Wild Camping On The Tour du Mont Blanc - Hiking La Peuty to Lac Blanc

It’s been two years since we hiked the Tour du Mont Blanc and over 21 months since we last had the opportunity to spend a night away from our pack of dogs, so it was with great anticipating and much gratitude to our friend Lena that we set of from La Peuty to spend our first night under in canvas in so long. Our plan for the day was to follow the same route as had done during our TMB visit, hiking up and over the Col du Balme to enter France before crossing over the Auguille des Posettes, descending to the Col des Montets and then walking the Grand Balcon Sud route to reach Lac Chesery at 2211 metres altitude, a walk of around 17 kilometres with over 1800 metres of climbing….which is quite a lot when carrying a full overnight pack for the first time in 2 years. Not that we gave it much thought I have to say, although perhaps we should have.

Hiking The Tour du Mont Blanc, GR5 and Haute Route: Our Alpine Adventure

When we set off, in July 2016, to hike for a month through the French and Swiss Alps we had no real plan in mind. In early 2014 we'd been due to get married, leave our jobs and set off on a 2300km honeymoon-hike. It was supposed to be a career break, a relationship boost and a much needed big life reset all rolled into one...and then Dan nearly died. Two years later and we were back and ready to try life in the mountains, living out of rucksacks and sleeping under the stars. This is the adventure that followed.

Alpine Hiking Adventure Day 21 - Lac Chesery and Lac Blanc to Vallorcine

Oh what a beautiful morning.... Followed by a beautiful day. Waking up for the second time at the peaceful and remote Lac Chesery was a real treat as we sat quietly, this time with nowhere to rush off to,  and ate breakfast watching the clouds slowly lift from the awesome peaks and glaciers of the Mont Blanc massif across the valley. Not to mention the fact that during the night Esther had been successfully spotting meteors from the Perseids meteor shower our friend Hayley had tipped us to look out for.

Alpine Hiking Adventure Day 20 - Decisions, Decisions in the Chamonix Valley

Having gone to bed with a decision to make that would drastically change our hiking plans, we woke up and decided not to think about it for a while longer. Instead we decided to take as much advantage as we could of our hotel base, taking an hour to meditate (something we really had missed thru-hiking) and then having a swim and a sauna where I could have sat all morning.....but eventually it was time to leave.

Alpine Hiking Adventure Day 19 - Rest Day In Les Houches

Aaah, a rest day. We felt so pleased this morning that we made the decision yesterday to stay 2 nights in our room in Les Houches and so could wake up knowing we didn't have to relocate ourselves. Plus, with the Tour de Mont Blanc in our legs since the last one and an especially mammoth hike yesterday to take advantage of the good weather we really needed a day off, both physically and mentally. This rest day, just like our other rest over a week ago near Les Contamines, really has been an important part of our longer thru-hiking adventure in terms of sustainability.

Alpine Hiking Adventure TMB/Haute Route Day 18 - Lac Chesery to Les Houches

We slept in a cloud last night and awoke to drizzle tapping on our little tent. Packing up as best we could without venturing outside was a little cramped but we managed, even though the rain decided to stop just as we stepped out to still a very fine view, with the Mont Blanc massif looking moody and dark beneath the hanging clouds. It was still just so quiet and calm at Lac Chesery it was hard to leave.

Alpine Hiking Adventure TMB/Haute Route Day 17 - La Peuty to Lac Chesery

How do you top an awesome day of hiking like yesterday over the Fenetre d'Arpettaz? Well today's epic route is a good option. It was an ambitious plan from the start as we opted to stick 2 days of itinerary from the Cicerone Tour du Mont Blanc guide together into one monster stage.

Alpine Hiking Adventure TMB/Haute Route Day 16 - Champex to La Peuty Via Fenetre d'Arpette

Comparing days of hiking is not a habit I'm keen to get into. Every day on our hiking adventure so far has been different, challenging and good for different reasons....that said today was awesome! Choosing to leave the official TMB route and take the variant route over the Fenetre d'Arpette was not a decision we took lightly given the route profile but we're glad we did.

Alpine Hiking Adventure TMB Day 15 - La Fouly to Champex

Today has been a challenging day, but not due to the hiking this time. On paper today was one of the easier stages of the TMB. A 4-5 hour hike with just 500m of descending and an equal amount of ascent to travel between La Fouly and Champex. Yet once again we have had to catch ourselves as we drifted away from our self care and found ourselves at loggerheads with each other.

Alpine Hiking Adventure Day TMB Day 14 - Refuge Bonatti to La Fouly

Day 14 and our first very bad weather day. The forecast for overnight storms that had motivated us to try our first night in an alpine refuge had been correct so we had felt very grateful during the night to be in a warm room as thunder and lightening raged outside. Yes, there had been a snorer near our dormitory bed and yes it took some getting used to, but on the whole it had been a good night.

Alpine Hiking Adventure TMB Day 13 - Courmayeur to Refuge Bonatti

Waking to the sun shining on the green slopes around Courmayeur, we felt much better rested for a night in a real bed. After our morning meditation Esther went to the shops to fetch a fruity, soy yogurt breakfast and some further trail food while I packed up...and shortly after 9 we were off. An early start for us when not staying in the tent. A steep, hot 700m climb to Refuge Bertone at around 2000m came with the reward of incredible views of Mont Blanc Courmayeur.

