Well the weather in Chamonix has been beautiful the past few days, with high temperatures and glorious sun. A lot of people have been choosing the easier going activities with all the heat we've been having; either heading up to high mountain for a stroll around and a look at the glaciers, or getting in the lakes and rivers, or just taking a fairly easy walk around the valley under the cover of trees.
On Friday we opted for the idea of a nice gentle but long walk from Chatelard all the way back to Chamonix, as the walk is good with many different views along the way and with minimal amounts of uphill to keep the sweating a t bay.
We caught the train up to Chatelard which is just across the border into Switzerland and the train for most of the journey is free with your Carte D'hôte only paying for the last part of the journey between Vallorcine and Chatelard.
From the border there is a footpath which goes around the border patrol, passing near some of the climbs we had a go at the other week. There were not many people climbing in the area as even the wall was sweating it was that hot. The walk round from here to Col des Montets is fairly easy and straight forward, with good signage and clear set paths with a progressive uphill but not a gruelling hike up.
On the way toward Vallorcine we passed the Barberine waterfall and nice pool of water, where we proceeded to jump in for a quick paddle and cool ourselves down. However it should be noted that although rare the dam above cannot give warning to when it releases a larger amount of water when the gorge here will be filled with a raging torrent of water, so I would not advise jumping in!
After we had cooled down in the lovely cold water we carried on, feeling much more refreshed, toward Vallorcine crossing through the town and getting on the path toward the Col des Montets, with some outstanding views to be seen in the area, mountains all around and still just a little bit of snow left up on the peaks!
It was a lot hotter out in the sun away from the cover of the trees, so on reaching the Col we were welcomed by the cooler air underneath the cover of trees with a predominantly downhill trail from then on. We walked along the grand balcon sud crossing various waterfalls on the way using them as a good excuse to cool down and fill our water bottles up, gorging on the cool liquid.
On the last leg of our hike, we stopped for some coffee at the gorgeous Chalet Floria near Flegere, which has some amazing views from the flower-filled terrace! And if you fancy a really easy day coming up to this spot is only about 45 minute walk from town with coffee as your reward at the top.
After the Chalet the walk the rest of the way is all downhill, exiting on to the rue des Nants which heads down toward town where we found ourselves passing Bar'd Up. Noticing that they now have three hours of recession busting happy hours we felt it'd be rude not to check these out, which was great after our long walk down the valley.
Chamonix is great for the amount of activities available, no matter what the conditions there is always something to be done, either heading up the mountain or staying below to have a comfortable day doing whatever you like to do, so stop looking at the weather forecasts and just book your flight over, you'll love it.
Don't forget to keep an eye on our What's On Calendar for a full list of events taking place over the summer months.
