TMB day 4: Courmayeur to Rifugio Elisabetta

We had a lovely breakfast in the hotel and then visited the supermarket before heading off.

We walked through the narrow and pretty streets of Dolonne before the start of the track. I was rather worried because it was hot already and I was finding even the small hills at the start a struggle, and we had such a long ascent today.

Thankfully the track entered the forest and it was a bit cooler and later, the wind became stronger, cooling us down. We walked up and up to the side of the ski slopes and came to a refuge. The others had left us behind but we caught them up here because they’d stopped for a drink. After this, we headed up again, the path winding high above the valley. John had a mishap when a bench collapsed beneath him. Oops!

The path undulated through lovely countryside with amazing views of Mont Blanc. The others went ahead of me and John again when we stopped for lunch. I seemed to need feeding more often than everyone else!

After a couple of hours we dropped down to Val Veny. Here we stopped to dangle our feet in the glacial stream and have a snack. We then walked the last part up to Rifugio Elisabetta.

Last time we stayed here we shared a long bench bed with strangers but this time John and I have a room to ourselves. The others took the 4 bed room and let us have a room to ourselves, which was kind of them. Dinner was lovely… bruschetta, risotto, pork and chocolate cake.

Walk stats: 16k, 1535 metres ascent, 6 hours 2 minutes.