Alpine Hiking Adventure GR5/TMB Day 9 -Rest Day

Aah, a rest day. After walking almost 160km in 8 days and ascending over 9000m, we've maybe clocked up 200m in total today. What with walking to breakfast and back, going to the loo and moving from the bed to the balcony, it has been a very re-energising change and not a moment too soon.


I can't say how grateful we are to have found the wonderful Gite d'Adalbert right on our route yesterday. After oversupplying on food and hauling our tired bodies over the Col de Voza, the fleeting thought to check the price turned out to be one of our best pieces of guidance yet. For such a beautiful, well appointed and homely place it is so reasonably priced, hence the almost no brainer choice to stay 2 nights. After all, it wouldn't have been much of a rest day had we still relocated would it? It feels like just what we need was placed right on our path.

The weather has also verified the timeliness of our rest day, with overnight thunderstorms and torrential downpours this afternoon further confirming it wouldn't have been very restful in our little tent.

But what have we been up to in our rest day? Quite a lot really....we've washed ourselves and our our clothes, given each other a much needed back massage, had a bath, done some writing and also made a good start on a much needed audio book, "When Mars and Venus Collide" by John Gray.

I say much needed as the subject matter is the different effects of stress on men and women and how to communicate and avoid conflict, which we have found building up as we have become tired. We may not be in an office or work environment, but we are finding the physical stress of the walk and the mental stress of making decisions and staying safe in the wild has been having the same cumulative effect. Today, listening to the different hormonal and emotional traits we each have and better understanding each others ways of coping with them has helped us reconnect a lot....because it can be here when you're walking single file for 8 hours a day.

We've also found time to reestablish some of our self care routines that have fallen away as we have felt pushed for time, like our morning meditation, stretching and afternoon relaxation....all of which proved vital in the UK but which felt difficult to fit in.

So, all in all we feel a lot more human going to bed this evening. We are apprehensive as well as leaving the safety of a big double bed is still daunting, but excited as well.

Also, tomorrow will be our last day on the GR5 as we have committed to our plan of following the Tour du Mont Blanc for the next few days. The routes share the path between the Col du Brevent we crossed 2 days ago up to the Col du Bonhomme which we expect to reach tomorrow. We had been torn between this or continuing south on the GR5, but in the end the pull of the snowy higher mountains in the northern Alps and into Switzerland has won out over the more lush green hills of the Vanoise and beyond.it

Click here for more pics from our adventure