18 walks in 34 days, totalling 250km in distance and 11.5km of height
The highlights were
Portloe to Mevagissey (Cornwall),
Pico Grande (Madeira),
Col du Bonhomme (Mont Blanc),
Marchkopf (Zillertal), and
Petit Mont Blanc and
Col de la Vanoise (Vanoise)
Click on any image to see a larger version
Actually we started a bit east of Falmouth, and didn't walk the last 2 days from Polperro to Saltash and Plymouth! We left the car at Seaton, south of Saltash, and used train and bus to Portscatho, east of the Fal. We then overnighted at Portloe, Mevagissey, Par and Polperro. We shortened the 4th day by bussing around the less interesting first half. We then skipped the planned 5th day entirely (Polperro to Seaton) because it was pouring with rain and we could spend the day in Chris and Jen Perkin's car instead, incl. a quick dash to St Ives. Verdict: Mostly good, not great. The two previous sections (the Lizard in 2012, and Padstow to Clovelly in 2015) were far better.
Looking back S to Portscatho |
The next beach north |
Nare Head |
A Characterful Cove |
Coast, path, growth |
Haines' Rock and Nare Head |
Greenery and island |
Portloe |
We anticipated that this would be 'one of those days', and we weren't disappointed.
Leaving Portloe |
A nearby cove |
A windblown Linda |
Colour ami(d)st |
West Portholland |
Caerhays Castle, just behind the beach |
A cove |
Porthluney Beach ... |
... and a close-up |
The next headland |
More coves |
Dartmoor ponies on cleanup duty |
Yet another cove, yet again with sand! |
Hemmick Beach |
Gorran Haven ... |
... and closer up ... |
... and looking back at it |
Afternoon light on grassy cliffs |
Mevagissey's Inner Harbour |
Hell's Angels after their ice-creams |
The classic postcard shot of Megavissey |
And the boats to the right |
Literally taken through our bedroom window |
And the harbour at night |
The second half of this section is marred by an industrial waterfront and and very poor path-markings.
We even forgot to take any photographs to show how dis-spiriting it was.
Penare Point |
Looking back to Mevagissey |
And again |
Ugly caravan park on Pentewan Beach, overlooked by St Austell's mullock heaps |
Unusually, crops rather than pasture |
Another view of Black Head |
A last glimpse back to Mevagissey |
Our lunch-spot |
We bussed from Par to Fowey, to skip a long headland and focus on the better and more varied second half.
The weather began well, but it deteriorated and the rain set in at the end of the afternoon, for 24 hours.
The ferry from Fowey to Polruan |
Busy maritime Fowey, from Polruan |
The path to ... |
... Lantic Bay |
Up another section ... |
... over another sandy bay |
Lantivet Bay |
A protected cove |
Our lunch-view |
Approaching ... |
... Polperro |
Our B&B, Chris and Jen's car |
A great walker's island, colourful, highly varied, steep, with flat levada walks. Apart from one excellent mountain walk (Pico Grande), it was a relatively lazy 5 days.
One of the classic Levada walks, along irrigation canals, central plateau, west
Steep into a valley, then along a levada ending at a waterfall (3.5/5).
Followed by 1km, 70m up Bicada Cana (1620m) for a view of the main range.
The Rabacal valley that we're walking into |
The falls seen from half-way along |
The levada |
The rockpool at the bottom of the falls |
The less-visited extension |
The reverse shot |
The levada again |
The main range from Bicada Cana |
A not-very-rewarding coastal walk down to an old harbour (2.5/5).
(Much better, but harder, is Pico de Aguia – Walk 23, further east, 4km, 460m).
Going down |
Ocean-side |
Cliff-face |
The 'harbour' at Pontade San Jorge |
Access to the 'harbour' |
Undeterred rider |
Steps back up |
Typical landscape nearby Serra de Aqua? |
The mountain walk, c.1000m to 1654m, dead-central on the island, looking E to the main range (5/5).
The second half is steep up to the Pico, 1 in 1.5 for 1hr. Great views, but highly
cloud-dependent. The Pico is a lump of rock, requiring clambering and a little risk-managing.
Above cloud at 1200m, with the main range, and Echium |
A quarter of the way, with a hill to get around |
First view of the Pico Grande |
A village in the island's centre |
The middle section ... |
... The same shot, but showing the verticality ... |
... and across tothe main range |
Note the second walker, top of picture |
Clear of the cloud |
Scaling the Pico ... |
... and the reverse shot |
A view at the summit |
Linda with Echiums |
In the mi(d)st, a Tassie Blue Gum Forest!? |
The signature shot of views plus endemic Echium candicans |
A zoom shot to our hotel (an hour's drive) |
Far NW levada, views to terraces, varied forests, rockfaces, waterfall, tunnel (4/5).
Levada and terraces |
Ribera de Janela |
And another view of it |
Levada and ... |
... Euc. globulus |
Waterfall |
400m Tunnel |
The End of the Day |
Eastern end, with several deep and characterful gulfs, and highly-variegated volcanic rocks.
