Previous
Wednesday July 2, 2014
Zermatt, Leuk Stadt, and Leukerbad
Thursday July 3, 2014
Leukerbad, Martigny, and Champex
Next
Friday July 4, 2014
Hiking from Champex to Trient
We woke up to full sunshine, which was somewhat of a shock after seeing
so much rain the night before. Kent and I immediately felt like
we were wasting time and should be doing something - anything.
We both also felt MUCH better after the massaging waters of the Therme
on Wednesday - that was just what we needed...
We
had breakfast and caught the 9:33am bus down to the Leuk train
station. We decided to bike and skateboard in Martigny - Kent had
previously skateboarded all the way from Sion to Martigny, so we'd pick
up from there. We got to Martigny around 11:13am and asked a
sports store if anyone rented bikes in town - they told us the only
place was about a mile out of town. We walked up the main street
and discovered the farmer's market was in full swing. I bought a
pastry for a quick snack. We found the TI at the end of the
street and asked them if anyone had bikes for rent. Turns out the
bike rental shop is right at the train station, but it closed at noon,
and it was about 5 minutes to noon and a long way back. They
promised to keep the bike rental shop open for us. We raced
back there, got a bike and a helmet, and biked and skated out of
town.
Turns out it is totally free to rent a bike for up to four hours!
We had lunch watching a few climbers across the river
We spent three carefree hours biking and skating through the Rhone
Valley on a gorgeous sunny day. Once we got to St Maurice I
realized that I couldn't remember where I placed the key to the locker
in the Martigny train station with all our stuff in it - I figured I
had probably left it at the river where we had lunch. I had also
decided I wanted to take the bus up to Champex Lac to finish the Haute
Route. We headed back to the train station where I got to
sheepishly confess that I'd lost the key to locker 25. I
discovered that the lost key fine is 50 CHF, which was about what I
expected, and they needed a copy of my passport. Fortunately the
Swiss train ticket counter is just as efficient at helping flounders
who lose their locker keys as they are at everything else so we had our
stuff and were on our way in about 20 minutes.
See the nice Swiss train agent get our stuff for us!
I caught the bus
up to Champex Lac and Kent found a room in Martigny.
Orsières from the bus up to Champex Lac. The highway makes a few
switchbacks before heading south up to the St Bernard Tunnel and
eventually to Aosta, Italy
I got off the bus at the last stop in Champex Lac, right across the
street from Pension au Plein Air, one of the few inexpensive places in
Champex that is essentially a dorm. I got their last room, deciding to
spend the extra 8 CHF or so on a room to myself.
I took a walk
down by the lake and got back late for dinner - the hostess was worried
sick about me being late. There were perhaps 40 people in the
dining hall. I soon determined that nearly everyone here was
hiking the Tour de Mont Blanc. I was seated with three other
single guys who were hiking the TMB. They warned me that the
Fenetre d'Arpette was very rugged, rocky, steep, and dificult.
Dinner was a rather plain but quite edible beef stew over rice with
salad.
I paid my bill after dinner because I
assumed I'd be leaving early the next morning.
Champex Lac from my room, looking east to Grand Combin
Champex Lac, looking east to Grand Combin
Previous
Wednesday July 2, 2014
Zermatt, Leuk Stadt, and Leukerbad
Thursday July 3, 2014
Leukerbad, Martigny, and Champex
Next
Friday July 4, 2014
Hiking from Champex to Trient
