A Short Tour of the Vanoise – Monday 27 August 2007 - Day 2 – Refuge d'Orgère to Refuge du Plan Sec

Here’s Martin’s diary record for Stage 2:

Monday 27 August 2007

Up at 7.15 (apart from mid night escapades) and after a good breakfast we leave the refuge at 8.30 on Stage 2 of Kev Reynolds' Vanoise route. Soon down to the start of yesterday's nature trail, and then into woods high above Modane for a gradual 400 metre ascent above the valley, where cars trundle like toys below and a helicopter wheels overhead.

It's a hot day, but it's some time before we emerge from the cooler environs of the trees, having risen from 1880 to 2270 metres. We enjoy a welcome break - 10.00-15, with superb views south, before continuing to reach Col du Barbier at 10.50, where we enjoyed a 40 minute brew stop in the heat.

We got good views of the Aussois Valley.

From here we had superb views of La Dent Parrachée (3697m). This mountain created some cloud today - the only local cloud.

As we headed along the superb belvedere path and descended to the head of two lakes, both Richard and Andrew began to flag in the heat. To their rescue came the Refuge La Fournache.

We sat inside ("for the heat") and enjoyed ham salads and an omelette, with some (sheep's?) goat's cheese yogurt. 1.30 to 2.30.

From here a short 30 minute stroll led to Refuge du Plan Sec.

A place converted into a refuge from three farm buildings. All very tasteful. We soon get installed, showered, and the washing dries quickly in the sun. My crocs have a mishap, as a strap staple goes missing. I have to improvise with one of Jenny's hairgrips* (*yes, I have brought enough to spare!!! - Jenny). And, what with sitting in the sun, chatting to an English teacher from Paris, and watching a sad pair of lads fumble their way off the hill, whilst an assortment of others come and go, the four hours to dinner soon pass.

Pre dinner: 1664

Dinner:
Asparagus ('mountain vegetable') soup with croutons
Pork fillet in sauce with garlic potatoes and ratatouille
Lettuce
Ice cream (vienneta) + fruit cake and cream
1.5 litres red wine

• Quite a few people seen today, even a couple of English on GR5, but only about 20 staying at the refuge
• Marmots seen today - fat ones - kept popping into holes
• Birds of prey near Plan Sec
• Unfriendly guardian at Fournache
• Nice at Plan Sec
• Good streams at head of valley
• Interesting shower with unstable temperatures (esp for whingeing Martin)

Full moon lights the way to the toilets.

Martin

[Stats: 8.30 to 3.00 including 2 hours stops = 4.5 hours, 11.0 km, 700 metres ascent.]

(Anquet: 13 km, 1200 m ascent)

Saturday 31 March 2018 – Wythenshawe parkrun number 332, and A Marathon Fundraising

Whilst Sue and Jeanette chatted their way around the 5km course, walking it in a shade under 40 minutes, Paul blasted round in 22.30 (those were the days – I used to be able to do that!), and I struggled home in a bit over 25 minutes. If I could keep that pace up I’d do next Sunday’s marathon in under 4 hours. But I couldn’t keep it up for another one km, let alone 37!

The results are here.

That’s my last timed run before the Manchester Marathon on 8 April. I’m hoping to enjoy that event, but it’ll be extremely hard work for a good five hours.

I’m using this marathon as my annual fundraising effort for the Levana School Partnership – a small charity that supports two township schools in Cape Town. My JustGiving page is here. All contributions, however small, are very much appreciated. The money goes a long way when spent in South Africa, and it does make a difference for a lot of children.

Thursday 29 March – A Short Walk from the Wizard

Time travelling back to the present (see previous entry), at last I’m now fit enough to be able to arrange a few morning walks. This one was at very short notice, so it was great that JJ, Rob and Pam were able to join me for this pleasant amble. We are pictured above, near Alder Wood, on the North Cheshire Way.

Setting off along the NE path to Mottram St Andrew from the NT car park by the Wizard café (£4 for 2 hours, £7 for longer – the National Trust subscription soon pays for itself), we soon got good view over Cheshire towards the Peak District.

Before setting off, I’d warned the others that it might be a bit muddy in places!

Generally, the paths to Mottram St Andrew were pretty good. A short stretch of quiet road through the village led eventually to the North Cheshire Way footpath, through fields bulging with new-born lambs.

This post in Alder Wood pointed towards Alderley Edge, but the wood carving indicated our closeness to Hare Hill, which I’d have visited if there was a good off-road route back to the car park.

However, we chose the direct route to Mount Farm, then on to Edge House Farm, which has for some considerable time been the subject of a major construction project. I expect the locals will be pleased when it’s finished.

Rob’s photo seems to show me pondering something technical. The route?

