but he says it is fine! There are a few clouds around but it is brightening up.

A good meal of salad, bread, sausages and pasta. A choice of fresh fruit for pudding. Turned in about 8.30-9pm. Nice quiet night except more thunder at 2.30am.

 

We had managed to make up a little ground today. We had walked about 18 miles (guestimate). Ascent of 5,950’ and descent of over 6,000’.

 

Wednesday 24 July 

Awoke about 6pm. Must have been raining in night. Everywhere is damp.

Breakfast at 7.30am. Today we have to get to Refuge Moede Anterne for the night.

After breakfast we re-traced our steps to the river bank and walked upstream.

 

 

  

 

 It was still quite hot. We made good progress and crossed the river at a bridge.

 

 

The road zigzagged up the wooded hillside with shortcuts for walkers.

We were soon up at Cascade du Rouget.

 

 

The waterfall came down the mountain and went under the road to continue on the other side. The spray from it was wonderfully cooling, just what we needed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We continued up the hillside until we reached a nature reserve. And followed a track uphill through the trees and then through scrub. Another amazing waterfall.

 

 

 

 The path turned and struck up the side of this immense valley. It was steep at times and the views were amazing of craggy outcrops and massive mountains all around. Not much wildlife though.

 

 

The place we had stayed at the night before looked tiny from up here.

 

 

 

By lunchtime we had reached Collett d’Anterne (5,892’)(a small col).

There was an alpine meadow and we had our lunch on a grassy knoll near to the cross.

 

 

 

Views from the col.

 

 

 There were all sorts of wild flowers, including wild chives. We had ham, bread, taboulie, plums, apricots, lovely. Saw a swallow tail and more butterflies and fritillaries.

 

 

We are heading for the snow fields on the left hand side of the horizon, Col d'Anterne.

 

Ahead of us we could see patches of snow on Mont Anterne. We would have to go through some of them to reach the col, before dropping down to the Refuge. What a long way.

 

 

 

 After lunch it was very pleasant in open alpage littered with big boulders

but a good path led us through.

 

 

We met this girl leading her burro down the mountain.

 

 

We reached Alfred Wills Refuge (5,932’) and stopped for oranginas.

 

What inhospitable, unfriendly staff, so glad we are not staying there tonight.

We drank our drinks and left.

 

 

Looking back to Alfred Wills Refuge.

 

 

Now the marmots are everywhere, with their warning whistles.

We start climbing up out of this upland valley.

 

 

  The views back are stunning

.

 

And across the valley.

 

 

Onwards and upwards.

 

 

 

 

 

Over the top we start to see the marmots much closer.

 

 

 

 The marmots don’t seem to be so bothered about warning whistles and just trundle away from us if we get too close. 

 

Marmot marking his territory at the GR5 waymark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We skirt round the edge of Lac d’Anterne (6,760’).

This is the lake that disappears down a sink hole at one end,

but unfortunately we don’t have the time or energy to go and have a look.

The ground was a bit waterlogged here.

 

 

The river at the top end of the lake is full of water and no bridge. We managed to get across without getting our feet wet. Lovely gentians here.

 

 

 Looking back to Lac d'Anterne.

 

  

We continue to climb up to the col across some frozen snow. I use my poles again, but I can step in the prints of others here so it is not so bad. We have only used our poles for crossing snow on this trip. In previous years we have been more reliant on them for the steep descents.

 

Once at the top of the Col d’Anterne (7,405’), wow what a view.

You can see Mont Blanc just peeping its head through fluffy clouds and the back of Le Brevent where we will be tomorrow afternoon.

 

 

 

 

The Refuge is still some way below us on the path. I had put my waterproof jacket on when rain threatened, but I really needn’t have bothered. It was cooler up here so I took my waterproof off and put my thin jumper on for the descent to the refuge.

 

  

 

 This refuge is accessible by 4x4 and is more like a hotel. We were still high in the mountains with views all round. Lots of people here – all nationalities.

 

 

We really wanted to stay at Bellachat Refuge tomorrow night but it is fully booked so will probably drop down into Chamonix from the Le Brevant. Bellachat is a very small refuge that sits high on the mountainside looking across to Mont Blanc. It is on the GR5 and TMB trails so does get booked up quickly.

