GR5-E2: Our story
Because the story is rather long, I decided to splitt it up in three parts: | Part 1: Maastricht to the Vosges |
 | Part 2: Through Vosges and Jura |
| Part 3: Lake Geneva to Nice |
Part 3: Lake Geneva to Nice
When we arrived at St. Gingolph, we found out that there was no campsite while the
book said there was. So our first night in the Alps we had to camp wild. During that night we
noticed how much noise snails can make when they creep over your tent.On our first day in the Alps, we walked from St. Gingolph to La Chapelle d'Abondance. To get there we had to pass the Col de Bise and Pas de la Bosse. From Pas de la Bosse we had our first glance on the Mont Blanc range, to be exact we saw Les Dents-du-Midi and Le Grand Combin. And again there was no campsite, while the book said there would be. But this time we found a better place to pitch our tent (without snails).
Next few days we walked to Samoëns. Part of this route goes through Switzerland, where the route is waymarked with white-red-white stripes. In Samoëns we spent the night at a campsite. Next day, after doing some shopping, we pursued our way. After the valley of Giffre, we climbed along several waterfalls via Collet d'Anterne, Lac d'Anterne and Col d'Anterne to our campsite next to refuge de Moëde.
After a good night's rest, we walked to Les Houches, where we took a day of rest to wash our clothes (August 24th). In Les Houches we met Colin from England, who did the Tour the Mont Blanc. He had a great water sack, which he sold to us after we asked him where we could buy one. In Les Houches we also bought a walking stick and a panorama-camera.
Next two and a half days we walked to Landry. On the way we passed Notre-Dame de la Gorge, two
diffent refuges called La Balme, we saw several marmots, an ermine and a group of hikers with
mules. After Landry, where we took a half day rest, we purshued our way to Val Claret. On the
way to Val Claret we passed Refuge de la Porte du Parc de Rosuel. At Val Claret we took the GR55, 'High mountain'
alternative, instead of the GR5.
The GR55 crosses the Vanoise National Park from north to south, following a route at higher
altitudes than the GR5. After spending the night just outside Val Claret, we climbed to Col
de Fresse and Col de la Leisse (alt. 2758 m/9049 ft). From Col de la Leisse the GR55 follows the
mountain brook Torrent de la Leisse.
After Col de la Vanoise the path continues crossing Lac des
Vaches. We spent our night near Chalets de la Glière, just outside Vanoise National
Park.
Next one and half day we walked to Modane. On our way we passed
Prolagnan-la-Vanoise (a very pretty village), Refuge Péclet-Polset, where we spent our
night and Col de Chavière, highest point of our route (alt. 2796 m/9173 ft). In Modane we
pitched our tent on the campsite and because of the bad weather we payed an extensive visit to a
supermarket.Next day started clouded but dry, but by the time we reached Col de la Vallée Etroite, it started to rain. After spending the night at Vallée Etroite Refuge we did not follow the GR5, but we walked allong the road to Briançon.
Briançon, the highest town of
Europe with more than 300 days of sun, but it rained while we entered. First we visited the old centre, Cité Vauban, and after that we went to the
campsite in the middle of Briançon, where we stayed for 3 nights. During our days of rest
(September 2nd and 3rd), the weather was beautiful again, so the first day we
washed our clothes and visited Cité Vauban again. Next day Ingeborg and Marco, who spent their
holiday somewhere near, payed us a visit and brought some typical Dutch articles.Next two days we walked to Ceillac. On our way we passed Col des Ayes, Lac de Roue (wild camp), Chateaux-Queyras and Col de Fromage. Next day we walked to Fouillouse. During a break after we passed Col Girardin two English (Vicky and her father) took over, but not long after we joined them. Next day we walked in two teams to Larche, where they invited us for lunch. Because of the heavy rain we decided to spent the night in the refuge.
Next morning the rain it was pretty cold (about 3°C/37°F). On our way up to the Pas de la Cavale we could see the damage the rain of the day before
caused. After the Pas we went down to Le Pra and continued our way to Saint Etienne de Tinée,
where we took a day of rest (September 10th).Next day we walk to Isola by the road. Because of the weather was worsening and because we wanted to see more of Nice than only rain, we decided to hitch hike the last 80 km (50 miles) to Nice. This turned out to be a wise decision, because of the four days we stayed at Nice we only had two days of sun.
The other two days started with a heavy rain. During our stay at Nice we visited
the old city, the castle and the beach. This last was a small disappointment because Nice has a pebble beach and because of the hard wind the red flag was out.
Last night (Semtember 15th) we had dinner in the restaurant "Chantilly"
, because it was Edwin's birthday. Next day we went home by TGV.
Last modified March 2000