We returned past the Engine Vein, pictured below, which a few years ago was an ugly open scar, where a line of early mining pits was excavated in around 1900.  After being fenced off, it now looks grassy and benign, hiding centuries of mineral excavation.

Numerous old tools, dating back as far as the Bronze Age (2500 to 800 BC) have been found hereabouts.  Many minerals are found here in the space of a few acres, including copper, lead, iron, zinc, silver, arsenic, silicon, barium, vanadium, and magnesium, in a variety of forms, mainly as thin films coating the pebbles and grains of the porous sandstone.  From the Engine Vein, later galleries and levels amounting to 22 miles in length, reach out beneath the Edge.

After about 100 minutes of walking, and having covered all of 7 km, JJ elected to drag us in to the Wizard Tea Room to continue his cake training regime for this year’s TGO Challenge, whilst I set about calculating how long the marathon I’m doing on 8 April would take at this pace. Ten hours – I think the finish may be closed by then!

An excellent little outing; thanks everyone for turning up, and to Rob for his photos. Here’s the route we took – 7 km with about 150 metres ascent, taking rather less than 2 hours.

There’s a longer version of today’s outing described here.

I’ve planned a couple more morning walks – all are welcome:

Thursday 5 April - A short morning walk from Lindow Moss car park opposite the Harvester Boddington Arms on Racecourse Road, SJ 888 863. Meet at 10.30am for this 6-7km stroll.

Wednesday 11 April - A morning walk around Bramhall and Poynton. Meet 10.00am at Bramhall Hall, SJ 888 863 for a 14km stroll.

Saturday 14 April
The Calderdale Hike - 22 or 40 miles around Calderdale. (I’ll will be doing the 22 mile route.)

There’s also a 15 mile LDWA walk near Rivington on Easter Monday if anyone is interested. JJ and I will be in attendance.

A Short Tour of the Vanoise – Sunday 26 August 2007 - Day 1 – Modane to Refuge d'Orgère

The Tour of the Vanoise route, and part of GR5, is portrayed above, with the route we took being the small loop at the bottom, annotated with our days 1 to 7.

So longer routes are available. They are detailed in Kev Reynolds’ Cicerone Guide to the area.

Here’s Sue’s diary record for Stage 1:

Sunday 26 August 2007

Off to a gentle start - a leisurely breakfast at 8.30. We arrange to meet at 9.30, which all comply with on a warm morning with a blue sky. We admire the proprietor's flowers - Martin attempts to lock the car, parked opposite the hotel, to no avail. The attempt continues for over half an hour, with the manual coming out - but it's in French. Eventually we seek the assistance of the hotel owner, who stands several metres from the car, a Renault Megane, and manages to lock it. He is proclaimed an expert, and finally we set off at 10.10.

The industrial part of Modane is soon left behind and we walk through quiet streets, where the only noise is from racquets on a tennis ball from a court by the road.

Slowly, we begin to climb, first through streets, then onto a track, and finally on steep paths through woods. It is very warm, despite the shade of the trees. There are nearly 900 metres to climb but the steep path affords good progress. At about midday we stop on the path to brew and snack - glimpses of Modane below.

First brew above Modane

It's so hot that Richard removes his t-shirt and treats us to his 'brown loaf' stomach. (We were spared a photo today – Ed)

A lovely open meadow is soon reached and I share some tiny, ripe, alpine strawberries, picked on the trail. We see the first people since the village on the meadow. More woodland follows - with lovely warm pine smells and singing birds.

Cabin below Refuge d'Orgère

The refuge is soon in sight - at the road head. We enjoy Salade de Montaguerde in the sun, then settle into Dortoir 3.

Lunch at Refuge d'Orgère

The afternoon's activity is the 'Sentier Natur' - mostly in shade, which consists of information boards describing birds/animals/geology, and guessing games - 'Who am I?'

Sue with Crocus on the Nature Trail

Willowherbs, and Refuge d'Orgère in the distance

A moth

A Nature Trail waterfall

We climb towards the pass up the valley, then descend near sheep pens where two fearless marmots are munching the grass.

Sue stalks a marmot

The track leads back to the Refuge d'Orgère for showers, then beers under a broad umbrella.

Dinner at 7 pm - soup, pork chops with boulangère potatoes, lettuce and cheese, then egg custard. The red wine flows at dinner and accompanies our game of Uno - Martin (as usual) wipes the floor with Richard and me.

Our game is accompanied by harmonica tunes from a 'fondue party' to celebrate a birthday - the musician is good and even indulges us with a baroque classic. Finally head for bed ~10 pm, with a nice, nearly full, moon.

