Superb stage through the Alps from the high valley of Montagne de Neuteu. The route climbs immediately to Col de Bise at 1915 meters and then descends through mountain pastures to Chalets de Bise. It then climbs to Pas de la Bosse at 1816 meters. The views from here are magnificent. Then the route descends steeply to Chapelle d'Abondance. Initially above the tree line, later through beautiful pine forests. Not a long stage, but still challenging due to the altimeters.
Last night, after arriving at the place where we were going to spend the night, we first set up the chairs and started cooking. While bivouacking, we prefer to pitch the tent as late as possible, around sunset. We had already seen an alpine ibex pass by several times, and while eating our pasta we saw a large herd of about 25 ibex, mostly females and young, some distance away from us. They ventured over the steepest rocky slopes, making their way from one side of the valley to the other. What a spectacle during our bivouac dinner! As soon as the ladies and children were gone, a huge ibex with large curled horns appeared on a ridge on the side of the setting sun, like a passe-partout against the sky. An imposing animal... He was standing a few hundred meters away and looked over the valley for minutes. Splendid, but we secretly hoped that he would remain at a safe distance. Especially since an adult ibex can weigh up to 115 kilograms and grow up to 93 centimeters tall, with a good 90 centimeters of horns on top of that.... But after a while he got moving and walked down the mountainside with 10 more comrades behind him. Quietly grazing, they walked downhill and finally, when it was already almost dark, they passed our spot at a few meters. Fortunately, the animals were anything but aggressive and didn't even seem to notice us. It did teach us that we are just guests in their territory here. With the last sliver of sunlight, we pitched the tent and during the night we heard them grazing a few more times next to the tent.
We get up early and with the rising of the sun our little tent is packed and we sit down to our cup of coffee and breakfast. We enjoy the play of colors on the mountains and then quickly set off. It's a long stage today; we start with a bit of an ascent to Col de Bise at 1,915 meters, after which we have a brisk descent to Chalets de Bise. The descent goes well, although the poles come in handy. It's very steep. We have to get off the trail several times to walk around cows barricading the path. Fortunately, if you just leave them alone and walk past them, they are peaceful animals. But after one got a little too bold the other day, we still like to leave a few feet of distance between us. Some cows are very curious and with a big backpack you're just a little less maneuverable.
At the refuge in the valley, after walking through a herd of goats, we can fill a bottle at a water point. Then we start a steep climb out of the valley to Pas de la Bosse at 1,816 meters. We walk on zig-zag paths between rocks and some vegetation to the col. From here it's a long descent: 800 meters down in 4.5 kilometers. Especially the beginning part is very steep and our new mountaineering shoes, which do a super good job uphill and flat, turn out to be a little less suitable for this kind of steep descent. The grip and firmness are perfect, but the toes take a beating. We try to tie them differently, but the toes are so crashed by now that it doesn't help much anymore. After a few short breaks and a long one, we arrive pretty late in Chapelle d'Abondance. Here we walk for 2 kilometers flat through a valley, before the route climbs steeply again. 900 Meters of ascending in just 5 kilometers awaits us. There's a supermarket in this valley where we can do some shopping for the next stretch in the mountains with 1-2 nights of wild camping. But after doing the shopping, it's already 4 p.m. and our energy is far gone. We doubt whether it's wise to make the climb up today. We weigh some options, but it's high season so all accommodations in the village are full. Fortunately, about 3 kilometers down the road we see a campsite on the map. We call the campground and even though they're full, they manage to free up a spot for our tent. How lucky we are! The last few kilometers to the campground are fairly flat and by 5 p.m. we pitch our tent between 2 large mobile homes.
We didn't expect this this morning: pitching our tent on a large campsite... But we're very happy to do so right now.
And after a quiet evening and a good night we look forward to head further into the mountains.