Very dry, but with a number of endemic species (4.5/5).
Start of the walk |
Cliffs and bay |
The north-eastern coast |
A Stack |
Endemic dry vegetation |
Colourful cliffs |
View NW from a high point |
The reverse shot, incl. Porto Santo island |
Colourful cliffs |
People added for scale |
Near the track's end |
The remainder of the peninsula |
We walked the southern third of the 12-day circular route. We started in Les Houches, south of Chamonix, and overnighted at Contamines, Les Chapieux and Cabane du Combal, then walked down to Courmayeur and bussing back through the tunnel to Chamonix and Les Houches.
We chose the direct route 800m up to Bellevue, in the hope of carrying on the further 300m over the Col de Tricots. But Roger was lagging badly, walking at only 2/3rds of the standard 360 vertical metres per hour, we could see that the pass was snow-covered, and the rain set in; so we came back down to the valley at Le Champel. The rain later cleared.
Early in the walk, Les Houches below right |
A party on the path |
Valleywards from the suspension bridge |
A few hours later, sun after rain |
The first 4.5km / 45 minutes is on the flat, and then there's a steady 9km and 1333m (1 in 7) rise to the Col de la Croix du Bonhomme, 1150m to 2483m. We were on snow most of the time from 1950m up to 2450m and back down to 2200m. The 4.5km / 930m down was rather faster. A good walk would have been much better if the visibility had been more often better than about 400m. 1km from the target, we hid from the worst of a storm by sharing a mobile shed with the local farmer's calves.
A civilised start |
Linda's shot |
Roger's shot ... |
... with the sign in it |
Pont Romain ... |
... and three views ... |
... of the gorge ... |
... that it bridges |
Clouds gather as today's tour-group passes by |
Climbing into said cloud |
And then the snow ... |
... mostly not steep |
Col du Bonhomme 2400m, a buried sign, the guide turning her group back |
A welcome rest in some sun |
Still in snow |
Snow-crossing between the two passes |
1kg of Spielhahn / Black Grouse |
Many more kg of Steinbock / Ibex |
Reaching the 2nd Col ... |
... Col de la Croix du Bonhomme |
Our Auberge is somewhere down there |
Over-confident? young Steinbock |
Closer now, but the storm's closing in |
'Transhumance'?? But they're still cows! |
For the first 5km up, we followed the track rather than the road, which turned out to be harder work and 320m of height plus an extra 60m up and down. It was a steady but tiring rise, with Roger (and this time Linda as well) only at 3/4 of the desirable 360vmph pace. Some decent visibility would have helped – it's obviously quite a place if you can actually see the valleys and the peaks. Beyond the Col de Seigne at 2520m, the whole of the 500m drop down from 2520m also had a lot of snow, but at least in some places we could enjoy some foot-skiing and trouser-toboganning.
The valley-bottom, with rain and cloud |
The low end of the gully |
Further up the gully ... |
... the farmhouses petering out |
Floriferous alpine meadows, cloud, rain eased off |
Healthy marmots |
After cloud and snow, an uninspiring Col (and views, so they say) |
Onwards and downwards into Italy |
Entertaining ourselves by ... |
... snapping snow-crossing |
Our valley, with dinner and bed maybe a third down it |
Passing Rif. Elisabetta ... |
... beneath its glaciers |
An opportunity for some pantsliding |
Sculpture-garden |
Looking back up to the Rif., just above centre |
At last, a sparkling morning, so we climbed up the morain beside the Cabane before breakfast. The main walk was closed due to avalanche danger (the deepest snow this late in June for many years, we were told). But we located a mid-level track in the lower part of the valley. That gave us fine views of the main glacier and the main body of the massif during a brisk 3h10m walk, so that we could buy a bus-ticket back through the Mont Blanc tunnel.
Steinbock nearby on the previous evening ... |
... and the view back SW to Rif. Elisabetta |
The next morning, much the same view ... |
... and on the lateral moraine above the Cabane, looking NW ... |
... and looking NE along the side of the massif |
Also to the NE |
A last look back NW |
The road NW, towards Courmayeur |
Looking W, into the Blanc massif ... |
... and again ... |
... Mont Blanc is, um, no, not that one |
45° to the right, NE along the massif |
Grand Jorasses, 4200m, the N end of the massif |
A 2500m height-difference |
Those particular Aguilles (needles), closer up |
Almost the elusive 4800m peak, plus glaciers, through the bus window! |
We didn't walk, but the gorge through which the Tremosine shelf is accessed is pretty impressive.
The gorge road rises from the lakeside drive |
It features blind curves ... |
... views the driver can't afford to look at ... |
... unwanted encounters ... |
... very narrow sections ... |
... only some of them one-way. |
The scenic shelf ... |
... 500-600m above the lake |
We stayed once again at the Talblick above Aschau, with Georgie and Margie for company.
