Day 6 - July 3, 2024 (Switzerland; to Gîte Arpette, 17 km, +600 m, -700 m)

Breakfast was bread, cheese, homemade jam, yogurt from the gîte's cows, and cereal. We set off on a long, but gentle descent to the village of La Fouly so that Sébastien could restock with groceries for our daily picnics, then further descent through a park with lush forests and rapid rivers and cascades. It is amusing walking with the donkeys, as they are like celebrities - so many hikers would stop to take photos and videos of them (we never saw another group hiking with donkeys on our whole trip).

We had lunch at a picnic area playground with a zipline - the boys competed to see who could rebound the farthest. Mark started launching them, which really upped the game. But eventually we had to start hiking again, as today was our longest stretch to cover (although not the steepest elevation changes at least).

We continued through a village (I think it was Praz-de-Fort) that had some houses built into and around large boulders that must have been deposited by past glacial action. Then, up (fairly steeply) into a forest that is famous for its mushrooms, with signage and sculpture along the trail about the many mushroom species. Unfortunately it was not the right season for us to see them - Sébastien told us that the mushrooms would start fruiting later in the summer.

We had a break at a playground by Champex-Lac, a popular lake that I later read is known as "little Canada" (which is apt, as I had been thinking that the lake was almost small enough that I would judge it to be a pond, but that is because we are so spoiled by having numerous, large lakes in Canada). Then we began our final ascent beside a small, but raging, torrent of water, through an incredibly lush forest, to our hut for the night, Gîte Arpette.

Dinner was the earliest yet - 6:30 pm! It was self-serve with veggies for salad, a mixed bean stew and rice - it was nice to have a vegetarian meal for a change. Desert was only fruit, and not well-ripened, so Karim told the owner it wouldn't do, and negotiated ice cream for all the kids instead. It had rained the last hour of our hike and was still cold and drizzly, so I ordered a hot chocolate for myself. 

Dinner was finished so early I had time for a shower, rather than proceeding directly to bed, which felt like a luxury of time, although the water turned out to be only lukewarm. It was our most peaceful night of sleep yet, as there was just us and Florence's family in a small room. Oscar and Victor were finally feeling comfortable enough to try out their English, so the boys spent time trading terms and laughing over mistakes and pronunciation.

View from the village of La Fouly

Rapid waters of the Drance de Ferret River

Roadside poppies

One of the many free-running water troughs we passed throughout our hike

We walked alongside the road for a while, before bypassing the tunnel (a section that I think had been covered as protection against avalances)

Broad river basin - Sébastien told us much of the flow has been diverted to generate hydroelectricity

We had hard-boiled eggs at lunch - they were sold, cooked and brightly coloured, at the grocery store

Miles rides the playground zipline..

...and then Mark took a turn too (as did I, which I think may have been my first time on a zipline)

Mark and Miles admire this lovely front yard garden

This house was build right into a large boulder

The boys could not resisting smashing some shale at our rest stop on the way up the mountainside

One of many carved sculptures in the forest (this one says "Toxic," as it is a poisonous  mushroom)

Another sculpture - they are carved from the trunks of trees that are cut down

The playground on the shore of Champex-Lac had bowls for hoisting gravel by pulley - very popular

This small but mighty torrent of water was channelled alongside our path up to the gîte

The kids enjoy ice cream rather than under-ripe fruit for desert