In which we rebound, do a lot of up and downs, wade through muck, and find that a swim in a lake is better than a(n ice-)cold shower.
I ended up not falling asleep after blogging yesterday, because I was still too cold. I just lay there and shivered. I had actually eaten after we arrived, but it didn't seem to do any good. Russell, always taking care of his brother, came in and piled another couple of blankets on me, which helped, but I kept shivering. The solution was, as it turned out, a hot meal. After the first course of dinner (a large bowl of pasta, tomato sauce, sausage bits, and parmesan cheese) I felt normal again. And we had a really nice evening -- plenty of food, good conversation, some singing, and afterwards, nobody snored!
The following day we woke up to rain. In fact, it poured while we were having breakfast, so we were a little concerned... but then it stopped and we were able to walk for the first couple of hours without rain-gear. The trail was very up and down -- oscillating between passes at over 2700m and mountainside traverses dropping down a few hundred meters lower. We couldn't see into the valley much of the time because we were in the clouds, which was a pity because when we could see it was spectacular.
After a while it started to rain, but it wasn't very cold and it didn't rain very hard, so we were able to hike just with rain-jackets, which isn't much of an irritation. A greater irritation was the poor state of the trails towards the end of the day -- muddy and used, unfortunately, by cows at least as often as hikers. Yuck.
But all in all it was a nice hike. We arrived about 15:30, and found that we didn't have to take a cold shower (yay!), because there were no showers at all (urk!). Several of the more robust members of the group headed off to the nearby lake for a swim... while Corinna and I opted for the sink. The swimmers came back and announced that the lake was much warmer than the showers had been the night before, although Glen was heard to say that he travelled all the way here from Finland to swim in a cold lake?
A few images from earlier days that I forgot to mention:
o after reaching the col yesterday (after a climb of some 1430m), we were feeling quite pleased with ourselves and spontaneously broke into a rousing chorus of Don MacLean's American Pie accompanied by the music playing on my cellphone.
o a few days ago Jean-Paul said, upon hearing that the first and third day's hikes were rated as "easy", and I quote, "And my ass is chicken?" ("Et mon cul est du poulet?" in the original French). It has become an oft-used phrase on this hike :-).
o Kristof, each day at lunch, making espressos for us all with his portable coffee maker. We decided that we would like such a device... but only if it came with a Kristof:-).
o drinking the "cup of friendship" the second night at the Maison d'Antan -- a complicated concoction withsugar, several different types of schnapps etc. and coffee, in a large covered bowl with several spouts, which is then flambé-ed and passed from hand to hand for everyone to sip.
The weather hasn't been perfect, but it hasn't been terrible either... and the company has been great. Thus far the H3H Part 2 has been thoroughly enjoyable!
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