This stage of the GR5 climbs straight from Val d'Isere to the highest point of the GR5: Col de L'Iseran at 2770 meters. This is a 900-meter climb initially through forests, then through open mountain scenery. After the col, the descent to Bonneval-sur-Arc begins. Past beautiful waterfalls and gorges, with magnificent views. The village of Bonneval-sur-Arc is a nice authentic mountain village with many restaurants and some stores. The last part is fairly flat and follows the river Arc past Bessans to the campsite.
Yesterday we had a good rest day. We visited the town, did the laundry and some shopping for upcoming stages.
Today we'll stop at a village where there's a mini supermarket, but shortly after that we'll enter the Vanoise National Park for 4 days and won't encounter any more supermarkets or villages. To save in weight, we plan to survive these several days on mainly freeze-dried meals that only need some hot water to prepare. We've tried these kind of meals twice before and it actually turned out to be quite good, so we now bought 8 of them: 3 dinners and 1 breakfast. We were lucky because there are many stores in Val d'Isère, but most of them close on August 27 (today) and don't reopen for the ski season until mid-November.
When we put the backpacks on we do feel the difference from "normal" meals. The backpacks feel a lot lighter. Not bad, because today we walk over the highest point of the GR5: Col de L'Iseran.
Well rested and well packed, we leave the campsite and actually walk up the trails right away. We'll reach the highest point fairly early in the hike so that means going fast and steep uphill (900 meters ascending in 6 kilometers). The trails are good to walk on so the climb goes smooth. We walk through forests at first, but soon we pass the tree line and the landscape becomes more open again. By 10.30am we reach Col de L'Iseran and are at 2,770 meters altitude. The sky is clear and we have magnificent views of the surrounding mountains. And we are not the only ones enjoying the view here, it is súper busy at the top. It's a popular col to drive over because of the beautifully situated road leading to it, and the parking lot is filled with motorcycles, cars and sports cars. A dozen Lotus sports cars stand in a row, shining in the sun and are frequently photographed. A pretty funny sight, here in the mountains. Fortunately, we already knew a bit what to expect since we drove over here by car
ourselves a few years ago. Only then it was such drizzling and foggy weather that we couldn't even see 100 meters far. So even though it's our second time here, the view is still new to us. Magnificent and quite a milestone: the highest point of the GR5!!! We 'celebrate' it with a short break 'with a view'.
Most people get back into their cars here on the col, so as we continue we have the trails all to ourselves again. As steep as the trail went up, it also goes down again. The view of the new valley is beautiful. Every time we cross a col, the mountains seem to become more imposing....
We follow the valley of the river Ruisseau de la Lenta and after a bit of a descent we have to cross it somewhere. Here the route and road markings become increasingly unclear and it turns out that we have been following
the wrong route after all. But with the map on the phone and old signage we find the old GR5 path back and a beautiful stretch follows. With on one side a crumbling rock face made of slate, and on the other side a deep ravine through which the water noisily makes its way. According to the map, there should be a place at the bottom where we can cross the river, but judging by the remains of the bridge, it's long gone. So our shoes and socks come off and we wade through the cold river. Fortunately it is not very deep here, but it flows quite fast. Nice and refreshing for the feet, though. On the other side of the river we quickly find the official path again and continue
our trek down. It's still quite a bit of descending through this beautiful landscape. Between the high barren peaks we walk over sloping mountain meadows with a little house here and there, a flock of sheep and a waterfall. At the foot of the descent we arrive at Bonneval-sur-Arc, an authentic village with many stone houses, restaurants and... Italian soft ice! Never seen in
the Netherlands, but in France more often. It's a delicious variant of the well-know soft ice cream. From here it's another good 10 kilometers flat to the campsite, so with an ice cream in one hand and the hiking pole in the other, it's a nice walk.
In the village near the campground we quickly do some final shopping for tonight and the coming days. An hour later, we are happy to pitch the tent on a nice campsite in Bessans. It's a nice open area without fences and you can choose a spot on pieces of grass between low bushes and trees. The sanitary facilities and the reception are peculiar: they are containers that are removed after each season. Because an avalanche in 2004 wiped out everything, the municipality requires all buildings to be removed after each summer. So it's basically a pop-up campsite.
We haven't been able to let the tent dry during the day. As a result, it's already almost dark when we can prepare the sleeping area and start cooking in the evening.
We try to go to sleep in time, because the next few days will be intense. For four days we will walk through the Vanoise National Park from refuge to refuge. Exciting...
