The forecast of bad weather for our normal hiking day of Thursday necessitated a change to the plan, so Wednesday 27 August was proposed instead. The venue selected was the magnificent Cirque du Fer à Cheval at the end of the Vallée du Giffre beyond Sixt. This drew eight enthusiastic participants and an equal number of notices of absence.
Five of us, Bill, David, Mark 2ts, Mervyn and Pete, duly assembled at the Divonne Lake parking for an 8:30 getaway to rendezvous with Mike M, Peter T, Kobie and Ross at the parking lot at the Cirque. This was achieved by 10am with Mike and his trusty co-driver Nessie arriving in a sleek dark blue Alpina somewhat later.
Unfortunately the organiser had failed to inform the two dog owners that new regulations were in place which prohibited dogs from venturing into the Reserve Naturelle itself. This meant that the planned hike beyond the area of the valley floor up to the Bout du Monde and perhaps beyond was somewhat compromised.
In the event we all set off up the Giffre valley via Giffrenant as far as the Buvette du Prazon.
En route the threatened afternoon rains began far ahead of schedule (no thanks to MeteoFrance!) requiring the donning of multi-coloured rain gear, frequent pauses under trees for shelter and a welcome coffee stop at the buvette.
Thank you Mike for treating us. The patronne informed us of more rain to come and that the path higher up was exposed and the rock underfoot very slippery and dangerous.
This became the parting of the ways for the dog-owning duo and the rest of us – who were intent on venturing up into the Reserve Naturelle.
See Below : Peter’s dog blog.
Back to the exploits of the main group: By now we were entering the area of spectacular waterfalls descending vertically hundreds of metres on both sides of this glaciated valley.
Not as dramatic as during the spring melt but impressive nonetheless. Under continuing rain we climbed higher on a path, in parts liberally strewn with sheep shit, until reaching a large dryish cave in the cliff face under a waterfall where we took shelter and enjoyed our picnic lunch. Peter had generously offloaded pretzels and a bottle of Côtes du Rhône, which was consumed appreciatively. A surprising number of hikers/walkers including kids had made it this far on a wet Wednesday, some shod in distinctly sub-optimal footwear.
A little further on from our cave refuge we reached the Bout du Monde 1222m itself with a gate and signpost indicating destinations further and higher: Refuge de la Vogealle 1902m and thence to the Lac de la Vogealle and the Swiss border. We had neither the time nor the enthusiasm to “cross to the other side”.
The afternoon was dry and even partly sunny and the path back down to our starting point, which was over a shaky 30m passerelle and on along the other side of the river, took us two hours. So we were a little behind our estimated meeting time with the doggers. However we couldn’t resist a celebratory beer at the cafe just above the parking area.
Mike had already departed but Peter waited to take Ross back since Mark’s car, capacious as it is, could only seat five. The journey home was swift until we encountered the early evening traffic on the airport to Coppet section of the autoroute. Our thanks to Mark for once again bearing the driving burden.
Technical details: Distance 14.5 Km, denivelation 550m, humidity high (from external rain and internal perspiration)
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Peter’s Dog Blog
Mike Muller and Nessie with me and Kobie had to turn around at Prazon after the coffee stop. Dogs cannot enter the Reserve Naturelle which starts 2.5km up the main valley (and encompassed the area on the outside of the valley bottom from Sixt). I had checked out the trails on Outdoor Active, which had not identified the Reserve, but I had an inkling that this was the case. Mervyn’s “dogs allowed” was not going to work. No worries, as we had had a good start to the coffee stop in the woods to Prazon and by which time water was falling from the sky.
Nothing for it but to circle back down a different, but what seemed like the main tourist trail to the Plan Des Lacs Centre with its nice restaurant Chalet du Fer-à-Cheval. There were plenty of folk about, many with no rain gear.
We entered the Chalet with Kobie barking in excitement, and thus we were offered a suitable table outside, happily under large chalet eaves and which suited us perfectly. A fine glass of IPA for me, an iced tea for Mike and a superb lunch of burger, chips and local sausage ensued, with desert of chocolate mousse and cheesecake. And good and friendly service.
Mike and I had a good chat in the spectacular setting as we watched the rain falling and we felt a bit sorry for our colleagues (Lost) up at the “end of the world” and out in the heavy rain. Kobie and Nessie were well fed with chews and burger bits, indeed Kobie swallowed my chicken wrap (lunch) from the Volg in two goes – without choking.
Mike decided to head back home so Kobie and I headed up to Prazon again in the rain (and this time I put Kobie in his new yellow (Temu) raincoat which I had earlier left in the car) but the downpour eased by the time we got there.
No sign of the Lost so we headed back down the main trail to the car.
It was not long before the Lost became found and Ross and I wended our way back via Tanninges this time, only hitting the slightly heavy traffic before Coppet. A fine walk for us, and I was only marginally miffed that we missed the main hike, but the lunch and shorter hike was great compensation – and our views were stunning too -and K and I were indeed a bit tired from a 900m hike the day before. I think Mike and Nessie were happy too.
I made it 10km and 210m for us.