Mont Blanc trek Day 6 La Fouly to Champex
While sitting having our breakfast we consult the guidebook on the tour du mont blanc section ahead of us today. Our guidebook suggests that this is our easiest day of hiking the mont blanc trek with only a 565-meter climb from la Fouly into Champex and no large mountains or Cols to cross over. We felt that it was a good day to take it easy and let the legs recover with some easier walking.
Starting Mont blanc trek day 6
Leaving la Fouly the trail continues to follow the river downhill along the road until signs direct us over what looks like a Dam filled with ice blue glacier water.
We then started walking on smaller roads, initially passing a play area with a climbing wall that an adult would be delighted to climb. I only wish they had facilities like this when we were kids in Ireland.
The mont blanc trek continues following the river crossing it on numerous occasions by small makeshift bridges and larger permanent bridges. The river looks like it has seen some hard floods over the years as there is a massive amount of erosion from storm damage on either side of the river.
The walking is very easy today, it seems more like a nice stroll through the wood filled with nice mountain views and good weather. The walking is so easy today that we are even able to eat and walk at the same time, this is a first on the mont blanc trek.
We eventually started to climb into the forestry, the trees provided nice shelter from the sun. I didn’t think I’d ever say this but it was nice to start walking uphill again, as we knew there was 500m+ of a climb today so it would be better if its spread throughout the day.
We come to a section that seems to be a part of the mont blanc trek that is cut into the edge of the mountain. The trail is only about 1 meter wide at this section and it looks like there is some land slides or avalanches in winter and the forest below seems to be flattened by a pathway of erosion.
There are chains bolted to the side of the rock face to help with walking this section. We were very lucky with the weather as we got lovely views of the valley and river bed below us. This section was also filled with lovely wild alpine strawberries, we kept our eyes peeled for these as they were very addictive.
We started to descend again over a path that seemed to be perfect on top of a hill with sharp drops on either side of us. We continue back downhill even further coming out of the woods towards a small village.
The village streets seem to built around the road as the street runs straight past peoples front doors and it twists and turns around houses, it was fun walking beside the Alpine homes. All the houses seem to have their wood stacked perfectly in alcoves to protect it from the rain, it was very impressive and inspiring.
After walking through one cluster of houses, we then started walking on small roads that eventually led toward another small town back down lower in the valley. The walking was extremely easy so far today, as there were only small hills to navigate, which was giving the legs recovery time.
Lunch opportunity on day 6 of TMB hike
The mont blanc trek led down into the next town and we crossed the river and started to walk out of the town nearly straight away. Just before we left the town there was a coffee shop on the right called Cafe du Chatlet, we got a quick cup of coffee and even treated ourselves to ice creams for the road.
We had a small rest here but it was extremely noisy with all the traffic on the road, we were happy to stop but anxious to continue on the hike. We could see the path in front of us, leading to the left of the main road climbing up the hill into a wooded area.
This was possibly the hardest section of day 6, the trial cut through a wooded area from the valley up to Champex. It was an enjoyable section, it was full of wood carvings of animals from beavers to goats and pigs.
We walked into Champex-lac alongside the main road which was very busy when we were crossing it so care should be taken here. Champex-Lac sign has a cartoon illustration of a St Bernard dog, I wonder if this the town mascot?
Champex Lac TMB day 6
Walking into Champex-Lac we passed two large artillery guns and we didn’t think much of them at the time. Later that evening while researching the area we found out that this was the access point to a network of 600m long underground tunnels to provide protection during the cold war (how cool is that??).
Champex Mont Blanc Trek
We arrived at Champex early, around 2 pm, the first thing that you notice about the town is the large lake in the middle of it. There were numerous large hotels surrounding the lake, we were unsure where to go here so we sat at the lake for a small break and consulted our guidebook.
Accommodation Mont Blanc hike day 6
All the initial hotels at the start of the lake seemed very touristy and maybe out of our budget so we continued walking around the lake until we came to a Cafe/B&B called Le Cabanon. We enquired about accommodation and the owner told us €50 for bed and breakfast with our own bedroom but with a shared toilet, we couldn’t have been any happier.
We got showers and changed into clean clothes and went down for dinner beside the lake. We probably ordered and ate too much food but there are not many opportunities on the tour du mont blanc to overeat or to buy fatty unhealthy food so we indulged slightly.
After dinner, we did some exploring around the town, visiting the towns small church and some other bars.
Day 6 impression of Mont Blanc Trek
Our initial impression of this section of the TMB was the sheer lack of people walking the trail, it was recommended to us to get a bus to bypass this section but we really enjoyed the days hiking, ok we don’t climb any large mountains but we do walk through small Swiss towns and numerous wooded areas filled with sculptures and climbing walls.
Champex-Lac is a lovely town filled full of tourists and we even got very reasonable accommodation there that provided us with good food and clean facilities, we would highly recommend this Le Cabanon B&B to stay the night.
Walking advice for Day 6 of TMB
- No rush today so you don’t need to start early
- Look out for the wild Alpine strawberries along the trail they are super tasty
- Stop at the only 1 coffee stop on the trail and get food
- Try book a tour of the tunnels in Champex
TMB Day 6 – Walking time
- You would want to allow 6 hours including breaks.
- We started walking out of Rifugio Bonatti at 8:00 am and we arrived in La Fouly at 14:00 pm.