I had the pleasure of hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc with Blue Backpack Cover, whom I met last year on The West Highland Way.

I had no intention of going on a hiking trip this year, which seemed like a missed opportunity as I was taking a break from work for a while, but when I got an email inviting me to go I immediately said yes.

Even better, my hiking buddy already had a plan, so I didn’t need to put much thought into it. I just turned up and walked.

Our Itinerary

We had a rough plan of where we wanted to get to each day, but we were prepared to go with the flow and make adjustments when we needed to.

We didn’t book any part of our trip, which started for me on the 18th of July and ended on the 28th, apart from my flights and the coach from the airport.

We aimed to complete the tour in 9 days, which would give me plenty of time the day after to get to Geneva to catch my flight back home.

We camped in campsites and spent two nights bivouacking, which in France means you can setup late at night and leave early in the morning.

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I decided to camp near the starting point so I could have a reasonable night’s sleep before I started.

I flew from Manchester at 09:00 and arrived at Geneva airport at 12:00. As a UK citizen it took an hour to get through security, after which I took a pre-booked SwissTours coach at 13:30 to Chamonix. I bought the ticket the night before for €10 using Omio, instead of buying it from the driver for €30.

After a brief tour of Chamonix I bought a €2.20 ticket from the seller outside the Chamonix Sud bus station and caught the number 1 bus to Les Houches, getting off at the Bellevue stop before walking 5 minutes to the Bellevue campsite which was €12 for me and my tent.

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After meeting my hiking buddy and getting supplies from the Carrefour supermarket in Les Houches we noticed we were starting late and so paid €20 to use the cable car to skip the first 800m of ascent.

We stayed at Camping le Pontet for the first night, which was €12 each.

Les Houches to Les Contamines: 15km with 300m elevation gain.

2

Our destination for the second night was the bivouac area in Les Chapieux, somewhere we couldn’t have booked even if we wanted to.

When we arrived we set up our tents on the outside of the area and noticed everybody was leaving the middle bit empty. As soon as that afternoon’s storm started up I understood why; so much rain came down that huge puddles were forming in the middle of the field. During a gap in the downpour I noticed that about 10 tents had packed up and disappeared, presumably soaked through in one way or another.

Next to the bivouac area are two bars that sell pizzas that you can take away, so that was dinner sorted.

The valley has no phone service, so send any messages and look up the latest forecast at the top of the hill before the descent.

Les Contamines to Les Chapieux: 20km with 1282m elevation gain.

3

We grabbed breakfast and lunch from the shop attached to one of the bars and set off towards Italy, crossing the non-existent border about lunch time.

We had to leave the official tour to reach our campsite but it was well sign posted and easy to find.

We stayed at Hobo Camping which was about €20 each and so more expensive than the French campsites so far but the facilities were nicer so it was acceptable. The €8 increase easily covered the upgrade from a hole in the floor to a seated toilet with a bidet.

Les Chapieux to Hobo Camping: 25km with 1071m elevation gain.

4

To rejoin the official tour we caught a free bus to Courmayeur where we stocked up at the Carrefour before walking into town.

We ate our lunch atop the first summit and later stopped for an espresso at Rifugio Bonnati, who only accepted cash.

Our hike ended at Arnuova Desot where we took the free coach down the road to Camping Grandes Jorasses.

Dinner was obviously pizza again.

Courmayeur to Arnuova Desot: 21km with 1255m elevation gain.

5

Day 5 took us into Switzerland. We had originally planned for a long day but ended up cutting it short. We arrived in La Fouly and had a leisurely afternoon taking it slow and resting up.

I had been warned that Switzerland would be more expensive but it wasn’t until we went to the supermarket that I really noticed. Some things were just a little bit more, which is fair when you’re looking at Canadian Maple Syrup in a remote, tiny skiing village, but the €5 steaks found in France and Italy were now about €20, so instead we bought pasta.

We stayed at Camping des Glaciers which was about €20 each.

