August 1, 2024 Auberge Mont Blanc in Trient to Auberge la Boerne in Tré-le-Champ 8.6 miles I’m impressed with Auberge Mont Blanc. It’s enormous, but they still manage to provide hikers with everything they need. Enough showers with hot water and good water pressure? Check. Friendly employees and a nice bar? Check. A buffet breakfast …
July 31, 2024 Chalet la Grange, Champex-lac to Auberge Mont Blanc, Trient 10 miles Another morning, another half-awake scramble to get moving followed by another delicious breakfast. More of that tangy, thick alpine yogurt that I love! Melissa has provided us with little tureens of it, along with jam, cereal, and of course, freshly baked …
July 30, 2024 Auberge des Glaciers, La Fouly to Chalet la Grange, Champex-Lac 10.5 miles One of the many nice things about this refuge is that breakfast is a buffet that ranges from 6:30-10:00, as opposed to other refuge breakfasts that are at one set time. There’s not a lot of rush as a result, …
July 28, 2024 Courmayeur to Rifugio Bonatti (then bus back to Courmayeur) 7.6 miles Today is an easy day, and we’re slackpacking, and we’re staying in the same place tonight. So there isn’t much of a rush this morning to get up. The ability to spread out in my own extremely comfortable bed after the …
July 27, 2024 Rifugio Elisabetta to Courmayeur 9.8 miles Rifugio Elisabetta may have been hell, but everything else has been heaven. This morning is especially so—after we escape, that is. I didn’t end up going rogue last night; I dilly-dallied as long as I could in the restroom and then accepted my fate and climbed …
July 25, 2024 Les Contamines to Les Champieux (camp) 12.4 miles Breakfast at the refuge this morning reminds me deeply of the albergue breakfasts on the Camino. It’s self-serve style, and it includes coffee, cereal with milk, fresh bread which can be toasted, an assortment of jams, and yogurt. We sit with the same family …
July 21-22, 2024 0 miles hiked Many miles flown When my friend Grace first asked me last November if I wanted to do the Tour du Mont Blanc this summer, I immediately agreed. She was one of several people who had mentioned something to me about the TMB that year, and it felt like a …
Sunday, June 25, 2023 Bye, cute Airbnb! We’re exhausted after our big Aran Islands and Cliffs of Moher tour yesterday, but we manage to get ourselves up at a decent time. We pack up, enjoy another delicious breakfast prepared by Ronnie (but I opt for tea instead of coffee this time), and set out for …
Saturday, June 24, 2023 This post is a bit of a novel. Feel free to pour yourself a nice cup of tea or a fizzy water, or heck, even a Guinness, and take your time with it. Settle in. We’ll be here for a while. I’m groggy when my alarm goes off because I stayed …
Continue reading Ireland and UK Day 4: Aran Islands and the Cliffs of Moher
Friday, June 23, 2023 This morning we catch a National Express coach to Stansted airport at the ugly time of 5:00 AM. I accept my fate and go without coffee for several hours, and, if I’m being honest, I think I do a pretty good job of not biting my mother’s head off, or the …
Sarahmarie Specht-Bird 