Russell's afterthoughts

Day #4 ONE YEAR POST REMINISCENCE

Today was the day that we met Rickard Maerz whilst avoiding the original plan of ascent descent repeat ascent and gondola down. In fact, thank Neptune, as the whole thrust of the journey was to avoid mechanized transport, the group decision based upon individual pain/ torrential suffering, not  to take mechanical adjunctive intussusception, was maintained. Sally rightfully points out that the original plan was to take the gondola back up to the previous day's ending point; however, the temperature of group response as outlined by our leader in his blog one year ago, suggested a somewhat chilly reception to the whole "hike more rather than less" attitude.
Even in the earliest days of our hike, it was clear:  Guy was out to test us. 'Twas equally as clear, we were out to test him right back!  Mr.Exercise, (does situps during any free moment, Mr.I'll-put- as- much- stuff- in- my- backpack- as- possible I can carry anything including your stuff Mr.Opthamologist -Nutritionist sees the truth in the question do you think you can afford to eat that ? you fat phuk Russell ) independently polled both Sally and I with such questions as:

Is he serious?
Does he have a death wish?
Why are we going back up?
Why are my fricking feet starting to hurt ?  (telepathically communicated)(rhetorically constructed)

Our paranoia at this point however leads us to believe that perhaps Dave's conversations with Guy were as follows:

Are they serious?
Are they that out of shape?
Why are they complaining so much?
They keep telling me their feet are fricking hurting perhaps because they are overweight heifers!?

We however remain convinced that on Day #4, today one year prior, Dave's feet were in agony and he expressed this to us in many both non-verbal and visually intepreted ways.

The day's summary in retrospect has to be in praise of precipitation. Due to the overwhelming droppage of water, the group decision, highly ruddered by neophytically whining ( later we we're to become much more accomplished) back-seat sea-kayakers, was, after cowering (whilst treading water) under the eaves of some nameless building (floating on pontoons) near a road *whereupon many motorcyclists seemed to be enjoying the slip factor upon some most dangerous of bends), to paddle around an endless lake (in retrospect probably two or three times", until we reached our destination, a harbor slip. My sentence construction abilities are exceeded only by my typing thumb eptitude!

There was no lake view from our  room at the Inn.  The only view was of a never to be taken gondola station. The room smelled of the sweat from our shoes placed in the window sill.  Dave's fat consumption overload gauge read flaming greasy-yellow, though his breakfast-ometer was still in the tolerable but please no more zone. My rash precluded any further thought or capability of hiking and my and Sally consumption of prophylactic, yet considered needed, narcotic cough preparations began. One for you, two for me, I am fatter and need more.

Pain wise. the only possible applicable measuring stick, ratings were as follows: Day four terrible. Day 1-3 worse still. The only saving Grace within days 1-3 were friends & company (fantastic 4), BEA  ARNULF, & the ever repetitively transient Fritzl the Schnitzl Ditzl Yeah! Day 5  presumptively heralding worse to come. In addition, light showers out of the northwest, barely an inch per hour expected.

Earliest Best of Show Statuette presentation:

Highest award of participant participation to A & B without whom we never would have survived (Mrs.Voltaren (Mrs. let me translate your need for cream to hotel reception BEA!(Mrs.Yodel the name Sally throughout the Alps))).

Highest award for claimed most willing to frequently participate ":Herr Schitzl Bily! Mr. I will be there for 10 days!". Little did we know he meant only for the party at the end!

Most Valued Player - The Eyeball

Best Leader - Gaius Maximus Caesar

Most willing follower - She who is the ROCKn'ROLL foot massager without par.


In the words of the immortal Paul Simon,
"Still whining after all these years (1), still whining after allllllll theeeeese years.".

That's a wrap. Post it on the site.

Last Day... much, much later

Friday December 7th, 2007

Well, I think I'm almost ready to start the post-H2H work -- correcting / completing the website, transmuting the base material of blog into an elegant and entertaining narrative, deciding what to do about the photos and the GPS logs, and so on... -- but first some unfinished business:  the short tale of the last day of the H2H.

