Champex Lac - at the starting line

We left Mannheim at 8:40 this morning and arrived at Champex just after 14:00. For the last 40 mins a narrow road wound itself steeply up from 500 meters to 1400 meters altitude. 

This place is full of fellow hikers. Some of them obviously arrived a while earlier. Some arrived later in the afternoon. Means that everyone is walking at their own pace. 

We're staying in a cute little apartment that overlooks this small town and the lake. The owner was happy for us to leave our car here for the ten days of our walk. 

We went to try and find lunch but seemingly too late. The waitress in the lakeside Cafe told us that they didn't serve food, but that we were welcome to bring our own food from the supermarket and sit there to eat. Which is exactly what we did. 

Next opportunity will be dinner starting at 6pm at our hotel. Even though so far everyone speaks English, I notice how knowing some French would really help. I wish I could remember more from my one year of university French. 

Highlight of the day : getting here

Lowlight of the day : looks like I'm coming down with a cold.