Bourg-Saint-Pierre 9 miles

Up fairly sharp as Glynice had a train to catch. Actually 3 trains to catch with only a 2 minute change-over between them. Would be considered a bit risky in the UK especially with a flight to catch at the end but here it is just taken for granted that it would all work. The only hold up with the whole journey was an hour delay on the EasyJet flight and an hour and a half waiting for baggage reclaim in Edinburgh.

Once the lady was helped onto the train and silence descended I headed off into the hills. Last time I did the whole climb to the Col de Saint Bernard in one day but it was a bit of a slog. This time I opted for 2 days but it did mean they were pretty short days although they do each have about 1,000m of climbing. The rain seems to have much reduced, just the occasional flurry now and again, but the increased height I’m at now (about 1,600m) makes it quite cold. About 3C this afternoon, with a bit of a breeze as well. As these few days are the only ones when I am likely to be cold I opted not to bring any cold-weather gear. No gloves, warm hat, fleece etc. It seemed logical not to carry these things for months just for the sake of a few days but that doesn’t help when you are in those cold days.

One thing I have learned in life is that I feel the cold much more if I have not eaten enough so I was very keen to check out the food options as soon as I arrived at tonight’s digs. Everything was very spread out in this village and again it seemed that Tuesday is not a good day to be hungry in Switzerland. No food shops here at all and only one restaurant open. Luckily it was pretty good as well even though it meant yet another burger and chips. At least in Italy I am hoping to get pizza/pasta. What worries me slightly is that it is only a couple of days since I was complaining about being too hot and now I’m freezing so how long is it going to take me to get fed up with pizza/pasta?

Tonight’s dormitory is another strange affair. One large room with kitchen facilities, dining tables and chairs, settees etc and 4 mattresses laid out on a mezzanine floor above. Anyone using the campsite seems allowed to come in and make themselves at home. A couple did just that and had the longest and loudest meal I have ever suffered through. I now need to get them out so I can get the lights out and get to sleep. I hate communal living.Read more