Les Contamines to Refuge Plan de la Lai: E2 Day 181

A long climb to the Col de la Croix du Bonhomme with the multitudes on the Tour de Mont Blanc (TMB), then a quieter walk with an Alpine ridge section.

After a chat with a New Zealand couple over breakfast, I left the campsite this morning with many others, almost all walking the TMB. After an easy flat path we reached the Chapel of Notre Dome. I popped in to see its baroque interior while outside a guide was explaining its significance to his tour group. After the chapel the track began to climb steeply and people bunched together. All sorts were walking the TMB. Talking with an American group last night I wondered if they were going to manage the complete circumnavigation of Mont Blanc that forms the TMB. Despite staying in chalets and having their luggage transported, they had struggled with the walk from Les Houches, probably one of the easier days. While some moved up the hill so slowly I could easily passed them, others raced ahead of me. The first part was beside a gorge, which most of those walking the route probably failed to notice, as it was almost entirely hidden by trees. At one point however, there was a sign indicating a natural bridge. Although only a few steps off the main trail, I was one of the few people who went to have a look at where the furiously flowing water in the ravine below had cut a hole through a slab of rock.

As the path climbed, the land flattened out for a while and we left the trees for open grassland populated by sheep and cows, kept within restricted areas by temporary electric fences. Among the sheep was a dog, a "patou", who looked like the sheep it was guarding with its white coat. It barked at the group ahead of me then, job done, sunk off for a rest. After much switching back and fore to scale the mountain slopes, crossing streams and rocky patches, I eventually reached the top of Col du Bonhomme after a few false summits.

View from Col du Bonhomme, looking back.

Unfortunately there was further climbing over rocky ground with patches of snow to reach the top of the next pass, Col de la Croix du Bonhomme. At the nearby refuge, after a coffee and chocolate cake, I used the "dry" toilet. After doing one's business, you were instructed to press a pedal five times which moved whatever you had deposited on a belt to somewhere else.

Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme.

 

At 2443 metres, this was the highest point of the day, and also where I left the TMB crowds and followed the quieter GR5 to the south. There followed an excellent section, the path initially followed the top of the ridge and then for a few kilometres a path cut into one side of it. A stone tablet beside the path indicated that it had been built by the 22nd Bataillon de Chasseurs Alpins in 1912. The contorted schist of the ridge was infused with quartz veins. Easily cleaved, the weak rock broke into thin, shiny grey fragments which coated the path. Many alpine flowers bloomed among the grass and rock to my right, blue gentian making an appearance at this altitude. 

Ridge walk after leaving the TMB crowds behind.

Then it was a long trek down, the path taking steep shortcuts to avoid the wide curves of a gravel track as it lost height. Tonight I am bivouacing (i.e. camping) at the Refuge Plan de la Lai, surrounded by wild flowers. A nearby, but unseen bird or maybe marmots, was making alarm calls, possibly as it did not approve the location of my tent. Dinner was at the refuge, everyone on the long table speaking rapidly in French over our pasta bake, salad and a slice of cheese. However they politely dropped into English to check if I was following the same route as them. My lack of French rather puts me to shame.