To Champex, Monday July 23
The full Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt takes two weeks of walking. The first three stages are the last three of the TMB in reverse, and we’d already walked from Champex to Chamonix twice. To save some time, we decided to skip those days and had Alpine Exploratory begin our arrangements in Champex, where Stage 4 of their itinerary begins.
We took the TGV from Paris to Geneva and then a smaller train to Martigny.
We could’ve taken another train and local bus to Martigny from Orsières if we didn’t mind traveling another two or three hours. But Chris was clearly exhausted so we paid a cab to drive us up the hill to Champex. This ride cost about $100 and was totally worth it. (The driver said the fare would be “Nonante.” Chris immediately understood this to mean 90 euros. I did too, until I realized that “nonante” is NOT a French word. He was Romanian.)
I noted the minotaur statue in the Martigny town square, assuming that this would be the closest I’d ever get to this town that I’d only glimpsed from Alp Bovine on the TMB. Little did I know that Martigny was soon to become my new home base.
At our old favorite Hotel Alpina, Chris got into bed. I went out to walk around the lake.
We hoped a good meal and a good night’s sleep would set us up to start hiking the next day. But Chris was too sick to eat. I ate most of his dinner on the sly just to make our hosts feel good about how they’d taken care of him.