Stage 4: Down to the Valley

Champex – Sembrancher – Le Châble 

Monday, July 8

We woke early, next to the Lake in Champix, and had a breakfast of bread, cheese, ham, coffee, and jam.  

Then we headed through the town admiring the lake and mountains.  There were many hotels in the town, one of which we noticed had a group of Americans preparing for a hike.  We started a steep descent and soon the group, of about 10 American hikers, caught up with us. We talked to their guide, Danny, who is employed by a private club called, Apline Wild, that provides guided hikes in Europe.  The group was friends and family going on a modified Haute Route including a the guide, hotels, and a chauffeur to drive their luggage to the next destination.  They were going our way, so we tagged along.  Most of the group were teenagers and parents.  The kids had such light weight and lots of energy, they did push-ups at each sign post!  

We followed them for a few hours and they went ahead.  My dad and I were thinking that tagging along with this guided group would be a good idea, mostly because the guide knew where he was going.  Finding the right way to go was always a constant stress in the back of our minds.  However, they were too fast for us. 

 As we continued to descend the mountain side, beautiful views of mountains and the valley unfolded before us.  Small villages and farm workers were continuing life like normal, but for us, it was extraordinary.  

After loosing track of the group, we came upon the American couple, Rick and Anne, who let us join them for a time.  They are from Maine and had done the Haute Route 10 years previously.  We chatted as we hiked down trails into the town of Sembrancher.  We walked through the cobblestone streets and took a wrong turn up a hillside of vineyards, found our way, through farm fields leading up to the city of Le Chable.  

Rick and Anne moved ahead and we caught up with the guided group and traveled with them in to the city.  As we walked through the dark wooded houses, we noticed a display cow horns on the buildings.  We found out later that the small town had a tradition and history of cow fighting.   

We had a difficult time finding a place to stay for the night, so we went to the train station to ask for advice.  We booked a room in the same building as a gondola, which transported people to higher places in the mountains (that we would be traveling to by foot).  While we were at the train station two male hikers asked us about a place to stay, so we ended up staying at the same place as them.  After unloading our gear, we walked back into town to look for something to eat.  You see, up until then, we had been trying to eat through as much of our food as possible to lessen the load.  By that point,  I was sick of Clif bars, trail mix, beef jerky, and zone bars.  So, we checked out a few places to find some local cuisine, but nothing was open before 6:30 (?!), so after, searching through the streets in the rain, we found a bar, ordered some beers, snacks on pickled cucumbers and onions, and feasted on fondue with French bread.  It was delicious!  The cheese fondue was so rich with wine, then owner brought us each a small glass of German cherry brandy to dip the fondue covered bread chunks in.  It may sound weird, but it was alcoholic goodness.  

After dinner, two guys from England came into the bar for beers as recognized us from stage 2!  We talked about the next stage, and of rumors of bad weather and snow in the Alpine passes.  We said goodbye and good luck and  wondered the streets and tracked our route we would take in the morning.  I ended the night at the hostel by updating the blog and dreaming of climbing...