TMB Day 7 - La Fouly to Champex

It was a little sad to leave the idyllic village of La Fouly and the Edelweiss hotel.  On the outside the hotel looks a little old but on the inside, the rooms, bathrooms, the dining room and bar, all looked very modern.  The food was good and breakfast was better than average.

As we walked out of town on the main street, there were many hikers heading in the same direction.  Most of them, I am sure, are heading towards Champex.  La Fouly to Champex is about 15.5km, with a height gain of about 450km.  This is supposed to be the least demanding hike, although everything is relative.

Our first stop is Praz de Fort, 9km away.  This, by far, is the most beautiful part of the entire TMB circuit.  It's like walking through fairyland, with its postcard villages, mountains, streets and houses.  We stopped many times to take pictures.

A typical Swiss window, with a flower (usually geraniums) box

Road leaving out of La Fouly

Beautiful blue skies and trees

Firewood is stacked, ready for the winter

View of the mountains as we were leaving La Fouly

We crossed many wooden bridges

Approaching Praz de Fort

What are the seven dwarfs doing in Switzerland?

A postcard Swiss village

A drinking fountain, with real mountain spring water

A very clean public toilet in the middle of town

We were here!

A well-preserved old building alongside the trail

At around noon we finally arrived at the town of Issert, after walking through Praz de Fort.  As we get on the main road we saw many of our fellow hikers stopping at a cafe for lunch.  We decided to do that as well.  We ordered an omelette and a sandwich.  Normally, we skip lunch, eating what we "picked up" at the hotel during breakfast.  We also carry a fair amount of snacks - beef jerky, energy bars, trail mix, M&M, kit-kat chocolate, etc.  Besides water we also bring bottles of Gatorade that we mixed with powder that we brought with us from home.

Cafe at Issert

Backpacks and hiking poles taking a break as well

At Issert we have a decision to make.  According to our TMB route, the next stop for the night is Champex.  However, our tour company, Alpine Exploratory, could not find us a bed or room in Champex.  The next best thing they could do is find us a room in Orsiéres.  Our original plan was to take the bus from Issert to Orsiéres  about 20 minutes away.  Because we've been having such an easy hike so far that day, we decided to go to Champex first.  This could've been a mistake.

Issert to Champex is about 4.5km but you have to climb 450m.  Doesn't seem much but after a while it seems a long long way.  What kept us motivated were some of the wooden sculptures that lined the trail and the abundance of colorful mushrooms.  We were later told that this part of Switzerland is well-known for its wild mushrooms.  However, if you don't know what is edible and what is not, you better stay away from eating any of them.  We also found many wild raspberries and blueberries.  Those were tasty.

We finally got to Champex at about 3:15pm and waited for about 30minutes before catching a bus to
Orsiéres.  The buses here are so infrequent that if we miss this bus, we'd have to wait for at least another hour.  It was a slow winding road down.  Finally, we arrived at the train station and our hotel is right across the street.

Road leading out of Issert

As we climb higher, looking back at the beautiful places we left behind

Wooden sculptures along the trail

Champex Lake, taken from the bus stop

Four different varieties of wild mushrooms

Instead of feeling fresh, we were tired when we checked into the Hotel Terminus.  It was a nice hotel with a nice restaurant.  After a freshening up we walked to town to see if we can find other restaurant choices.  Nada.  Nothing.  This is really a small town.  We ended up eating at the hotel, with a serving of wild mushrooms as appetizer.  A nice ending to a long day.