Day 3 Vercors Circular to Chilchiliane

Day 3 Diary Entry

Not as epic as yesterday’s walk but another good one although again just a bit tougher than we had expected.  It was much shorter walk but we compensated by starting later and didn’t really get going until after 10.  We finished by 4-30 after stopping had a lovely lunch at a little auberge in La Batie.  Perhaps a reaction to yesterday’s huge walk but today felt a lot longer than 6 hours.  There were two significant highlights.  The first was the huge cliff at le Grand Veymont, which at 2341 metres is the highest mountain in the Vercors. The second involved walking three parts of the way around Mont Aiguille, a little table top mountain that has escaped from the main Vercors massif and which seems changes its shape every time you look at it.
Not as epic as yesterday’s walk but another good one although again just a bit tougher than we had expected.  It was much shorter walk but we compensated by starting later and didn’t really get going until after 10.  We finished by 4-30 after stopping had a lovely lunch at a little auberge in La Batie.  Perhaps a reaction to yesterday’s huge walk but today felt a lot longer than 6 hours.  There were two significant highlights.  The first was the huge cliff at le Grand Veymont, which at 2341 metres is the highest mountain in the Vercors. The second involved walking three parts of the way around Mont Aiguille, a little table top mountain that has escaped from the main Vercors massif and which seems changes its shape every time you look at it.

Only 23 kilometres today but a couple of climbs and starting late meant that we were walking all the time in the heat of the day.  My experience of walking along the E4 is coming back to me - always start early - middle of the day walking is knackering.

We didn’t actually go into Chichilianne - our hotel, the Au Gai Soleil du Mont Aiguille - was a couple of kilometres to the west of town and happily in the right direction for crossing the pass tomorrow.  The food was just a bit disappointing but the manager was really helpful and helped find some taxi numbers for tomorrow’s trip.  Christine is refusing to walk another step unless she knows that we have an escape option.

Only 23 kilometres today but a couple of climbs and starting late meant that we were walking all the time in the heat of the day.  My experience of walking along the E4 is coming back to me - always start early - middle of the day walking is knackering.

We didn’t actually go into Chichilianne - our hotel, the Au Gai Soleil du Mont Aiguille - was a couple of kilometres to the west of town and happily in the right direction for crossing the pass tomorrow.  The food was just a bit disappointing but the manager was really helpful and helped find some taxi numbers for tomorrow’s trip.  Christine is refusing to walk another step unless she knows that we have an escape option.