3rd June 2017 Orsieres to Bourg St Pierre

3rd JUNE 2017

Orsieres to Bourg St Pierre - 16kms

Good news today that our friends Peter and Johanna have reached the GtSt Bernard Pass. The bad news is that there is still a lot of snow so they had to resort to taking to the road. I guess the same fate awaits us tomorrow!

The view from our bedroom window this morning in Orsieres was breathtaking. We soon started to climb and climb and climb and were soon at 1080m in Montatuay. From here we carried on very nice paths along the mountain sides always climbing! In part we were walking in sight of the river Dranse which is in full flow. At one point the path descended to the river following which there was a very difficult climb along a very narrow path with high steps. These make it very difficult to balance when carrying a heavy rucksack. Then through beautiful fields full of alpine flowers. A magical scene.

The scenery here is truly spectacular. We are now surrounded by mountains on all sides, some still showing signs of snow. It's been a beautifully sunny day but I have to say I have now added high mountains as second in the list of things I hate, the first being long straight Roman roads! We arrived in Bourg St Pierre really exhausted. We are now at 1632m above sea level. Tomorrow we climb to 2469m