Hiking above Vilars

 July 9 Saturday

I’m several days behind in writing the daily blog posts. I’ll look at my pictures and see a what I remember. 

We’re really enjoying the group. There are 14 of us plus our guide, Marta. 3 couples, 2 single men and 6 single women. All are interesting, nice people.

The schedule has been changed slightly because the Tour de France is coming through so we have a to change the order of when we do things. 

The breakfast is a huge buffet with a variety of meets, cheese, fruit, breads of all kinds, nuts, yogurt, pop corn, champagne for mimosas. 

We walk about a half block to the train station where we catch a a small local cog train to take us up to the start of our hike. We hike through alpine meadows and need to  watch for cow pies. The pace is comfortable. I quickly realize that I left my a phone back at our hotel room. I’m not sure if it’s getting too not take pictures or frustrating. And I won’t get credit for all the steps I take today on my health app.  

We stop and have a snack. We eat the apples, cheese and chocolate that we brought with us

We had heard that there was a marathon race going in the general area where we were hiking but that they would probably be through by BBC the time we were there. As we start coming down the stereo, Rocky section, runners are coming up! Oh my, they’re the  racers! Don’t want to get in their way or make them break stride. We try to pass where the path is wider or get through the narrow sections between runners. We cross the road at the high by point of the pass of the Tour de France tomorrow.

A little further on is the farm place where we will see how they make the local cheese and have a a fondue lunch with the cheese that is made right there.

There is va a support tent for a the a runners. It included va a trip of alpine horn players playing traditional tunes. The cows seemed va to like it As they were huddled close to the fence.  

The cheese is made in large vats that are on a metal bar so they can move on and off the fire relatively easily. The room is very warm and small. I think we were all ready to leave the room and get our fondue. It was good and plentiful and we Weren’t able to finish ours.

After lunch we had a choice of walking about 10 minutes up a the road to a a bus stop to take us back to town or BBC walk about an hour downhill to the lower bus stop. Most of us opted for the shorter walk. 

There was a support tent set up for the Tour de France tomorrow. Many bikers were riding by the course today just for fun. I was sitting near the support station and BBC as man about 60 puffed his way up, laid his bone down and his wife came over and gave him a hug and a kiss. It BBC was cute a and a sweet. It was one of the harder days for the tour because of the elevaron gain to the pass. Luckily, we had some help with that elevation gain.

Back at our fancy hotel, we have dinner and then go to our balcony where the alpine glow is in full bloom.

I May come back and add some pictures that I snag from someone else.