tamsin.moye.me.uk

Marky, Roz, Adie and I walked the Chamonix to Zermatt Walkers’ Haute Route. We started in Champex, having walked the first 3 days of the route from Chamonix as part of the Tour du Mont Blanc a couple of years earlier. This is not the easiest route through the Alps, but an incredibly spectacular one, with high passes to cross most days, steep-sided valleys, amazing views of glaciers and lakes, and the Europaweg to finish off. Whilst away I did online blog updates whenever we had 3G connectivity, which also show our GPS position at the time.

Over 42 days Adie and I walked the Haute Randonnee Pyreneenne from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, taking the highest route through the Pyrenees. We crossed the French / Spanish border numerous times and walked through the ski resorts of northern Andorra. Whilst away I did online blog updates whenever we had 3G connectivity, which also show our GPS position at the time. It’s an awesome, but very challenging route – only for the hardcore.

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With a bit of detouring we walked the rest of the Europaweg with Nancy and
Torgrim down to Zermatt. Maybe not quite the finish we wanted, but not
bad. We caught up with Marky and Roz, and after tracking down a hotel,
dinner, and the grave of Michael Croz in the cemetary, we caught up with
Tom and the Scots (Ross and Brian) for some beers in Grampis bar (with the
spitfire sign), as recommended by (Aussie) Simon.

And that’s it. Back to work on Monday. What an awesome summer though.
Highly recommended.

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(Day 10) After heavy rains and thunderstorms overnight, Marky and Roz
opted for the original (valley) route of the Haute Route, and Adie and I
headed up to the centre of Grachen to pick up the Europaweg. A few kms on
tarmac, and a steep climb through the woods led us to the narrow trail,
secured in places by ropes, handrails and rickety bridges, with periodic
caution signs urging you to move through certain “danger” areas quickly.
We encountered a bunch of goats, a few chamois and a statue of St. Bernard
who helpfully indicated north. Eventually we reached the Europahutte, with
warnings that the onward trail had experienced further rockfalls and was
hence closed again. The best alternative option was a descent towards
Randa in the valley, a taxi part way up then to reclimb up to Taschalp to
regain the trail. Sounds like a plan.

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(Day 7) The mist rolled in while we camped by lac de Moiry and so by
morning visibility was poor. By the time we crossed the barrage it was
full of people fishing (saturday morning) and we climbed up to Col de
Sorebois as mist rolled in and out. It was mostly sunny as we descended to
Sorebois and its cable car station for a beer, then took the steep path
through the woods to Zinal, in good time to find the campsite, pitch up
and head out for dinner.

We took a rest day in Zinal and enjoyed the sun, crepes, beers and got
clothes washed.

(Day 8 ) From Zinal we climbed steeply out of the valley up towards
Forcletta (2874m). Marky and Roz left us at midday for a detour via the
valley rather than the next couple of high passes, planning to meet us in
Grachen tomorrow evening. Adie and I headed over Forcletta and down to
Hotel Schwarzhorn in Gruben for the night, running into the 3 Scottish
students (one of whom is English) who’d raced past us that morning, and
another couple who we’d seen the first few days of our walk, but had taken
a day off in Arolla so just caught us back up. Several beers later…

(Day 9) An early start saw us storm up to the Augstbordpass (2894m) then
down to Jungen for lunchtime beers with our American/Norwegian friends. A
final descent down to St. Niklaus and the post bus up to Grachen caught us
up with Marky and Roz in the campsite to plan for a 2 day walk of the
Europaweg. Apparently an avalanche/land slide on 23rd August rendered the
2nd half (towards Zermatt from the Europahutte) impassible, but recent
news suggests it’s open again. We’ll have to wait and see.