Wednesday 21st July 1999
This walk has become a favourite with the family. Christine, Alasdair and I repeated the walk, in rather better weather, in 2000. And Christine’s brother and family did it in 2003. Don’t do it in bad weather! Wait for a nice sunny day!
The Diary
and commentary
We went to the telepherique, got a return ticket (76F), just in case, and ascended into the realm of mists. We started walking at 10 not able to see farther than 50m. I was carrying A’s rucksack with just the stuff for a day walk. We went along the wooden walkway to the Puy de Sancy and then set off northwards along the GR4 to the Col de la Croix St. Robert. It was an interesting walk – good map and compass work. At times it felt exposed but we could not see if it was or not.
When we repeated the walk in 2000, we found that we had been very close to the edges of steep cliffs. We were in no danger of falling off, but in retrospect it gave us a little added frisson of danger.
We got to St. Robert just after 12 and thought of continuing north to Puy de la Tache but it was still misty. So we took the path down via the Grande Cascade which is very picturesque. And we got to town just after 2. The main purpose of this was for A to have a pain au chocolat – which he did – twice. We also got some fruit and, after sitting in a park, took the funicular and walked home. Today it was A’s turn to feel the call of the toilet.
We showered, rested (we were very tired) and had supper. We had another pleasant stroll, played table tennis and went to bed.
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14
Map of Today’s Route
