Refuge de l'Econdu to Refuge des Arolles (12.3km, +751, -753)
I start the day with a short descent through active farms. There's some pigs around, and I can't help but wonder if they were the source of last night's dinner. Talk about farm-to-table.
Lac de Saint Guerin is below me, it's large dam on the right. A bridge takes me over the lake, and then the familiar climb starts. I'm overtaken by the lovely French women I met two days ago, and we exchange pleasantries on the hike and the heat. Like me, she is showing signs of a deepening tan. In this heat, any protection I slather on myself in the morning is quickly washed by the sweat.
I stop at Refuge l'Alpage and am soon joined by the others on the trail: the French couple and the Belgian mother and daughter duo. I've heard good things about this hut, but i'm not stopping here for the night. From here the trail is simply gorgeous - a mix of rocks and boulders and blueberries, it feels remote and wild. I enjoy this part so much that I slow down, savour every moment. Below me is a populated valley, but up here, it's as if I'm in another world.
I reach a small lake, take my shoes off, dip my toes and sing Happy Birthday to myself. I'm 43, and just a few years ago I couldn't have imagined spending my birthday in a place like this. Any sorrows for spending my birthday by myself are dwarfed by the beauty and silence of this place.
Refuge des Arolles is ran by a French women, all on her own. It's mostly a winter hut, located next to the cablecar, and it doesn't get much traffic in the summer. It is also probably the creakiest I've even been to. But it has one thing that no other hut on the trail had so far - working showers. And it even has unlimited hot water. What a treat! I wash off 4 days of sweat and dirt and feel completely new.
For dinner we get steaming lasagne, and by know it feels like we are a group, with the conversation in French peppered with some English, to the benefit of myself and the Dutch guy, who's French is much better than mine. I step outside at sunset and look at the view, the moon shining a light on the Mon Blanc. Later it's dark enough to see the stars, with the village lights twinkling in the valley below. I retire to the cramped dormitories, thanking my luck for sharing it with only 2 other people.
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