When in Rhône - Part 3
L'Orgère to Plan Sec
Baguettes, butterflies and (re-)bonjours.
L'Orgère to Plan Sec
Monday, 4th of August
We had a decent sleep in our 6-person dorm room (thank you, ear plugs, for blocking the snoring of our fellow guests!). Breakfast is served in the same room as dinner, buffet-style.
We are impressed with the sandwich filling station that is installed in a side room, and the snacks for the pique-nique![1]
Then, we pack up our bags and head out towards the next refuge: Plan Sec. This will be our first "proper" day - 12km and 800m ascent and 450m descent - what we don't know yet is that it'll feel like a long day!
In the first section of the walk, we climb steeply through another forest - we especially enjoy walking through a boulderfield (it reminds me of Fontainebleau, where I've been climbing before). We don't stop walking until we've gained about 500m of elevation - the Grany biscuit from our packed lunch is a wonderful reward.
We love seeing the many colourful butterflies everywhere (We sing "You're a butterfly/I'll follow you until you love me" to the tune of Paparazzi by Lady Gaga). There are also many crickets around - we had no idea that their noise would become the constant backdrop of these walks.
We decide it's lunch time and stop to eat our sandwiches, perching on some tree roots just by the path. We are delighted when our hostel friends from last night, Rosie and Daisy, come around the bend and say hello. We swap locations with them: they take our lunch spot - and we carry on.
This second part of the walk is a horseshoe around a very blue lake - we can even see our destination across the water, as well as small patches of snow on the dark, dramatic rocks above. The path undulates a lot here while still remaining easily recognisable, making for pleasurable walking.[2] The temperature is just right, too - it's a little overcast, so it's not too cold and not too warm. We pass the time with more rounds of the Alphabet Game.
Soon, we've reached the highest point of the horseshoe path - a col with even more butterflies, clear streams, and (of course) rocks. We lay down in the sun for a while on a particularly large and flat rock, after eating our Madeleines. We are feeling tired - we set off from the hostel 5 hours ago and we still have 3 kilometers to go!
Right after rest on the rock, we have to descend a couple hundred of meters rather steeply, cross a stream, and ascend again. I'm starting to flag now, and my mood is not improved when Sarah spots a marmot which I fail to see!
The final section of the path is relatively flat and allows us to look back on where we have come from, as we are now directly across from where we ate our lunch. We are very pleased to see the sign for the Plan Sec refuge (as a final hurdle, we have to ascend up a grassy slope to reach it, which just feels brutal at this point!).
At Plan Sec, I have a life-giving shower - maybe with the best view I've ever enjoyed while showering? But I do my best to be quick, to save water and let the queue move on!
Then, we have "quiet time", same as yesterday. Sarah reads, and I write and draw this. Sitting at the table in the low-ceilinged bunk house, my hair still wet, my body tired, I feel that particular sense of comfort that you can only get when you come inside after a long day outdoors. It feels cold enough outside for us to buy two hot chocolates, and the warmth and sugar only enhance this contentment.
Our room tonight features two bunk beds downstairs, and a cosy 3-person-nook up a ladder. The two Dutch men who have claimed the beds are relieved that we are happy to sleep upstairs (they have no interest in clambering up and down the wooden ladder in the middle of the night), but it's what I would have chosen anyway!
At dinner, we're seated with both of them and two Australian guys - Jimmy and Adam - an English-speaking majority at the table makes conversation easy for us.
On the menu tonight:
- Pea soup - again! - but with croutons
- Vegetarian chilli, served with polenta and cooked vegetables (mostly courgette)
- Cheese - served on an impressive cutting board with an Opinel knife-holder
- Crème brûlée - set on fire outside by the hostel staff and ceremoniously served on a tray. We are amazed!
Sarah is not quite ready to head to bed (we've been eating a lot of pulses...).
We wander around the perimeter of the refuge. The sky is completely clear and I get the romantic notion that it might be nice to see the stars - I have been reading Orbital by Samantha Harvey and I can see myself contemplating space and life here. However, we are so very tired that we can't wait for night to fall completely. We head inside, the first stars just about visible in the vast space around us.
See you for the next part,
L x
Perhaps it is worth explaining at this stage that when booking to stay in these mountain refuges, you have the option of choosing your level of bed & board. It's possible to sleep in the dormitories or camp outside, and add dinner, breakfast and/or a packed lunch - called pique-nique here! - onto your booking. Since we wanted to carry as little food and equipment as possible (so, no tent, stove and dry food), we are taking full advantage of this. ↩︎
A note on paths: One of the things that surprised us the most is the excellent sign-posting in the Alps. At all junctions, as well as many places in between, we found signs showing which village/refuge lay in which direction, as well as how far away. We had prepared for the Alps to be exactly like the UK, where it is extremely rare to see a signpost! Our usual navigation aides (paper map, digital map, compass) were consulted less frequently during the day - it makes a huge difference to be constantly assured you are on the right path. ↩︎
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