From Bonneval back to Val d’Isere – Finale

I slept in a bed, narrowly avoiding the kitchen floor. Danny slept on the settee underneath his sleeping bag, comfortable and fully dressed.

The beds hadn’t been made, you needed a doctorate in physics to understand the heating and lighting, and the water was cold. But it was ok. A place to sleep in relative comfort.

We were able to cook some of the remaining Go Outdoors sausage and baked beans pack and some pasta to supplement it. A half decent breakfast.

Today was the last putsch and I had every intention of thumbing a lift and letting Danny off the leash so that he could speed ahead and bring the car back to pick me up if my hitchhiking endeavours were fruitless. My cold was still wotten and wubbish and we needed to be back in Bourg St Maurice before 17.00. I have rarely been so defeatist.

We started walking and for the first time it was cloudy and likely to rain.

The Italian cloud may have won the War of the Weathers.

The longer I walked the less I wanted to stop. I’ve been following Danny Poos day after day and it may be painful but it feels good to be in the fresh air climbing mountains. Today was a high climb followed by a long descent. Even with heavy cloud the views were fantastic.

The path wound up the mountain and disappeared over its shoulder. As it did so it narrowed, to the extent that I didn’t fancy following it. Instead I climbed up the mountain to the road and walked along the tarmac until the path joined up to it in less than 200 metres.

Danny appeared up the path and looked a bit spooked. The path had almost disappeared, with a drop down to a torrential stream. It had been replaced by chains in the rock face which he had held on to as he climbed along the route of the path.

Glad I missed it. This is the chained rock face. No wonder he looked spooked! The path is much narrower than it looks and the angle is horrible.

After that the track was straightforward. It wasn’t too steep and it wasn’t too narrow. It didn’t have a massive drop at the side and it didn’t need chains to traverse it. Perfect!

After four hours’ climb we made the top. And it started to rain to welcome us to the other side, almost completely hiding the Chapelle Notre Dame de Toute Prudence.

The road dropped down towards Val d’Isere, taking long, sweeping hairpin bends. Our track ran straight downhill, occasionally cutting through the road. It ran through fabulous autumnal undergrowth. Just fantastic.

And here we were. Well on our way to Val d’Isere, which nestled down below us.

We legged it and arrived at the car, which Danny had left in a free car park, ten minutes before our deadline. It meant that we could stop at a pub on the way back to Bourg St Maurice and rattle down a quickie. In the event we stopped at two pubs and drank slowly. Thinking about a great Alpine trek.

Stopping at a supermarket we raided the seafood counter, and back at Dan’s house we drank wonderful wine from his collection and had a dozen oysters, some giant prawns and moules marinieres, which is now one of my signature dishes. A fitting end to a brilliant adventure.

Night night.