Day 2 - La Chapelle d'Abondance to the Refuge de Chesery - A Little Scare

On the GR5 you tend to spend the night in a gite in a valley (at around 1000m) or up in a refuge (over 2000 m). The nature of your day depends on where you start and where you finish it. Today was a gite to refuge day, so lots of climbing. As the refuge was in Switzerland we had a bonus border crossing.

The weather was cool, gray and windy but at least dry, though rain was forecast for the late afternoon - motivation to get to the hut before it! We stocked up on lunch material in Chapelle and headed out. Rohan and I drifted off the front towards the top of the long initial climb to the Col des Mattes. It would obviously be a longish, cold wait, so - after a quick phone call with the other two - Rohan and I went ahead. A couple of hours later, we found a sheltered spot for lunch and waited for the others.

Looking S from the Col des Mattes - we'll take the track on the L

We'd eaten all our food by the time the other two arrived, so we exchanged some route information with them (it all seemed pretty straightforward), wished them bon appetit and left them to it. The hut was in the clouds when Rohan and I arrived, but we beat the rain. As we were showering and drinking beer, Rahul phoned to say they had missed a turning and were lost and it was raining. At the same time, the hut started slowly filling up with a party of 17 Welsh and they were plenty noisy. Eventually, we were able to guide Rahul and Jill to a col on the GR5 and they met the tail end of the Welsh party and rejoined us - a bit damp - shortly before the evening meal. Phew!

The hut was bursting at the seams; everyone was glad to be inside as the rain lashed down. The meal was noisy, there was drinking before, during and afterwards but things calmed down as tiredness set in. The 17 Welsh were in a dormitory for 16, so one got voted off the island into our dormitory and - surprise, surprise - he was a snorer. That's why you carry ear plugs!