August 30-September 11, 2003
Today Eva, MaryAnn, Jack, and Jim have to leave. We got up early so we could pack up, clean out the refrigerator, and vacuum the place. Laurie and I walked up to the hostel where we were staying tonight. We wanted to drop off our bags. We were at the hostel at 8:00 right when it opened. We got back to the apartment about 8:20. Everyone was all set to go. We had to be out of the apartment by 10:00. There was only one bus that we could take, so we left the apartment by 8:40.
The bus dropped us off in the middle of the Saturday market. There were vendors all over trying to sep-up. It was drizzling so some vendors weren't set-up. There were lots of fruit, cheese, and sausage vendors. There were also vendors that sold wine, flowers, and household goods.
Since Eva and the rest didn't have to catch their train until 12:18, we walked around the market. We tried to stay under the tents so we wouldn't get so wet
We all met about 11:15 and walked over to the train station and waited for the train. It was sad to see them go. It has been such a great week. It was also a good break for Laurie and me. We didn't have to plan much and we stayed put for seven days.
After we saw them off on the train, Laurie and I went to the internet. They lost power when I was almost done. Laurie and I went to get something to eat in the meantime we hoped that it would be back by the time we went back.
On our way back to the hostel, we stopped in three grocery stores. We were looking for dinner items to take with us on our 14 day walk. We couldn't find any Lipton type dinners or any Ramen. Well, we will find something to eat, I am sure. One other item that we needed was dried milk. We had picked up a package of milk, we thought, in Germany. When we opened it up we found out it was chocolate milk powder. That is one of the dilemmas of not being able to read the package in a different language.
We checked into the hostel about 5:00. The first thing I wanted to do was shower and wash my clothes. I have been in them for a long enough time.
The hostel offers dinner for 8.40 Euros. We thought it was too expensive. So we ate hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, carrots, and peppers with dip. It tasted quite good. For dessert we had picked up a 4 pack of pudding. Since we can't refrigerate them, we had to eat both of them. Not that I found a problem with that.
It is 9:21. The woman that is also staying in the room is not back yet. She has stuff all over her bed. I hope she doesn't come in too late and try to pack up her stuff.
I am going to read for awhile before I doze off. Tomorrow it is back to work. Hiking, planning, and traveling.
August 31, 2003
Today we were suppose to start our walk. We got up at 6:45 to pouring rain. We weren't sure what to do. We certainly didn't want to hike in pouring rain. Since we were up, we decided to pack up our things, strip the beds and go to breakfast.
Our options were to eat, and go back to bed and then check out at 10:00, then wait around for it to clear. The other option was to eat, go back to bed and stay there for the day. We decided to eat and go back to bed until 9:30 and then make a decision.
Breakfast was cereal, yogurt, bread, and juice. There was coffee, but Laurie couldn't find any coffee cups. People were using their cereal bowl for the coffee. They seemed accustom to it.
We went back to the room, put the sheets back on the bed and laid down. It was still pouring at that time. When we got up at 9:30. We decided to check out. We would wait until it cleared a little which wasn't too long of a wait. We stored some of our things there because we didn't need them and we didn't want to carry the extra weight. We walked down to the bus station to catch the 10:15 bus. The rain was just a drizzle. By the time we got to the center the rain had stopped so we started walking
The first part of the walk was walking out of the town along the road. The second was through woods along rivers. I had kept my raincoat on and I was drenched which was from sweat, but I didn't feel hot because the air was cool.
The trail, for the most part, was well marked and the book I was using, "The Walker's Haute Route", by Kev Reynolds, was well written.
We walked into Argentiere, which was the first section. It was only a little over two hours and it was about 5 1/2 miles. We discussed whether to continue on or to stay here. The clouds looked worse up ahead and it had started sprinkling. We had passed a gite named Le Beliedere and it was only 10.50 Euros to stay. We decided to do that. A gite is like a guesthouse. The woman we met, Patty, the owner, is originally from Montreal. She has been here for seven years. We could use the kitchen for 1.25 Euros or buy the dinner and breakfast. We were carrying all this food so we decided to use the kitchen. It is also less expensive that way.