After one of the best breakfasts we had had on the entire trip, at the charming B&B La Demeure, we started from Eyguieres around 10AM... in the rain.  This was both unusual, since it had hardly rained in Provence since Spring, and appropriate, since it had also rained on us during our first day of hiking so many months ago.  But we didn't care much... it was, after all, the last day.

We walked for the most part along fairly quiet backroads on the south side of the Alpilles until Aureille. There the showers stopped and we turned north to climb over the hills... although since our maximum altitude was barely 200m higher than Aureille, it is perhaps a little bit of an exaggeration to call it a climb.  Around midday we stopped for a picnic lunch by the side of the road, and soon, after one last look backwards, we started our descent towards the lovely village of Eygalieres.

Some time later, a couple of hundred yards before we got to our house, we were met by a procession led by Lidia (aka Penelope), who was unable to withstand temptation any longer.  Richard was there, and Bea and Arnulf, and various other friends and relatives, and after many greetings and hugs and photos we finally walked through our gate at around 3:30PM.. four months and four days after we started... exactly as planned.

It was quite a feeling.

And then came the Neverest Fest, which although not totally Dionysiac, ran for near on a week instead of the three days that were planned.  Ah well, nobody's perfect. :-)

And that's about it for now.  I'll post intermittently over the next couple of months as there are new things to see on the site, or as (and if) the narratative takes shape.  I hope that you have enjoyed reading about the H2H as much as I enjoyed hiking and writing about it.  Many thanks to you all!

Last Day Quick Update

Done.

More later.

Neverest Fest calls.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Stage 91 -- Merindol to Eyguieres

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Thursday, Oct 25th, 2007

I can't quite believe it myself: the penultimate day. Tonight we have our last dinner on the hike, and spend our last night sleeping in strange beds. Tomorrow evening at this time we'll be home.

Wow.

Fittingly, it was a long hike. We left Merindol and crossed the Durance, bypassing Mallemort on our way to Alleins, mostly along roads. There we temporarily lost Russell, Sally, and Dave, who had fallen behind far enough to not see the rest of us turning onto another road. But cellphones saved the day and we were soon reunited. This was only the second time on the entire trip that something like this happened... and Dave was involved both times. Hmmmmm.

From there we climbed for a while then discovered a discrepancy between our map and reality, which led to us standing in front of a locked gate with a sign on it saying, in French, "No Trespassing". What made it more interesting was that the sign was on the other side of the fence and facing the way we wanted to go. We managed to outflank the fencing on either side of the gate and continued, now legally, along the path to come out exactly where we wanted to be, and more efficiently than had we taken the planned route. :-)

After a picnic lunch next to a ruined 12th Century chapel we walked through woods and between vineyards for a long time until a descent to cross the Marseilles / Paris axis (Autobahn, railway, canal). Then through a flatter land of orchards to Lamanon where we stopped for hot chocolate in a seedy cafe.

And still we weren't done.

From Lamanon we climbed up through Neolithic dwellings carved out of soft sandstone, then via an ancient wain road along the top of a low ridge that was the beginning of the Alpilles -- the last barrier to be crossed on the H2H.

But the crossing was to be left until tomorrow, and we descended in light rain (after a cloudy day) into the village of Eyguieres for one last night.

One day more.

Stage 90 -- Oppede-le-Vieux to Merindol

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Wednesday, Oct 24th, 2007

Simply a lovely hike today. It started with a fairly steep climb up to the top of the Luberon (about 500m above Oppede), which had our guests huffing and puffing. Ok, we were huffing and puffing too, but I think we would have been able to keep going for four times the distance, whereas I suspect that our guests would not :-).

We stopped for lunch on a rocky outcrop with dramatic views over the southern Luberon, which was much more rugged and jumbled than I would have expected (having only seen it up until now from below), and across the Durance. Dad and Stefan, who both suffer from a little vertigo, sat well back, while Russ and Dave, who do not, hopped and stumbled around on the edge of the precipice in a way that bothered even me!

