Sunday, July 17, 2022
Tour du Mont Blanc – Day 7
Hotel Edelweiss, La Fouly, CH to Hotel Mont Lac, Champex- Lac, CH
Starting elevation: 1,600 m
Ending elevation: 1,466 m
Elevation gain: 523 m
Elevation loss: 657 m
Distance: 9.1 miles
There are so many possible titles for today, all hilarious.
We started the day with a breakfast buffet in La Fouly. Yogurt, muesli, bread and rolls, a variety of meats and cheeses, juices, coffee, and an assortment of jams, honey and toppings for yogurt.
We have a 9 mile day today, primarily downhill, except for the end, of course when we are hot and tired, so we ambled a little more than usual. We don’t have a sack lunch, and there were signs at breakfast that it was strictly prohibited to make a lunch from the breakfast spread.
We put our bags in the luggage room, collected our boots and poles from the boot room, and set off about 8:20. We are lower in elevation now in Switzerland, and on the other side of the mountains, so the views are not of majestic mountains, but instead of adorable Swiss villages.
There was not supposed to be any restaurants until after the 6 mile mark, so we were pleased to stumble across a coffee and crepe stand right on the trail in a grassy area. The woman’s marketing plan was genius. Right on the TMB, and with a few signs indicating coffee and crepes, 3 minutes ahead.
We stopped of course, and all got coffees, Pat got a brownie, and Nathan and I split a TMB crepe. That should tide us over until we find lunch.
The next hour or so was walking the streets in a tiny Swiss village. Nathan promptly fell behind, photographing and admiring the local architecture.
At noon, pretty much on the dot, we found the lunch cafe. Andrew and I both had the tortellini, and Nathan and Pat both had ham and cheese omelets.
After lunch was when the climbing began, and it was quite hot and we expected to be in the sun and walking on tarmac.
Thankfully, the path left the road and we climbed our 437 meters in the shade. Our walk took us past a bunch of wooden, carved animals and even past a rock climbing spot. By 2:30, we were walking in to Champex, with it beautiful alpine lake. We checked into our hotel, and lo and behold, we have wonderful rooms, with enormous American sized bathrooms, and the biggest balcony!
We all gathered on our balcony, for photos overlooking the lake, and discovered the neighbor is sunbathing nude! Andrew had threatened us already to not look over at their balcony because he planned on sunbathing, but there was a stranger in all his glory. Seems to me, that would be the worst place for a sunburn.
Andrew and I were giggling about it as we were taking our photos, and Nathan was oblivious to the whole thing.
Photos done, we all put our swimsuits on and walked down to the lake for a chilly dip.
