02 After a coldish night I awoke to see a bit of a ground frost and this view. This is why I suffer the cold.


07 Cold fat old git in a gimp hat.


13 Warming up a bit now and time to figure where to go next.

14 Bliss. Fun and views together.


15 I saw this on the way up and managed to sneak the Ten past it. He he he.


17 Heading West toward France I saw this and weakened.


19 And this was almost directly opposite it. I think its an underpowered Unimog derived dirt bike.


22 The temperature in the valley – Martigny - was very hot (for a fat boy in a winter suit).


The Swiss have an annoying habit of being happy to take Euros but only give Francs in change. This would not be a problem if I was not on my way to France with a pocket full of useless Franc coins.

28 The transition into France is another Col called Col Forclaz. On the other side was this view toward Chamonix


29 And …another glacier.





Prior to Chamonix, in a village called Argentierre I popped into a restaurant only to find they were not serving food so I had a small beer and a coffee. Whilst I was in there I overheard a Scottish guy talking to another guy about trail riding. Needless to say I had to listen. After a short while I could contain myself no longer and asked him where the trails were. He said “all around, why are you looking to do some”. I of course said yes and he, Sam Coward, that is, said I’ll tell you what, come to my house, get rid of the luggage and I’ll take my bike out and show you some trails. So we did, we drove through Chamonix and through to his house in Saint Gervais les Bains. We dumped my bags, he got on his XL250 and off we went. He took me all over the trails of the ski resort nearby. Fantastic fun for about 2 hours. He was impressed with the Tenere’s performance off road despite the road tyres.

34 And here he is with bikes and Mont Blanc as the back drop.


38 The both of us with me using the tried and tested 10 second dash and pose method of photography.


When we got back to his house his wife, Teresa, was home and did a very good job of promoting the fat boy cause.
Teresa was cooking with mushrooms that she had collected earlier and very sadly I was able to identify the type (a version of the Chanterelle) and we had a long conversation about collecting and eating mushrooms which is a sad dark side to my identity. Sam was gobsmacked that his wife had finally met someone else on the planet with an interest in mushrooms. (When SWAMBO reads this she is really gonna take the mickey out of me.) They were fantastic people and live in an idyllic setting and a laid back way of life that I envied. Sam took me all over his house which is a work in progress of converting a traditional timber framed/clad mountain house into a modern house on the inside without altering the external appearance.
Unfortunately I forgot to take any more photos of him, his wife, kids and house.
Their house is a bit like the one previously posted but without the dodgy damp proof course.
I left there after dark hoping to find somewhere to camp further south but gave up at Albertville and “booked” into a hotel for the night. The work ‘booked’ is odd as in reality it was one of those non receptionist places. You get into the fist part of the foyer and there is a machine that you press buttons etc depending upon requirements and then pay for it with a credit card and it prints a unique number that you use to access the rest of the hotel and your room. Weird. The accommodation was simple but adequate which suited me fine. It was 39E with a basic breakfast.


Mileage for the day was 134 (215km) not including the trail riding.

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We are now retired....so....... lots of this and this and no more of this or this