Les Randonees des Alpes

.......or walks in the Alps (so far). Having been here before, we have done quite a lot of the local walks, particularly as we didn't have a car last time, so we thought as would try a walk recommended by our hosts. This entailed a drive to Les Contamines, parking by the church of Notre Dames and then taking the footpath up and up and up to eventually reach the lake - Lac Jovet. It was a beautiful day with temperatures forecast for 35°c in the valley, so a good day to go into the mountains where it would be a bit cooler. Now I have to say it was a really lovely walk, but OMG it was hard! Having done very little research beforehand, when I looked it up on the internet when we got back it was described as 'difficult' and 1020m ascent. No wonder I was cream crackered. I'm glad we did it though!

After a day of rest (and shopping), we tried another epic walk - the summit of Mont Joly. We walked up it last time we came but the started clouds came over at the last minute and we saw nothing. Cruel, cruel weather. This time, again it was forecast to be very warm in the valley, so off we set up the mountain behind us part way by car and the rest by cable car. And this is just to the START of the walk. The rest was again up and up and up, followed by even steeper up. The last scramble was not my favourite bit, but the view at the top was amazing. This walk, though pretty hard, was not as arduous as the previous one, and you see kids AND very senior people walking it so you can't chicken out. Again, I'm glad we went, but I certainly knew that I'd walked. 

Photos to be uploaded later