Sue

[Stats: Start 10.10. Brew stop at 1700 metres 12.10 to 40. Finish at hut 1.20 (2.5 hours walk, 5.5 km, 880 metres ascent - Stage 1). Plus nature trail 4km + 185m ascent in 2.25 hours.]

(Anquet: 6 km, 1186 m ascent, + Nature Trail 4 km, 250 m ascent)

A Short Tour of the Vanoise – Saturday 25 August 2007 - Day 0 – Travel to Modane

This series of entries is my attempt to digitise some diary entries made in 2007, shortly before the setting up of this blog. Whilst the trip was over ten years ago, it recounts our hutting trip on a popular route and may be of interest to anyone wanting a relatively easy hut to hut route for a week’s holiday in great alpine scenery. Sue, Jenny and I took turns in writing the diary, as annotated to the various entries. Pen shy Andrew and Richard completed the ‘Famous Five’.

"Carry On Up The Vanoise" (with 'The Famous Five')

We meet at Manchester Airport at 8.00am. Andrew has been here for some time, but is strangely sitting in 'arrivals' - is he unsure about this trip?

The self check in proves to be less successful than we'd hoped, but we all manage to check in and board the plane. Jenny has taken four 'Kalms' and has a bit of a hangover, so the flight is not too bad all things considered.

Richard has managed to lose his sunglasses before we are even out of the UK, but apart from that we arrive in Lyon intact and in good time.

Martin arranges the car hire while Sue, Jenny, Richard and Andrew have to fend off an overactive child.

Drive to Decathlon for camping gas (Martin), sunglasses (Richard), and a top (Jenny). Lunch in a small lay-by, then it's off to Modane. Check in to the Hotel Perce-Niege. Hotel is nice - apart from strange padded doors - what are they expecting us to do, we wonder?

Beers in Modane.

Then a meal at the hotel - French cuisine here, unlike the rest of Modane* which seems to be more of the pizza variety. Good food and a nice atmosphere. Richard is told off for eating Jenny's pudding (fruit) - although it then becomes unclear as to whose husband is Jenny's as Andrew also appears to be eating her pudding.

All retire early, ready for tomorrow's walk. Nice tarte aux pommes.

Jenny

* we didn't actually see the centre of Modane, which was in the unknown territory beyond our hotel!

Where am I now?

Having failed to take any photos at Saturday’s parkrun, I found myself back in the area (Northern Moor) supervising a fitter at Mike and Sarah’s house.

It was lovely to be able to walk to the park in five minutes and enjoy a five kilometre circuit amongst the daffodils and newly arrived chiffchaffs on the lovely sunny day, before returning to brew more coffee for Steve, then zooming home to find Gareth the plasterer having sorted out our kitchen ceiling which has had a hole in it for several years!.

The next set of postings may be of limited interest as they are another throwback to 2007.

Winners!

Sue and I recently got around, rather hurriedly at the last minute, to entering the Austrian Alpine Club’s 2017 annual photography competition.

There are several categories:

• General, divided into Best Mountain Landscape/Wild Country, and Best Portrait/People
• Nature
• Typical Austria

The entries were judged by previous winner Malcolm Imhoff FRPS who is not only one of the regular entrants to this competition but also a highly respected photographer with many national and international photographic awards.

He judged my photo taken with my Samsung S5 phone to be the Best Mountain Landscape/Wild Country image, commenting as follows:

‘A beautiful scene, well captured - a calendar shot!. The exposure is well handled and the colours nicely saturated. The image is nicely composed, with a lead in from the bottom left to the lakes, then across the mountain peaks, which are taller at the sides helping the frame the picture. There is a lovely blue sky with cumulus clouds.’

I think the S5 has to take some of the credit….

I don’t think Sue rated her ‘Edelweiss’ picture as her most likely chance of success, but Malcolm awarded her a Highly Commended Certificate in the Nature category, commenting as follows:

‘Well this jumps out at you. Edelweiss are small tatty things but these are enormous and quite beautiful, so well done to the photographer for getting in so close and capturing them. The flowers stand out well against the dark background but there are quite a few pointy blades of grass which distract and could easily be removed. It's called "gardening".’

This was a carefully composed shot using her Canon Powershot G15.

Sue’s other entries are shown below:

General: Cape Verde Angels

General: Shades of Blue

General: Washing day in Cape Verde

Nature: Feeding fritillary

Typical Austria: A cosy hearth

Typical Austria: Water power

Here are my other entries, for what they are worth…

General: Austrian Hiker

General: Morning View from Heinrich Schwaiger Haus

General: Resting below Bonn Matreier Hut

Nature: Cloud Over Kaprun

Nature: Wintergasse glacier melt

Typical Austria: Krefelder Hikers

Typical Austria: Lobbentorl