Arrived in Munich quite late last night so didn't blog yesterday. The day day spent travelling from Chamonix to Munich via Geneva. The leg from Chamonix to Geneva airport was with Mountain Drop Offs a company that offers airport to hotel and visa versa service. Very professional and very good so that was pretty easy. From Geneva airport to Geneva again easy thanks to extremely helpful airport staff and good Swiss rail. Cheap and efficient. From station to bus station was only 5 short blocks but from the calm efficiency of the rail station it was back 50 years to the no service no frills bus parking yard. The toilets were portaloo things and were about Egyptian pyramid pharmacy standard (Lee will remember that toilet!) and the rest of the facilities were correspondingly either non existent ... read more

OK. I know there have been no quizzes for the blog and I don't know if I'm going soft or listening to all of you that have pleaded for an end to quiz time but today it's me that will attempt to answer all the big questions. Here goes. Can you have too much gelati? Even after a little too much fondue, perhaps a beer too many and even only a little walk the answer remains no. The flavours here are excellent, very crisp and very refreshing so really very little debate, no. Are hotel bar fridges specifically designed not to fit bottles purchased at the market? I moved a dozen cans and only just, just managed to fit 3 bottles in their place and even that meant placing them careful and diagonally and being very ... read more

After a delightful stay in Argentiere we caught the bus back to Tre du Champ to commence the walk to Chamonix. Absolutely delightful scenery as Mt Blanc dominates the panarama. We Tom The variant to L'acqua Blanc an absolutely picture postcard spot perched high in the mountains. We shared it with half of France judging by the crowd. It was Sunday and the the Bastille Day weekend but we could not believe the number of people there. And believe me there's no easy way to get there. Then off to the Refuge La Flegere, still almost 1900 m up but served with a chair lift so easier to understand how people may get there. Here I checked the time for the last chairlift into Chamonix from our next destination. Time 4:10. Last chair 6:00 Time to ... read more

Bye Col (well almost). The final big 'col' lies behind us. The Col du Balme, the border between Switzerland and France, has been 'conquered' by the Aussies. Well we climbed up, across, over and down but that sort of pales into insignificance when you consider the lady serving drinks and French fries has been doing it for 65 years! Apparently she walks up each day but when we saw her she could barely get herself over the doorway threshold. Mt Blanc is as impressive as when we left her several days ago. We view the mountain from a different angle but... It is just an impressive vista. It's big, it's majestic and it just oozes power. It would not be a kind mistress (yes I'm missing Lee!). Lots of downhill as well today and into the ... read more

TMB Le Fouly to Champex The only trouble with the easiest day of the TMB is that there is only one! A pleasant, really pleasant day walking along the valley and predominantly down and along the valley towards the lovely town of Champex du Lac. We still have the omnipresent mountains that cascade with waterfalls and streams but today the spruce trees, meadows and fungi play a much stronger role as we descend to slightly lower altitudes. Much of the path toady took in a 'mushroom walk' and cute carvings of mushrooms, wine bottles, cheese and the ubiquitous ' Charlotte the Marmotte' sprang up all over the place. As well quite large carvings of rabbits, frogs and the like were found. Bizarre but good. The weather has been excellent. After getting sunburnt on the first couple ... read more