The Mont Blanc Circuit proved to be a great route, but hard work – harder than the trekking I’ve done in Nepal and Patagonia – mainly due to the daily up and the daily down. “Really, in the Alps Mary?” I hear you say…. We walked c166 km accumulating a total elevation gain of c9500m, which comes with a brutal balancing descent.
The highlights: the stunning wild flowers and, of course, the mountains. Just beautiful both. I took tons of photos* – no surprises there.
After a damp and cloudy first day the weather was hot and sunny right through until our departure day – which was much, much better than I’d expected. In fact, I could have done with more T shirts (or washing powder and a camping clothes line). The campsites were great – far better than expected. The ‘wilderness’ ones were, in fact, basic public campsites, while the ‘normal’ ones came complete with hot showers!
With a final rest day in Les Bossons / Chamonix on Friday and and easy journey home today (LHR passport control was a breeze – we spent longer waiting for our bags to arrive), my legs have just about recovered…. and it’s fantastic to have returned to find London en fête and in love with the Olympics.
A little bit sad that my new job means that’s my big travels done for this year.
* 1,701 in fact…