There And Back Again

Tuesday was a day that would test our strength to the very edge of our knowledge, trying even the staunch resolve of the hardy DofE veterans in our group. A wake up call at the criminally early time of 10:15am would prove to be the first of many trials that would permeate the coming day. Following a quick trip into Villars town centre to buy the bread for lunch, the actual process of making our sandwiches for lunch began. And lo, disaster struck. In attempting to open a fiendish packet of corned beef, Joe managed to break the ring pull opener clean off the can, rendering the end of this task an unreachable dream. However, not one to give up, we soldiered on fiercely, and ended up with enough corned beef to satiate the appetite of Anto.

Sandwiches completed and carrying enough snacks to feed an army, we headed off down the hill, into the deep unknown, searching for Le Bevieux. The walk took us down through Villars again, and then we continued on the downwards theme for most of the walk, taking us through such fantastic locations as the picturesque Arveyes, where we met the fluffiest cat ever. Though it was predominantly black, it was described as ‘really marmaladey’ – which makes us wonder what sort of marmalade is served chez East. We also saw a number of derelict old shacks, a pair of abandoned baths, and we even caught a glimpse of a snake at one point.

It took us about three hours to realise that we might just be a little bit lost. At this point, we were in La Foret (we think), and looking for a triangle. Instead, we headed off down a path and managed to find ourselves a few minutes above Devins, but we were lucky enough to accost a very nice Canadian lady, who sympathetically listened to our French before telling us where we were in English. There was an incident with a cyclist and madly jumping up and down, waving arms and screaming 'Monseiur, monsieur, arretes!'. Apparently Le Bevieux was in completely the wrong direction, and about an hour away, but she told us that Bex (the largest town on the mountain, which was at the bottom) was just a short walk away. In the end, we headed to Bex, and took the tram back up, taking pride in the fact that we at least saw Le Bevieux station as we passed through.

We whiled away the evening playing Spot the Intro, after an improvised Bolognaise from Joe and Robbie. The game lasted for quite a while, though after we finished the approved version, in which we scored about 30% each, we gave up and started going through all 99 tracks, picking out the ones that we knew and having a rather entertaining karaoke night.

Wednesday was our most successful day when it came to wasting as much time as possible. As times grew desperate, three intrepid explorers managed to summon the energy to venture out the house for food. After a well-prepared meal of fajitas, including chicken which tasted as good as it smelt, we settled down to watch ‘Pulp Fiction’. It’s safe to say that the black humour was well-received by the majority of people, which was fortunate as it was followed by ‘Snatch’. (Brad Pitt, yay.)

After a lazy morning, we were fearful that a repeat of Wednesday would occur. Unfortunately this train of thought was shattered when Robbie forced everyone to move and decided to push us up a mountain. Our exploration was almost cut short when the train pulled up to the station and we were not there. Our sprinting skills in unlaced-trainers were pushed to the limit as were Caroline’s weather-predicting skills.
“It’s gonna be miserable and rainy” she said in vain.
“No, don’t be stupid” came the response.
Oh how wrong they were.

Up the mountain were many exciting distractions for the young mind, including a little handmade-shelter of sticks and a big barn. After much procrastination, we made it to the end of the wood/mountain and safely home. Despite nearly constant drizzle.

For tea was a BBQ in the rain, which may sound worrying considering the presence of hot fire standing next to a wooden house. The blaze was truly tested when our burgers managed to cook completely in a minute. These tasty burgers were accompanied by veal and spicy lamb sausages, baby potatoes and veggie kebabs.

That night we participated in some light-hearted drinking.

No comment.

Friday so far: Todd woke up at half ten, and was joined by everyone else two hours later. We’re currently waiting for the shops to open to go and buy some fresh baguettes, to prepare a tasty and nutritious lunch for our hearty walk to visit the mountain lakes of Bretaye. More to come.

- Bernard.