15 km — 25oC and sunny — We met 7 more pilgrims on their way to Rome.
(By Jim)
I thought monks were famous for getting an early start to the day? If so, then the monks at Great St. Bernard Monastery practice intermittent fasting because breakfast was not served until 8:00, long after everyone was up and at ‘em! Walkers have two main things in mind in the morning: getting breakfast and hitting the trail, early in most cases. There was a gaggle of us all milling around the dining room entrance from 7:30 a.m. onwards, hoping the doors were unbarred; however, true to Swiss reputation the doors opened precisely at 8:00. It was a simple but hearty fare of bread, butter, confiture, and coffee. The pitchers of coffee and tea were nearly indistinguishable which seemed to exclaim, “this is not Italy!”
It was nice to have breakfast with the pilgrims we had met last night — Remy from France, Anna and Michael from Australia, as well as a German couple hiking the Tour Mount Blanc. Remy wished us “bon sentier” and the Aussies said “see you along the way.” I said it was unlikely because of our pace: “we are escargots and you are lapins.” Surprisingly everyone laughed. I finally intentionally said something that got a laugh in a mixed language crowd. Now I’m torn between wanting to meet these folks again at the next hostel and wanting a whole new audience for my one and only joke!
As we had already extensively photographed the VF at the pass, we hit the trail with a desire to see what lay beyond the rocky summit. It was slow going as we stopped every couple of minutes to marvel, exclaim, and take another picture. Laurel photographed every variety of flower along the path and I focused on the big picture landscapes. Within a couple of hours, Anna and Michael caught up and overtook us, as did Remy, and all chuckled “escargot” as they passed. Escargot…Comedy gold!
The path was steep and wide open, which means your eyes constantly dart from the amazing vistas and back to your feet so you don’t stumble out of the picture completely! After a few hours, trees began to sprout up along the trail but not enough to obscure the view or provide shade. It was sunny, but cool, and no one complained about anything. Our feet, shins, knees and back were all in awe of the overpowering beauty.
We stopped in a tiny park (or possibly someone’s yard?) in Saint-Rhemy Bourg and ate a picnic lunch in the shade. Before we knew it, we were walking into Etroubles, our destination for the day. After a cold drink on the terrace of Hotel Col Serena, we retired to our room for showers and riposo. Four hours later we reemerged for supper and a glass of vino rosso. The day was perfect — just the right pace.
We left Switzerland and started our decent at a snail’s pace.
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