Tour du Mont Blanc -Part 1

June 29 - July 17 ---- some other things apart from trek will be covered in part 2

July 4 - 12 2018  Hiking/ Trekking
110 Miles plus some

Mont Blanc Circuit 170 km (110 miles) around Mont Blanc through Italy, France, Switzerland.. crossing many passes, varied landscapes, wildlife sightings, perfect timing for wild flowers & of course mountain weather which is unpredictable & that's the best part (sun, fog, mist , rain, thunder). Usually done in 11 some days, well as always last minute and had to shop around for availability for the time frame. Later discovered to some extent how this came about and got added as additional trip and thanks to coolest group for joining, without whom it wouldn't have materialized  "L-DOSBMJZ - YVRJ'  ( Thnx). This was the first time with Salamander and they did really great in all aspects.

The trek is really very well supported with refuges at places, water facilities, one can get food, in that

sense kind of luxury while hiking / trekking . We had our own picnics & other things which were really neat, thanks to our group we had further luxury of hot beverages, frisbee atop mountain, our own impromptu competitions :) and what not. The guides / individuals at mountain huts, museums are really helpful &  eager to share information with everyone. One can do self guided or with guide ( from my pov: for this one the second option is coolest in particular as you have fun with group for this long distance). Given this was Soccer world cup it was perfect timing to visit and experience the matches here. More on it later. If you are fan of it , your walking speed would automatically reflect it :)

For the trek itself, it can be done clockwise or counter clockwise. We happened to do it clockwise in 8 days with extra day of further hiking. The highest pass elevation wise is 9000 feet and rest all walks are mountain walks with different terrain, dirt, talus fields, gravel, rocks etc. You name it and you have it. Some small snow fields to cross based on what time of the year one does it. Being very famous trek in Europe one can find all information about route etc. anywhere and there is already too much information available on the net. Sometimes or rather its always good to experience somethings in surprised fashion and not with all calculations and reading too much into other individuals experiences. Atleast that's what works for me, can not define it for others.There will always be variations based on mountain weather conditions & some other factors for people taking different routes. No matter what, Overall beautiful place, people, culture. It was nice to experience local dances on Italian side with enthusiastic group of kids.


Chamonix and surrounding area is Macca for runners of many kinds and got a chance to see some events which were going on ( later on did run in national park and it was good), besides the world climbing championships were being held in Chamonix which was delight to see,  really motivated & daring dirt bikers (once you see where they ride bikes one would know ) are sight to behold.



Just before starting trek spent couple days in Annecy, France and at the end couple in Nice,France. Exploring town and hiking around some places.

Instagram Glimpses 1:  

Instagram Glimpses 2: 


TMB TREK Part 1:-

TMB Part 2 :-

 




 

 

Tour Du Mont Blanc- Part 2

Some other Towns, National parks, hikes :

Click on Pictures to Zoom

Just before starting Tour Du Mont Blanc spent couple days in Anncey, France.
Beautiful place called as Venice of french alps, had come across it while reading something. The lake, canals in the old town are really fun place to explore, walk around. Boat ride gives you an idea about surrounding area. Luckily some weekend parade and event was going on & girl doing acrobatics on rope was simply amazing, also would like to mention the street side spray painter artist making canvas paintings was really nice to watch. Besides it was really perfect place to watch soccer matches with the masses.
The farmers market is really nice here.The Bell museum is really noteworthy and how they are made,

tuned etc is really a thing to see on video and understand. There are many hikes around area and happened to do Veyrier mountain, Gorges du Fier etc. One interesting thing was community garden where people are allowed to pick vegetables for free and from lady's explaination its kind of new concept being tried on and people are allowed to take small portion of vegetables. Nice thing. Plants were really healthy and taken care of. The place had really great vibe. just couple days before trek it was great to explore this town and loved it.

Post Trek went to Nice, France.
Just some days much time was spent in travel , could have opted for some other means or had made better use of time could have done some other things....

Nice:- Historic old town, the beach front to walk on , the castle hill, port. Morning while taking stroll around town came across tour of place and glad could join them. Maya was really nice and was giving really good information about the place, food, quarters, navigation, pointing out Nicard language etc. The musicians on the castle hill were really good.Given it was Bastille day the celebrations were on, nothing much in Nice just some laser spread on waterfront. Rather than walking many times same place could have gone somewhere else instead. 

Mercantour national park:- Guides are really nice here and was pressed for time hence couldn't take guided walk but did do the hike and run down was great. The Guides & people were nice in
pointing out the petroglyphs ( thanks to them ), I guess i wanted to do run on TMB too and finally it happened here. One can see wildlife here.

Monaco, Monte Carlo:- Really nice place with nice crowd and had fun watching France-Croatia final match here.The streets, waterfront is nice place. Came here post Mercantour hike hence didn't have much time. Enjoyed game with locals and just a small evening stroll in the town, casino, church and somethings. Really great place and has really good vibe.

Eze:- Medieval castle town, the hill walk is really good, with many boutique shops and castle to explore.With some showers  it becomes further interesting place. The cactus garden atop is well maintained and worth a visit.The perfume factory is really good place to see how things are made and grab one if you are one of those. The food stall lady at the parking lot is nice and
place is good for grabbing quick bite.

Lyon:- Post Eze en route Geneva just got couple hours late in the evening here and used them to see somethings in the old town.

Overall, France various towns have really friendly people and one gets good vibe at every place. Given that lot of  history is associated, there are many things to do and see at every place.


After some 170 miles of leg work back to place called home.



Part 2 some glimpses album:-



 Instagram 1:-

Instagram 2: