Wow. That was quite some walk. After the production line had made everybody's sandwiches, we went to the cable car station, repeating a walk that we had all thoroughly enjoyed last year. The walk began with a short scramble up a slope to the top of a ridge, which revealed some brilliant panoramas, and where we had a drink and a quick snack, whilst taking many photos. We then processed along a ridge, with craggy rocks and a steep decline on one side, and a steep decline covered in flowers on the other, walking through a six inch wide gully that twisted around rocks and generally threatened to twist ankles. Luckily, no-one was hurt (except for perhaps their pride) and after a time the path flattened out and moved off the ridge, leading to some more pleasant walking.
As we descended into the valley, we arrived at the fabulous lake, on the way scrambling past old trees, rotting roots, and even seeing a fox at one point! More menagerie mayhem to follow. We walked half way round the lake to a lovely clearing where we had lunch last year and quickly ate our rolls. Entertainment was provided by much discussion of Lake Placid, what to do when attacked by sharks or crocodiles, and the best way to kill an alligator; accompanied by Caz taking a quick dip (having brought her bikini all that way).
Note from Caz: Cold!!
Lunch over, we recommenced the walk, heading through the small skiing town of Bretaye. This is where the fun starts. On the way out of the deserted village, we passed a group of goats, outside a farmstead bedecked with enormous cowbells. However, one goat was separate from the others, and, somehow, free. She came over to say hello, and we fussed over her for a minute or two, before heading off. She dutifully followed. Now, this was amusing at first, until we got to the first cattle grid, where we thought we'd lose her. However, it was a particularly ingenious goat, and she figured that she could walk under a fence and round the side. This was when we started to worry.
A few hundred metres later, she strolled up a hill, taking a right where we took a left, and we thought that that was the end of our goat friend. Not the case. A few moments later, when we'd given up, we heard the tinkle of her bell and there she was again, catching up. Houston, we had a problem. Running didn't work - she just started trotting, and then a sort of misaligned gallop that allowed her to keep pace. At every turn, she followed us, and always managed to sneak around the cattle grids. We were beginning to despair by the time we reached Auberge Col de Soud, which was the start of yesterday's walk. Various plans involved fashioning a harness from grass that would take her a while to eat through, and leaving Paul behind to hold her while we went off, with the idea that he could outrun it. A rebel faction even wanted to just carry on, and see if the goat would follow us all the way back to Villars. These dreams were crushed though when a passing car stopped and asked us what we were doing with a goat, and told us in no uncertain terms that it was illegal.
We then got to discussing the possibilities of a delegation returning the goat to it's home back in the hills, but no-one was ecstatic over the idea. Stuck for a solution, we returned to the hotel and tried to get help. Fortunately, due to Robbie's incredible french-speaking skills we managed persuade the owner to call the farmers, who heroically came to the goat's rescue in a jeep. The goat turned out to be called Finesse, and we had a bit of laugh about the whole situation. After we bid her goodbye we were soon skipping down the mountain side, following a path we took the previous day, our five hour excursion complete.
- Gillian.
Friday, July 18, 2008
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.
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.
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