From our itinerary: Climb to Bonatti refuge and traverse high above the spectacular Ferret Valley around Mont de la Saxe to Courmayeur.
We start with a short bus ride to pick up the TMB and from the road (1675m – 5500ft ) climb up to the Bonatti refuge (2025m – 6640ft). Today we follow a beautiful contouring path around Mont de la Saxe to Courmayeur. The views of the south Mont Blanc massif are exceptional as are those of the towering peaks of the 'Grandes Jorasses' and the glaciers which crowd the northern flank of the Val Ferret. In the afternoon we have a long, steep descent to Courmayeur (1230m – 4030m) (superb ice creams!) from where we take a short bus ride into the spectacular Val Veny (1530m – 5020ft). 8 hours walking. 500m – 1640ft up, 900m 4400ft down. Our elevation increase jives with the itinerary and we walked approximately 9.3 miles. There were beautiful views and lovely weather even though showers were predicted and we wore wet gear for a period of the day. The predicted thunderstorms never arrived.
Breakfast at the Hotel Astoria was marvellous again - great croissants and pastry. We also had the option for a capuccino or latte from this cool machine. I took some of the wonderful local meats to use in my lunch sandwich as a break from the usual.
More drama as Peter didn’t get the info about the day (it was posted on a wall and on our WhatsApp group) and didn’t have time for making lunch or breakfast. He was not happy.
We got to the bus stop to start the hike and a woman came running down the trail thinking she missed the bus, but she hadn't. Then she started a discussion with Shaun. We started up the trail and in about 10 minutes we noticed Shawn wasn't with us. Turns out he was still at the bus stop chatting up the woman who thought she missed the bus.
The clouds made the views even more beautiful as we walked along the balcony.
We stopped at a cafe for a coffee or very goopy hot chocolate
We continued on the rolling path and found some horses along the side of the path and, later on, some cows that wanted to use our path while we were on it too:)
We stopped at a cafe at the high point of the hike for a pleasant sit down and lunch. Peter found a very tasty piece of cake for lunch. After lunch we found these wonderful Emu brand chairs - I must get one for Florida!
The hike down reminds me of Yosemite - tall pines which cover the path and smell wonderful.
Here is our rest on our way down the hill. I caught Lisa looking pensive.
We hike down to the main road and walk back into town.
Dinner is back at the pizza place tonight and is similar to the night before. It was really nice not to have to re-pack the last few days - now back to reality.
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