Alpine Hiking Adventure TMB Day 12 - Val Veny to Courmayer

The business of today started with rejoining the Tour du Mont Blanc, having left it temporarily last night to head to a camping in Val Veny. Having woken up on the well appointed and comfortable Camping Aguille Noire we had taken our time packing up while the hot sun rose in the clear blue sky, allowing us to fully dry our tent and so I could irrigate for the day ahead having had an unsettled stomach in the night. It really was a very friendly, family camping and we felt grateful to have stayed here.

Alpine Hiking Adventure TMB Day 11 -Refuge Croix Due Bonhomme to Val Vent Campsite

So today started on a new high, literally, as we crossed the 2665m Col de Fours to seta new altitude maximum for our home so far. The air had been very cold when we woke in our tent 2400m at 6am, but thankfully the nearby refuge gave me a good place to irrigate for the day ahead and by the time we had sat and enjoyed our breakfast tomatoes and cucumber the sun was well up in the sky. We may be forgoing the coffee, bread and jam on offer in the refuge by choice, but we feel much better for it.

Alpine Hiking Adventure TMB/GR5 Day 10 - Les Contamines to Refuge Croix due Bonhomme

What a difference a day makes! Setting off this morning after a heartfelt and fond farewell to our wonderful host at Gite d'Adalbert our legs felt revitalised. The weather was warm and sunny despite the boding clouds on the high peaks and we felt good. Just an hour along the road we stopped in Les Contamines to resupply and enjoy a fine lunch of chestnuts, frozen berries and soy yogurt, what a treat!

Alpine Hiking Adventure GR5/TMB Day 9 -Rest Day

Aah, a rest day. After walking almost 160km in 8 days and ascending over 9000m, we've maybe clocked up 200m in total today. What with walking to breakfast and back, going to the loo and moving from the bed to the balcony, it has been a very re-energising change and not a moment too soon.

Alpine Hiking Adventure GR5/TMB Day 7 - Col d'Anterne to Les Houches

Phew, what a scorcher of a day. And with 1000m of ascending and 2000m of descending it wasn't exactly an easy one either. Yet waking up to stunning panoramic views of Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in Europe, and then summiting the 2526m Brevent to get even closer to the glacier decorated sides of the mountain made for a magnificent walk beneath the baking sun.

Alpine Hiking Adventure GR5 Day 6 - Samoens to Col d'Anterne

Lying here in the tent in my sleeping bag my overriding feeling is disbelief. Did we really do all that in a day? This morning we woke up late (for hikers anyway) in a big double bed, had a quick swim and packed to leave our room. Then the hotel looked after us by helping us make our own breakfast of a blended salad with ingredients from the bio shop across the road. They were incredibly friendly. Then at around 11 we wandered over the road to collect some healthy hiking food....oh, then we just went and hiked 23km with 1800m of ascent and 550m of descent pretty much with a single stop.

So What's Next? - Our Next Adventure Plans

We've had quite a week continuing with clearing out at my parents' house of, yes, more stuff.  At the same time Sam's been making sure that we get our regular breaks by insisting that we play football every few hours with him in the garden.  We're all getting quite good!  But we also thought seeing as my parents are due to return in 2 weeks we ought to start thinking about what next? Our original plans for the Summer had already changed quite significantly because we'd not expected to be helping out here - that had only come about more recently.  So it left the field quite open and we were left choosing between lots of options.  Certain deadlines for bookings forced our hand this week and it was time to finalise at least some decisions.  As plans are now starting to shape up and as we're now finally booked to leave in just under 10 days we thought we'd share the outline of our next adventure plan.  Originally arriving back in Britain in early March, we thought we'd be off on our next motorhome adventure very soon and through a series of unplanned events and opportunities, we're off on a set of completely different adventures..... So where are we off to?

A Week in the Shadow of the Mont Blanc Massif – The Highest Mountain in Europe

Our general aim to re-visit the Swiss Alps before the end of summer helped us to decide our next destination after leaving Grenoble on Friday, heading north east through hilly terrain to the foothills of the Mont Blanc Massif, close to the famous resort of Chamonix next to the French/Swiss border. The summit of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe at 4800m, was an imposing site as we drove into our planned stopover at St Gervais Les Bains, towering so high above us (4km!) that it was just impossible to really appreciate the scale of the giant and the surrounding snow covered peaks.

Hiking from Les Contamines to Refuge de Tre-la-Tete (1970m) and towards the Glacier

With the running festival arriving in Les Contamines on Friday we decided to try one more hike on Thursday before moving on, this time heading towards the Glacier Tre de la Tete which extends down from the higher mountains to around 2000m at a refuge built close to it's head. This trail, which branches off from the more well trodden Tour de Mont Blanc (TMB) sections, provides a fantastic opportunity to walk a circular route while getting away from the bulk of other hikers. It also provided us with a new perspective, looking west and away from the Mont Blanc Massif to the surrounding hills we had been hiking during the previous week, including Mont Joly.