Ten of us started out at the parking (881m) above Bassins on a sunny and warm Thursday in mid-March on this, the last of the “snow-shoe” season, outings. One member was even sporting shorts!
Attending :- Mark2ts, Mark2rs, Mervyn, Nathan, Philip, Rudi, PeterSt, Stephen, MikeH (and Rocco), PeterT (and Kobie). Apologies were received from several including RichardS in London, Rob still crock, Ralph now crock too, David shovelling manure and Ross in Morrocco.
Here is the flyer:-
“While Mervyn and his plankers may still be sliding about, there is much pleasure to be had in the spring woodland trails.
I am sending this to the Hiking Group, not the Snow-shoe Group. We have a number of members not in the SS Group, and I am thus proposing a hike.
Starting at the parking just before the Route des Montagnes road barrier above Bassins just after 10 am, at W3W ///supposes.toggle.sending , at 881m, I propose a hike in the forest but starting NE down along the open track (3 villages trail) to just above le Vaud (862m) , then generally NW up the Combe de Raffort to 1178m and then SW along and down to a picnic lunch at the picnic table at la Dunanche toblerones with fabulous views out to the alps.
From there we shall track W then SE back down the upper Moinsel Gorge, mostly all down hill. About 450m and 12 km max.
The weather looks good. There will be no snow. Big picnic, apèro etc. I will bring Kobie.
Meet at 9.30 Divonne or at the start.
Let me know by Thursday 9am if you are coming and where you will join.
Best foot forward”
Somewhat sadly, Mervyn had found no takers for his ski outong – but we were more than pleased that he joined us instead (he had had a brilliant ski outing on the Tuesday beforehand).
We set off in good spirits, downhill. There was little wind and much good cheer. Views from the 3 villages trail to the Alps are normally amazing but there was a lot of early morning haze out over the Lac so we had no glimpse of the alps. Reaching Le Vaud (862m) we turned up the trail to commence the “up” bit of the hike, almost 350m of it from this point. Various members were seeming to be either jet-lagged, tired, or just getting old, so we took our time, stopped now and again to take on water, and generally chatted most of the way up.
Reaching the road at the most northerly and highest part (1178m) of the hike my assurance that there would be no snow was found to be faulty.
A level trail then followed, somewhat churned up by the loggers. After about 2 hours we reached the open fields at 1140m overlooking La Dunanche chalet into the sun and a view out and over to La Dôle, to turn left and down to the picnic table at the other La Dunanche by the toblerones. Sadly we had been beaten to it by a party of four who had completely taken over the only picnic table, with a full table-cloth and a fondu cooking. The view was OK but still a bit hazy and not the best so we left them to it escaped back down with our dogs and found a sunny spot in the field somehat away and behind for our own picnic. No view to the alps but a warm and sheltered bedding for a lunch and a siesta.
There was much banter and we toasted our sadly-absent snow-shoe leader Rob, but could find no enthusiasm for Scottish independence. There was much talk of the recent 6 Nations Rugby tournament. Our recently returned members regaled us with sights and experiences of Costa Rica and Australia.
This was indeed a tough snow-shoe hike. 75 minutes lolling about in the sun, although I don’t think that I actually fell asleep. We were blessed with some Rosé, Côtes de Rhône, and Nebbiolo which helped sluice down our lunch – without choking – followed by some of Mark’s strong black coffee plus Mervyn’s milk. We sorely missed the Saynor Bottle; we concluded that it deserves a permanent place in our archives.
Well refreshed we saddled the horses for the stroll out and across the warm open field westward into the sun, toward the start of the Gorge de Moinsel. It was here that we spotted two small deer in the field below us. Kobie and Rocco duly went out on the hunt with Kobie returning (as expected) after a few minutes. Sadly though, no Rocco! We whistled and Mike thundered out his normal “Rocco” call. All to no avail. We had all walked on a bit. Eventually Mike went on further ahead while I tracked back, finally seeing Rocco’s fleeting figure running at ninety degrees across the field from where he had left us originally. After loud whistles he gradually veered in my direction and we were gladly reunited safely again.
We found the entrance to the gorge path OK, but somehow back markers Nathan and Mark2rs missed the next right turn down the gorge itself, my fault as leader. Sorry for that. However I knew the path that they were on would bring them back to the cars even before us, and we also knew that Nathan and his GPS would get them back safely whatever. We enjoyed the leisurely stroll down the gorge and then the gentle rise back up out and over and then down to the cars.
A very pleasant day out in very warm and sunny weather with great company and fine scenery. I made it 10.7km and 454m denivellation. Thanks for the company everyone.
Thus ends the Snow-Show season. Thanks Rob, for your organisation, but sorry that you were crock and out of it for the most part. I will now take over for the hiking season until the snows of next winter (also covering any further snow later this spring!).
