Thoughts of Edward Whymper

The change in the weather today was quite dramatic. In thirty minutes, it went from heavy rain to a beautiful 70 degree sunny day.

The place where I'm staying provides breakfast and dinner along with your room. This is quite common here as guests whether they are hiking, biking or whatever find lunch along the way. Given the changeable weather, I didn't want to get caught out miles from the lodge on the bike and thought an hour walk up the valley to a little village for lunch would a good change of pace. It was a little slippery and muddy and that combined with stops for pictures turned it into more like two hours. When the steep climb from the stream valley to the village was completed, I was tired, hungry and thirsty.

A question to the first person I saw left me quite disappointed to hear that 'tout les restaurants sont fermee'. With the summer season over, this little village had essentially shutdown until the winter ski season. Wandering the streets, I asked several more people, not because I didn't believe them but in the hope that my expressions of how tired and hungry I was would cause them to take pity on me and maybe provide some bread and cheese. No such luck. There was nothing to be done but find the village water fountain (they all have one), refill the water bottle and head back to the lodge (thankfully, downhill).

It was on the way back that I thought about Edward Whymper. My 'Planning' post quoted him finding an inn so disagreeable that he just continued on with his 70 mile walk in the rain at night. What was my little six mile hike compared to that? Of course, when the sky started to darken and a few raindrops began to fall, I wasn't so sanguine. But the clouds passed and soon I was back at the lodge. The owner found plenty of leftovers which were quickly devoured. Then it was a warm shower (yes, the water heater was fixed) followed by a relaxing nap while listening to a few Beethoven piano sonatas on the headphones.

Life is good again.

Today's pictures are now available and I think you'll agree that it was really a nice walk.