We are still being plagued by the original clegg bites. RB’s hand is healing well.

 

We had a choice of menus tonight and we chose fondue. What a laugh watching RB dropping his bread in the melted cheese. By 8.30pm we were ready for bed. We are in a dormitory of 12 beds. In the night I heard RB snoring so gave him a dig in the ribs. He turned over and the snoring continued. Then I realised it was the chap on the other side of RB that was making the noise. There were 12 of us in the room and the only one who got a good night’s sleep was Mr Snorey!

 

Total of about 13 miles, ascent of 5,905’ and descent of 1,655’. 

Thursday 25 July 

We ate a hearty breakfast of cornflakes, bread, butter & jam and

 were packed and away for 7am.

 

 

 Looking back to where we had dropped down last night ...

 

 ... and then forward to the view of Mont Blanc in the distance.

 

 It was a little cooler at first and the walk was downhill to start.

Some clouds on high peaks, but the sun rose and the clouds cleared a bit. We crossed the Pont d’Arleve and from the valley bottom we started the climb to Le Brevent (8,284’). We walked up through the woods and across the grassy slopes, strewn with boulders.

It was a good path.

 

We met two Ultra runners who must have come from the Le Brevent. It was hot and hard. RB was struggling with his breathing for some of the time. More wild chives, azaleas (the little wild pink ones), more orchids and butterflies.

 I think the French call azaleas rhododendrons.

 

We climbed for most of the morning.

 Looking back down we could see the path zigzagging far below us ...

 

 

 ... and across the valley the Refuge was no more than a speck on the hillside.

 

 Then the path steepened, more rocky terrain and we were very high. The sun was on us and it was hot. We made it to the col before we met anyone coming down. A man had camped just below the col (7,769’) and was sitting outside his tent having a late breakfast. In good weather what a great place to spend the night.  He looked like a real mountain man!

 

We kept going until we were on the back of Le Brevent and sat down to have some early lunch at 11.15am. We had snow to cross and ladders to climb to reach the top so it was important that we were fuelled up for it. We had not seen a chamois or bouquetin on this journey. Last time we saw chamois & bouquetin on Le Brevent. The snow was easier to cross than I had anticipated, but a girl in front of us fell. She got up and when I got to her I asked if she was ok and she just said it was very cold!

 

 

 

 

 

Looking back to Refuge Anterne 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We climbed up the ladder and a short walk took us up to the cable car station. 

 

 

 

 

 Fabulous views of Mont Blanc and Aguille du Midi in front of us. Within minutes the view was back in the clouds. We were so lucky. Lots of people come up, (some in the most inappropriate footwear you are likely to see at the top of a mountain) on the cable car from Chamonix and wander about taking photos. It was noon and it was considerably cooler on top. We decided to get the cable car down into Plan Praz and on to Chamonix, as we felt we had done enough.

 

So ended our terrific journey from Geneva to Chamonix. It had been long and hot, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Now we could relax and spend some time in the wonderful Chamonix valley.

 

The cable car was free. In the valley bottom (Chamonix town) it was unbearably hot. We went straight to the TIC to arrange B & B. The whole valley was just about booked up. We managed to get one night at Le Cremerie Balmat and 7 nights at La Prairie. They were a 40 minute walk from the town but we didn’t mind.  

 

Nothing odd there, except that La Prairie was the hotel that Gran had taken us to for breakfast in 1991 when we camped at Les Dru Campsite with the children. Back then the hotel was very quaint and full of history of the Alps. We walked to La Prairie to introduce ourselves to Madame and found it hadn’t changed in all those years. The Madame had died and her daughter Geneveve Lochet was now running the place in the same traditional style.

The walk was 13 miles today, but we cut it short by taking the cable car, although we probably did about that distance in total by going to the accommodation and back into town and back again! Ascent 3,280’. Descent would have been 6,350’ but of course we didn’t walk down into Chamonix from Le Brevent so quite a bit less than that.

 

If you've enjoyed reading this and are interested in walking part or all of the GR5 treat yourself to the guide book The GR5 Trail from Cicerone Press by Paddy Dillon.