Friday 12th September: Cold Sunny morning 5°C, warm overcast day 18°C, Cool sunny afternoon 10°C
Sixt-Fer-a-Cheval to Chardonniere: 26.0k 9am to 5pm: 8hrs
Accommodation: Refuge La Chardonniere
Crossing over Pont des Nants
Ladders into the Gorges Tines
More ladders
And more ladders
And there's runners doing this
Re-packing after Carrefours
Lunch watching the hang gliders
Samoens is a pretty ski village
Heading up to the Col de Golese
1829 church at Les Allamendes
Up through the larch forests
Looking down on Samoens
Col de Golese at 1660m
Lunch at 4pm once over the Col
Refuge Chardonniere
Refuge Chardonniere at 1360metres
Refuge is a working dairy farm
Warming icy hands by the fire
Ladders into the Gorges des Tines, a climb up 1000 metres to the Col de Golese through larch forests and a muddy climb down to our farmhouse refuge at La Chardonniere.
We're awake at 6am but no WiFi as Gites de Fance closes it down between midnight and 8am. We have a Jet Boiled tea then pack. Breakfast is hot tea and fresh bread. At 8am when the WiFi is on, we need to book a place 3 days away in Chevenoz. Our warden, Christophe phones ahead to a B and B in Chevenoz but it’s full but booking.com has a Hotel Logis in Bernex. We’ll need a detour to get there. We Facetime home and check emails, then leave at 9am.
It's cold, 5°C, heading down to Pont de Nantes. We follow signs to the Gorges des Tines into the forests, then there's ladders down into the deep Gorge. Walking through is a scramble over boulders. Then more ladders take us out of the Gorge to a forested path down to a flat alluvial plain. Ian's GPS then takes us to Carrefours in Samoens. We need 3 things - Ziploc bags, honey with secure lid and macadamia nuts. The staff aren't helpful and we're directed to a pubic locker room where it's not safe to leave our bags. So we take them in. Carrefours is disappointing - wrong sized ziploc bags, no honey with lid, no macadamia nuts. But we do get fresh bread, bullock hearts tomatoes, dried ham and cheeses, so not all was lost.
Our packs are heavy as we leave. But first a coffee in the flower-lined streets watching hang gliders floating down in the park next door. We have a fresh bread and cheese sandwich – no more as we still have a 1000 metre climb to Col de Golese. We leave towards Les Allamendes, an old German village half way to the col. The path criss-crosses a road, but there's no traffic so we stay on the road where the gradient is easier. At 2pm we’re in Les Allamendes at the church built in 1829. The village has been deserted since World War 1, with unknown consequences for the German inhabitants. It's a pretty walk through larch forests and the car parks belonging to day walkers are full.
The bitumen road turns into a wide gravel track. I daren't stop to eat as we've still a few hours to climb and I don’t want lunch legs, as Donna says. Out of the forests and up to the meadows, there's day walkers coming down towards us. It's getting colder but we can see the top now and walk faster. At last we reach Col de Golese (1660 metres) at 3.40pm and see Refuge de Golese 50 metres across, clearly closed. It was our original destination but now we must walk another 50 minutes to Chardonniere. It's 10°C at the col and we're sweating from the climb and starving. All we’ve had is a cheese sandwich for morning tea and no lunch. 10 mins over the Col we see a nook behind a rock out of the wind where we stop to add extra layers and sit have a sandwich of sausage, tomato and cheese.
30 minutes later we’re off again through larch forests watching for signs to La Chardonniere. The track is slippery with mud intermingled with cow plops. Trying to tip toe through is useless. Just muddy up! Refuge La Chardonniere is in sight on a ledge in the valley. Another 20 minutes and a sign points down a steep forest track towards the farm house/refuge. The farmer greets us and unlocks the door where we're hit by the warmth of a wood fire, and shows us to a 20 person dorm. I's better than we expected. There's one other person, Jean from Luxembourg . The shower is hot and the wood fire is heats the dining room.
There’s just 3 of us at dinner at 7.30pm. Entre is ripe tomatoes with tuna and mayonnaise, main course is a whole chicken breast, fried potato patties, a specialty here, and green beans. Next course is cheese then creme caramel. Josephine, the farmer’s wife has cooked THE best refuge meal we’ve had. 8 other guests are here, but they’ve just come for the delicious dinner. Three carafes of rose later, we've had a nice chat to Jean. He's walking the GR5 from Geneva to Les Houches but is giving up tomorrow. He's had two nights in thunderstorms in a tent, and has serious blisters. He'll do it another time. At 9pm, we're in bed.