Metzeral to Grand Ballon: Day 153

A steep climb through forest, then a walk along the ridge with good views ending in the Grand Ballon, the highest peak on the Vosges at 1424 metres.

After a good breakfast I walked along the road for the three kilometres back to the GR5 at Mittlach. On the way crosses filled a field for French soldiers killed around here in the First World War, another reminder that this was once a war zone. I thought of those dying in the current war in Ukraine and the news today about senseless deaths in Israel.

I was glad I was still fresh for the long uphill trek, regaining the height lost yesterday. The track snaked up the mountainside, switchback followed switchback as I gradually gained height in the mixed woodland. Today the paths and forest tracks were good, hard earth with crisp brown leaves or gravel, much appreciated by my knee. On the wayside there were still flowers, which my phone identified as types of toadflax.

With time I reached the upper part of the ridge where cows grazed on rough pasture, their ringing bells giving an Alpine atmosphere. Where not used for farming myrtille (blueberry) bushes covered the ground, their leaves turning red with the declining days of summer. The path and tracks were flatter now I was following the ridge, generally to one side or other of its crest, sometimes across open land, other-times in trees, their leaves starting to yellow with the coming autumn. Beside the trail a hiker was applying tape to each of his toes, nearby a man was sitting beside a model glider, maybe waiting for the wind to be right.

Cows on the high pasture on top of the mountains. 

Looking along the GR5 path which followed the ridge.

At Le Markstein there were a collection of buildings where the road crossed a pass. One was a restaurant where, for lunch, I availed myself of a tart flambe with Munster cheese, a bit like a pizza but no tomatoes. Then the trail continued to the Grand Ballon but just before was an open Ferme Auberge where I had a late desert of plum tart with Chantilly cream (what we used to call squirty cream) sitting outside. The lady serving also filled my water bottle. As I was finishing my cola, the farmer was leading his cows in to be milked, while the resident farm collie, sculked under my table.

Ski paraphernalia on approach to Le Markstein 

A final pull took me to the top of Grand Ballon, the highest mountain in the Vosges at 1424 metres,  On the treeless summit there was a large, spherical radar dome above an architect design base and a monument to the Diables Bleu, another First World War commemoration, this time to the mountain infantry. Around me a panorama of mountains turned to grey in the evening haze, with villages in their valleys and the plains beyond. Possibly it was my imagination but as I looked in the direction I would be walking the next few days, the mountains seemed to coming to an end. The GR5 is not direct in this section but heads to the town of Thann before returning to an area within several kilometres of where I have been walking today.

Tomorrow night I have a hotel room booked in Thann but tonight I am wild camping, the Club Vosgien hotel at Grand Ballon being very much closed, as were two other places I passed. Hidden in the trees I doubt I will bother anyone. As I lie in my tent the noise of motorbikes on the nearby road continues despite darkness having just fallen. The bikers seem to like the windy roads over the cols or passes in the Vosges.