From the Höhenstrasse at 1822m up a gully to 2444m, and along a peaked ridge to 2499m
Looking for the left-side path |
The Marchkopf, directly over Roger's head |
After the first 500?m of height |
Up into the gully |
Lunch, seen from the ridge-line ... |
... and closer-up |
Roger setting off for the peak (1 hr return) |
Approaching the peak |
A view of the other path Roger had intended ... |
... including a ridge-walk |
Back close to the start, and the valley opposite |
Taken from lower down, with the main Zillertal |
A pleasant warm-down above the Gerlos valley, up to the East of the main Zillertal valley.
At the start, looking back at yesterday's walk |
Later, also looking West |
Looking South |
Looking East to the Gerlos Pass |
A repeat of our walk in 2016, from 1516 to 2338m, omitting the 200m extra up the Frauenwand, but adding 40m up to the joch beside the Pfannköpfli.
After 250m of height, on the traverse near Almbichl |
At the Schleier falls |
The topmost part |
Topping the falls |
Georgie befriends a marmot |
Looking up the Weitental |
Another waterfall |
Looking back down Weitental |
Roger on the joch/saddle beside Pfannköpfli |
His view of the upper Tuxertal ... |
... and from the lifts down lower |
The main Zillertal from our Hotel Talblick |
This region comprises the massif immediately south of Le Mont Blanc. We stayed 3 nights at Pralognan – a highly vertical walking resort that's much-used by French people but seemingly little-known by anyone else – and a 4th night near Moutiers. Satisfied with the effort, we gave ourselves the last day off
Mid-Level, looking North over Pralognan |
Ditto, looking South |
At the Col |
At the Summit, opposite glaciers |
Pralognan (1400m) and Grand Chasse (3800m) |
Tomorrow's walk, up right, back centre |
The path back, looking South |
A Snake, at 2400m |
After the 1st 500m |
Looking back to the start-point, centre-right |
Looking ahead to a small chute ... |
... and looking back down it |
On the track |
Petit Mont Blanc high right |
Approaching the Col, a dead lake |
An avalanche falling across the valley |
Lunch at the Col, looking East |
Le Grand Casse, North, 1300m above ... |
... and its glaciers |
Rock, post-glacial scree |
Lake Crossing, down-valley ... |
... and up-valley |
Again, down-valley ... |
... and up-valley |
This was an Australian Native Plants Society weekend, with Roger Farrow, Chris and 6 others. Usually it takes 20 minutes to get out of the car-park, and far more time is spent on hands and knees than walking. On this occasion, however, the group did an excellent mix of the two, with lots of interesting plants and some great landscape. We were based at Colac Colac (pronounced Clack-Clack) 6km west of Corryong, but the walking was in the Burrawa-Pine Mountain National Park, in the Upper Murray Valley in Victoria, across the river from Khancoban. |
This is the first, short, easy(?) segment of the 15km but 10hr(!) return walk from the parking area to 1300m Mt Burrawa. |
The Forest |
The Bushes Pultenae sp.? |
View ESE, with Kris, towards Kosciusko |
View ENE, towards Cabramurra, and the next day's target, the triple-peaked Pine Mt |
Pine Mt is a monolith, said to be 1.5 times the size of Ayers Rock / Uluru. There are (at least) 3 peaks, all very hard granite. It lies in the northern section of the map above, S of Ournie (not in the Mitta Mitta Park). The morning was walked slowly, through interesting vegetation, up from the carpark (near to the centre of the map) eastwards to Rocky Knob. The nearest bare-rock peak loomed ahead, and looked well worth the challenge, so 3 of us split from the rest of the party and went on ahead. To get beyond that one to the 3rd and highest would have involved a deep, steep down-and-up that we (thankfully) didn't have time for. |
View back to yesterday's walk, with the eponymous pines |
Xanthorea sp., very atmospheric |
Callitris endlicheri (Native) Black Cypress Pine |
Looking back over the walk's mid-point to the start of the walk, at the saddle |
Bulbines and Landscape |
The next rock outcrop |
Looks like a quick way home from the top |
The walk was from off-stage right, via the first knuckle, to the rightmost of the three peaks, at centre |
As for 4-5 Jan 2017, but this time in bright sunshine not cloud and rain
The face beneath the ridge |
The rain-forest beneath the lip of the escarpment |
The wet sclerophyll above the lip |
The view from Lookout Point (on a clear day) |
This
granite pile is 6km west of Ebor, 1380-1560m
It's a nice half-day walk around a circuit, from Barokee Campground, 6km and +/- 180m, plus 80m of rock-scrambling to the top
A big bonus is the richness of the vegetation, both in the preliminary swamp-area and in the forest
The rich, swampy area at the start |
E. fastigata Brown Barrell |
Some of the summit, looking northwards |
Tunnelling back out |
The wall beneath the summit |
The lunch-spot, part-way down |
Another pile close by |
Looking back to the summit |
This is a page within the Clarke-Spinaze Photo Gallery, home-page here
Contact: Linda or Roger
Created: 23 May 2018; Last Amended: 3 January 2019