After a steep initial descent, we walked out of the mountain along a wonderful slot canyon called les Gorges de Regalon, with walls up to 50m high and no more than a couple of meters apart... all the way up. It was like going through a cave at times. Most impressive. Fortunately Dad decided to come down it instead of taking the alternate route along the road. He had no difficulty with the scrambling necessary in places, and he would have missed something spectacular otherwise.

Our B&B in Merindol was also very nice, with comfortable beds and sumptuous bathrooms. They weren't serving dinner themselves that night, so they took us in their minibus to a local restaurant. Nice people.

Around 5.5 hours, so not too tiring.

Two more days!

Stage 89b -- Cabrieres d'Avignon to Oppede-le-Vieux

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Tuesday, Oct 23rd, 2007

Today's hike was a bit of a crusher for Sally, I'm afraid, at least that is my impression based on her miming being stabbed in the heart. You see, we arrived at Robion, at the western end of the Luberon range, from which you can almost see Eygalieres... and turned back east to hike to Oppede.

Worse, tomorrow we are going to climb up and over the Luberon, so that we can the day after cross the Durance south of the Alpilles, in order to climb up and over the Alpilles to come down into Eygalieres from the south.

And it was when she realized that instead of the straight hike across flat ground we were going to hike in the opposite direction and then cross two ranges of hills that she got out her make-believe dagger.

Of course, I could hardly have planned these last few days otherwise. After all, in a way this recapitulates the entire H2H. As I put it to Dad, for a start, I chose to walk rather than driving or flying or taking a train. Then I chose to walk over passes through the mountains, rather than along valleys. And lastly, there is the small diversion to Montreux, and the much larger one to Monaco, both of which make the hike much longer than it needs to be. Clearly the H2H was not conceived of as an efficient hike from House to House!

Nevertheless, despite Sally's heartache, it was another lovely hike today. A little warmer than the last few days, and a little hazy, but the views were still superb. We had lunch in Robion, which has a beautiful old village center, and then followed an up and down trail along the Luberon to Oppede-le-Vieux, which is even more beautiful than Robion. In fact, I think it is more spectacular and atmospheric than Gordes, and I will certainly be coming back here to explore the vast ruins of the upper village and the castle.

Our B&B, La Belle de Nuit, is very nice, and Stephan Goessl arrives this evening to join us for the last three days.

Tick, tick....

Stage 89a -- Roussillon to Cabrieres d'Avignon

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Monday, Oct 22nd, 2007

Apologies for the mistaken number yesterday, in fact it is today which is the first half of a stage. Rather than do a long hike and a rushed lunch in Cabrieres with Nicole, I decided to sacrifice a rest day and split the stage over two days. We thus had a short hike today -- around 4hrs -- and will do about the same tomorrow on our way to Oppede-le-Vieux. And this way we can have a leisurely dinner with Nicole... whose cooking merits no less!

The hike was easy, although Dad did complain somewhat about the steepness of the climb to Gordes, where we had lunch. The whole village has been declared a national historical monument, and one understands why, particularly when you climb up to it from the valley: most impressive.

Nicole met us shortly after Gordes to show us the local Mesa Verde equivalent: an olive mill built into a cliff at half-height where there was an overhang. Apparently it was in use until well into the 18th Century, and you can still see the various grinding surfaces, cisterns, troughs, etc. that they carved into the rock to handle the olives and the oil. Tres interessant!

The rooms in the Vieux Bistrot in Cabrieres were excellent, as was dinner at Nicole's place. We were nine around the table -- the six of us, Nicole, and her two sons -- and conversation was good, there was much laughter, and we ate and drank way too much. In particular Dave let himself be goaded into eating two plums that had been steeped for ages in near 100% alcohol (% not proof!) -- most amusing (except perhaps for Dave the following morning :-).

Oh, one more thing: we had our first view of the Alpilles the day before, and the first clear view today. The excitement is mounting! Only four more days of hiking....