As planned, we had breakfast at 7.30 with fromage blanc and cereal available as well as the usual bread and jam. We repacked our red bags and gave them to Diego to put on Libélule.
The plan was to visit a fromagerie at Ville des Glaciers - some of the party took the navette as they don't like walking on tarmac. But the walk along the little road was pleasant. On arrival at Ville des Glaciers, the farmer showed us the fromagerie. They milk the cows twice a day, the warm milk is put in a big vat with rennet and stirred a few minutes (see left). Then it is drained and pressed and salt added. The cheeses are stored in a cellar. They produce a soft white cheese called sérac and a hard cheese (Beaufort Alpage) that takes 6 months to mature. In summer the cows live on the mountainside and are milked up there - the milk is driven down in a vehicle.
W
e then left the little road and continued our walk up the path that climbs to the Col de la Seigne. As we mounted we saw glaciers on the mountains to our left and fine views back down the Vallée des Glaciers towards the fromagerie.
The ground was rich with colourful flowers including white anemones and the tiny pink flowers show on the right.
At 1 pm we reached the Col de la Seigne and crossed the border into Italy. This is one of those cols where you step up and seem to be on the top of the world with magnificent mountain peaks all round.
Here we had a magnificent picnic of melon, jambon cru, cheese from the fromagerie (both Beaufort and sérac) and then some pears. While we were resting after our picnic we heard the sound of singing nearby us at the col. George went over and mage the following video so that we could remember this moving performance.
Video of the Singers:
After a rest we set off down Val Veni, stopping from time to time to look for marmottes and to enjoy the view of the snowy mountains while Libélule sampled the grass. The track continues down hill and eventually reaches a group of old buildings - not the dormitories of the Refuge (maybe some old military barracks). Up above on the left stands the refuge of Elisabetta where we arrived by about 5.30.
This refuge is on a fine site with two big glaciers behind it and a long view of the Val Veni back to Col de la Seigne and ahead to Col Ferret. This refuge doesn't have double rooms so we slept in dormitories - we were with two other couples from our group. We were given special disks to turn on the hot water in the showers, but those of us that managed a shower (after a long queue) found it was just a bit less than cold and that wetting the hair was inevitable.
We sat out, trying to avoid the bright sunlight on the terrace and chatted with other members of our group as well as a Scottish couple who were doing the whole tour walking alone, using the Cicerone Guide. The meal was typically Italian - starting with minestrone, followed by veal escalopes and mashed potatoes. We went out again and wandered around the refuge then retired to bed when it got dark. No reading in the dormitory.
| Diary of first day |