Day 7 was our day for Flora and Fauna. Since the Alpage (French/Swiss dorm) was also an active cow farm, our morning was occupied by watching the resident border collie. He was running around the bovines, shepherding them into a cow milking trailer. While the cows ambled on, bells clinking and munching on their breakfast cereal, the dog scurried about from one point to another. When he got tired, he would take 5 in his mini wooden Alpage outside our dorm.
For breakfast, I tended to go for a hearty bowl of chocolate cereal, as I rarely have them back home. But on this day, I ventured out into European Muesli. Muesli is a mixture of oats, cereal, raisins, and more. It managed to combine all the positives of each of its ingredients.
Pronouncing some of the words on the trip was rough, especially when not knowing the language, and the internet connection was spotty. This tour included the towns of Champex, Chapieux, and Chamonix. In Alpage de la Peule’s case, we did not know if “Peule” had a silent L or not. My mom and I treated it as silent; we called it “Pew.” Over time, we jokingly called the dorm, in a high-pitched voice, “Pew Pew,” like how children imitate gunfire. We were obviously wrong; the L was enunciated.
As the dew began disappearing, we left the Alpage de La Peule, making our way down to the village of Ferret. Although the 1000 ft descent was steep (at some points reaching a 36% gradient), we had become adept at using our hiking poles and reached the bottom in no time. At Ferret, we managed to hop on a bus to the village of Champex in a knick of time. Since Champex was renowned for its beauty, lake (Champex-Lac), and an alpine botanical garden, we shaved off some hiking time to wander the town. However, we still ended up covering over 9 miles that day.
Our first stop was the Flore-Alpe botanical garden. Hidden behind a row of splendid houses, this quaint alpine garden was a treat for painters and photographers. Along with being a tourist attraction, the garden hosted active botanical research, especially on the effect of global warming on the Flora. And the effect was evident. The heat wave had severely impacted the plants, wilting many of them into a shell of their former selves. Coupled with the abundance of medicinal plants in the garden, the impact of climate change really hit home. Many pharmaceutical and herbal medications around the globe rely on such plants, and global warming could significantly impact available treatments.
(Photos courtesy of my mother)
After touring the garden, we made our way to the banks of the lake. The glacier-fed lake was bordered by marshes that sunk a couple of centimeters every time you would step on it. Through one such marsh trail, we went to a secluded shaded picnic spot. We nibbled at our packed lunch from Alpage de La Peule and admired the view. The lunch sack had a small local chocolate bar (how swiss), a ham & cheese sandwich (no surprise there), and a tomato (wait, what?). Yeah, just a whole tomato, and it proved to be a fantastic snack. While we ate, a duck family came to check on us. Flapping their little webbed feet, a mother and her two little ones paddled their way towards us. They hung out with us, swimming around the area.
The hike up to our accommodation for the night was my favorite section of the tour. We were accompanied by a small stream for the entire stretch after exiting the town. I was absolutely mesmerized by the ebbs, flows, eddies, and currents of the water. The stream led us across a waterfall and to our Refugio. This dorm was supposed to be a bit unique. We were booked to stay in their petite arpettes, small wooden cabins. These cabins were so small that they barely housed 2 people each. However, rainwater started leaking into the cabins because of an evening downpour. So, they shifted us into one of their small spare dorm rooms.
At Relais d’Arpette (the name of the dorm), someone overheard my parents and me speaking in our mother tongue – Marathi. It turns out a hiker hailing from Kolhapur, India spoke the same language. It felt nice to converse with someone else in our own language. He was also one of the only 3 Indian hikers we met on the tour. This Johnson&Johnson scientist was hiking with his Belgium girlfriend and they were the most prepared. He had done so much research on the TMB that he probably could have gotten his second Ph.D. in it. To train for the TMB, they had completed the Belgium Dodentocht, dutch for March of the Dead. It is a grueling 100km route with a target to complete under 24 hours, which they had done. Their training showed. Our paths crossed for the next couple of days, and at the end of each day, they were the least tired hikers in the dorms.
By this point, the wear and tear of the tour was starting to creep into the rest of the bookatreking group, who were previously as right as rain. Harry, sadly, had to pull out of the tour after day 7, and the 3 Britishers took a short train ride on one of the following days to conserve their energy. Even Tímea was beginning to show signs of tiredness. And there were still 3 more days to go.
Stay tuned for those final days!
Conscience of Aniket 