The Alps ⅠⅠ

From Les Houches near Chamonix we walk in fourteen stages to Briançon — nearly 280 kilometres over cols and through valleys in the heart of the French Alps. This is the section where the GR5 gives everything.

At the Col du Bonhomme our paths diverge from the Tour du Mont Blanc hikers, and suddenly we have the trail to ourselves. We walk along the Crête des Gittes — a slate ridge with deep abysses on both sides — and take a last look at Mont Blanc. In the Vanoise National Park the marmots are so tame they sit by our feet. But the sheepdogs are another story: a shepherdess saves us from a dangerous guard dog hidden in her flock.

At the Col de l'Iseran — 2,770 metres, the highest point of the entire GR5 — we stand in glorious weather, surrounded by motorcycles, tourists and a row of gleaming Lotus sports cars. Years ago we drove this pass in fog and saw nothing. Now, on foot, we see everything.

The seasons change beneath our feet. Blueberry bushes turn red, autumn crocuses bloom, the days grow shorter. At Modane we're reunited with Mark's parents — fresh fruit and home-cooked meals after four days of freeze-dried food. An inspiring English couple in their seventies — he a Crocodile Dundee type, she an English boarding school teacher — walks the same route as us, but in reverse. They tip us: take the Menton variant.

In Briançon, the last city before the Mediterranean, we take stock. 300 kilometres to go. The mountains grow rougher, the nights colder, but the promise of the sea drives us on.