Arnouva Desot to La Fouly: 17km with 820m elevation gain.

6

We combined two segments into one for day 6, thanks to a tip from someone we met on the campsite, so instead of stopping at Champex-Lac we carried on to Col de la Forclaz.

There aren’t that many campsites for this part of the tour, which makes planning a little difficult, but we found out that there’s one attached to a hotel just over the road from the trail.

We couldn’t find any mention of it but now I’m home I’ve been able to find their website. We paid about €20 each.

There was a little bit of snow on the trail but we were able to walk around it without special equipment.

La Fouly to Col de la Forclaz: 34.5km with 1397m elevation gain.

7

This was a tough day, both physically and logistically.

We descended into Trient and walked past a campsite. We probably could have made it here the night before but we were glad we stopped walking and camped where we did.

After a ridge walk in the clouds and a long descent through a forest we got a bus into Argentière. This was €2.20 and you pay by scanning your card on one of the ticket machines on the bus, although they aren’t always working.

We stocked up at the supermarket before heading to Camping Glacier D’Argentière. Being back in France meant the campsite was a more reasonable €12 each.

Col de la Forclaz to Montroc: 19km with 1145m elevation gain.

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We caught the bus from Argentière back to the start of the trail. Unfortunately the ticket machines on the bus displayed “system inactif” and wouldn’t let us pay, but we soon got over it.

Our route involved about 10 sets of ladders at about 2000m up. These were ok, even though I don’t like heights. It rained a little, which made the metal cold, but I was wearing finger-tip-less merino gloves and didn’t notice it.

There are alternative routes that don’t involve ladders but I couldn’t tell you where they are. As a Brit I was expecting loads of signage warning you about the ladders and where the alternative routes are but I didn’t see any. It could have been on the board at the start of the trail that I ignored, but if you don’t want to do the ladders I would advise you to lookup the alternative route beforehand.

The refuge next to Lac Blanc charges €1 for the toilets but we were too dehydrated to need them.

We ended our hike at the cable car station at Flégère around 14:00. We had an espresso and were temporarily tempted to carry on to the end of the trail, but then we remembered the advice to start and end hiking as early as possible to avoid the afternoon storms. Once the caffeine wore off we realised that even if today had been shorter than the others it was just as tough.

We had a snack at Refuge de la Flégère before bivouacking at the artificial lake.

Montroc to Flégère: 10km with 1025m elevation gain.

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Our last day on the trail involved more ascending and even a few more ladders. Most of the morning was spent walking across stones that would have been wet and slippery during a storm so we were glad we camped where we did and tackled this in the morning.

There’s no access to fresh water and not that many streams to filter from for this part of the tour. We remembered reading about this but forgot until we were at the summit and realised we hadn’t seen any water for a few hours. Once we started descending again I filtered a bit of water from a giant puddle we found. I hoped this puddle had formed from the storm the day before so I only had a little bit and tried not to think about it.

There was even a sign at Refuge de Bellachat stating they could not give out water as they did not have much themselves. This was a first for us, as most of the refuges have fresh water available for all, but when you appreciate this one is bolted onto the side of a mountain, about 2000m up in the air, then you can understand why they do it.

We stopped for a citronnade and then the clouds opened up, revealing my favourite view of the whole entire trip.

A long descent down into Chamonix and a bit of road walking took us back to the starting point in Les Houches.

Flégerè to Les Houches: 21km with 875m elevation gain

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After finishing the tour at Les Houches we got the bus to Chamonix where my hiking buddy carried on travelling home.

My flight was the next day so I walked less than 10 minutes from the Chamonix Sud bus station to Les Arolles and camped there for the night. This was €14.20 for me and my tent and was the only campsite I went to that was cash only.

The day after I had breakfast in Chamonix before getting a pre-booked SwissTours coach to Geneva airport in time for my 17:00 flight back home.

Chamonix to North Wales: more than 1000km.

Total distance

In total we walked over 180km and climbed 9.5km of elevation gain in 9 days.