Termignon to Refuge de Plan du Lac – Up And Away

Breakfast was French so I boiled 5 eggs and had them instead of croissants. Stocked up on orange juice and coffee we decided to set off with vigour, across the road to another bar that stole our hearts with hot chocolate, whilst we scoured our maps for a plan. The contours were tight in every direction but we had a booking for the only Refuge, high in the mountains, that was still staffed. It was open for another two nights before the staff came down to this village for the winter.

We planned our route, it was uphill all the way. We needed to regain the five thousand feet we so easily gave away last night. Not for thirty pieces of silver, but for the deadliest of the seven sins. Gluttony. Gluttony I tell you! And some of what we had lusted after (another one there) was contained in a carry out container in our rucksacks. We hadn’t finished the two whole magrets de canard and slices of the delicious, bloody duck were wrapped and hidden for later. And they were bloody delicious. Kiss me Hardy, Kismet!!

Whilst we’re on a historical British military success theme this small band of brothers, well uncle and nephew actually, were just about ready. Into the valley of death rode the…… two. But not until after stocking up for the next couple of days in the local supermarket.

Bye wooden ibex.

Bye wooden stag.

We shook off our sloth (another) and shouldered our rucksacks with pride (another), before casting an envious (another) glance at a group of old men who were staying here in the sunshine to quaff coffee and wine. Our destination was through the valley of the shadow of death and our route along the paths of righteousness would spare us from the wrath (another) of God. Hooraaaay!!

And steep it was.

When you have a big climb you mustn’t look upwards when you’re tired. Keep a clear view of the route but just concentrate on your next steps. When it gets steeper then take smaller steps, but try not to take too many rest breaks. Don’t think of the weight of your rucksack. Eventually it becomes part of your body and the pain eases. Breathe deeply to take in more oxygen. Oxygen feeds your brain and blood.

I breathed in air. It came right inside of me, close as you can be, it kissed my blood and the blood kissed me. Thanks Mike.

After a few hours we stopped for water and to finish off the bloody delicious duck. It was even tastier than last night.

We sat by the shrine, loving the sun, food and water.

Then off again.

We try to gather water from streams that don’t have animals (wild or farmed) grazing near them, as cow piss and poo can give you real issues. Fresh from the glaciers water tastes clean and we usually don’t need to boil it or apply purification drops.

The good weather is great for trekkers like us but it is symptomatic of the affects of global warming on weather patterns and on the rapidly reducing glaciers. Just three small ones left on this north east facing slope.

Having climbed our restorative five thousand feet, and broken the final brow of the hill , we dropped down to our Refuge for the night. And it was great. We weren’t far from the Refuge where we spent our first night surrounded by students from Grenoble University. It felt like weeks ago. In the last five days we had completed the high altitude Tour des Glaciers de la Vanoise.

More beer, wine and good food in the communal dining room, cooked and served by the staff, was very welcome indeed. Our room was a small four bedded affair and we were sharing with one other bloke. My cold tired me and the food and wine had put me in a mood for sleep so I retired early. Danny played scrabble with some French girls and listened to the staff playing guitars and singing French songs, whilst drinking a drop more beer.

Another great day.

Night night.