Short summary -- the most beautiful hike so far?
After a gourmet dinner in our hotel (classic quote from waiter, when he was asked which cheeses from the large selection on offer he would recommend: "I don't know -- I like them all!"... and he had the belly to prove it :-), and an excellent night's sleep, we hiked off around 8:45AM. The initial part of the trail was a steep climb, but after a while it became less steep and wound its way through Alpine meadows. At about 2200m we switched to a lightly marked and lightly travelled secondary trail that traversed steep mountainsides and scree slopes to get to a shoulder at 2715m.
Along the way the views just kept getting better. Over Modane to the slopes we came down yesterday, then, as we rose higher, further and further into the Parc National des Écrins, with glaciers and snow covered peaks up to almost 4000m. Absolutely stunning. And then from the shoulder: to our left views into a wild region of peaks and gorges, and to our right the long descent through beautiful countryside with Nevache visible in the far distance. Pictures to follow!
We had not been hiking fast, due to Ioana's nervousness about the footing on some of the slopes we were traversing, and then on the descent a new problem arose with her ankle. And Reinhard was having his usual painful relationship with his hiking boots. So, the two of them and Jorge decided to take a trail down to the valley road and hitchhike, while Erik, Valentin and I took a series of paths several kilometers through woods down to and along the, well, I hate to overuse a word but sometimes I have to... down to and along the beautiful Clarée River.
The three of us arrived at our Gîte just after 6PM. The others were already there, having successfully dangled Ioana as bait to snag a passing car. Except for the last 1.5km we had walked the entire way along trails... one more beautiful (there's that word again) than the next.
Aside from Ioana's ankle, which however looks like it is more a question of pressure from her boot than any serious injury, the only downside to the day is that the sole of my left boot has started to separate from the upper... which is NOT A GOOD THING. I borrowed some rubber construction cement from our Gîte, and some duct tape from Erik, and have tried to stick it back together, but I'm not particularly optimistic about whether or not it will hold for long. However, if it can hang together until Modane there are a couple of sports stores there -- perhaps I can buy a replacement. This is normally a really stupid thing to do during a hike, but what other options do I have? Lidia won't be coming until Champagny -- two stages beyond Modane -- and I'm not sure that I have any backup boots in Provence (where she will be coming from). I'm also not sure that my boot will last until then.
Hmmm. And I thought that I had planned the H3H so well....
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