Stage 4 -- RIf. Champillon to Balme

In which we learn the truth of Korzybski's dictum that "The map is not the territory".

After an appalling night in Rif. Champillon we set off before 8AM the following morning under partly cloudy skies.  The night was appalling because one of the people in the room was, as the Germans say, "hüttenuntauglich"... in other words, he snored.  And not just a gentle, decent, civilized snore... no, this was a primal, bellowing, bestial snore that declaimed to all and sundry that here was a man with hair not only on his chest, but also on his upper arms, neck, and perhaps even on his back.  Of course, I don't know if Jean-Paul actually has hair on his back, but that is what it sounded like.

Being a gentleman I will of course refrain from saying who the culprit was.

Ahead of us was a long day, but not as long as it might have been, because we had decided not to do the 8.75 hour planned hike over a high pass, but instead a variant along lower trails.  Frankly we were tired when we started... in particular me, due to two and a half tough days of hiking, inadequate training and, I have to add, unnecessarily inadequate sleep.  Not that I bear a grudge or anything against the b*****d responsible ;-).

Still, even the shorter route would take us over 6 hours, and would have over 1500m of descent... very tough on the legs.  And it started off with a bang:  1100m steeply down to village of Ollemont.  Still, the weather was fine, and the day was young, so we arrived about 2 hours later in good spirits, which only got better when we bought large and heavily laden (cheese, mortadella) panini for lunch.  Then we walked off further downhill, bottoming out around 1150m... 1300m lower than we had started the day.

We strolled along a traiil that followed a disused aqueduct before stopping for lunch at a place with great views of the valley, of a huge waterfall opposite, and stunning mountains all around.  The panini were GOOD.  All was well with the world again... until I stood up.  Feet, back, legs... all were feeling beaten up:  I was so ready for the upcoming rest day.  But first we had to finish today's hike, and the trail led us off up the mountain.   

It was a secondary trail, unlike the "major" trail we had originally planned to take, and we soon found out that this meant two things:  the trail was much less well marked than a "major" trail, and it looked like it had not been maintained for a decade or more.  At any rate, we were soon confronted with stretches where it was very unclear which way to go, and several times we had to bushwhack for a while (wander around the mountainside) until we found the trail again.  We were not helped at these times by our unreliable map, which (we had already ascertained during the previous couple of days) bore only a passing resemblance to the actual state of affairs on the ground.

We eventually did find our way to Balme... but it took much longer than planned... about 7.5 hours of hiking time.  At least the weather had been good.  And a rest day awaited us!!!!

And now it is the afternoon of the rest day.  The Maison d'Antan where we are staying is wonderful -- superfriendly and helpful service, excellent food at dinner last night (cooked by "Mama"), lovely rooms, comfortable beds, great showers, a sauna and a jacuzzi... the list of pleasures seems endless.  Jean-Paul, who had a room to himself last night (:-) left at 9AM... we'll miss him!  Except at night.  On the plus side, our friends Kristof and Corinna and their son Benni showed up around 3PM and we are expecting our cousin Glenn and another couple of friends, Bea and Arnulf, to arrive in the next few hours.  During which time I will be in the sauna and/or the jacuzzi working up an appetite for what will without doubt be another great dinner.

I love rest days.


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