Days 93 to 97: The Other Side of the Vercors

Day 93: An Exceptional Trail Angel 

Waking up in the morning at the youth hostel, I try to plan my entry into the Vercors, but the weather forecasts make this organisation quite complicated. The problem is that the second day in the Vercors is quite exposed to bad weather, with many sections on ridgelines and summits. This can become extremely dangerous in case of thunderstorms (which are forecast for the second day). I could hike a first day, then follow it with a rest day in an unstaffed hut, but there is another obstacle: there is very little, if any, accessible water during the next three days. I would therefore have to carry four days’ worth of water (including the hypothetical rest day), which would represent about 8 to 10 litres (for those unfamiliar, that means adding 8 to 10 kilograms). So that option is not really viable either.

I come to the conclusion that I will have to wait at least two or three days, until a favourable weather window appears. Since I do not really have the budget to pay for three consecutive nights in a youth hostel at 35 euros a night, I check whether, by any chance, there might be a trail angel in Grenoble.

And then, what a lovely surprise. There is one who offers accommodation and a hot shower to hikers. Very excited, I write to her immediately without expecting much, and she replies within the very minute. She tells me she can host me right away and gives me her address. Over the moon, I pack my things and head to her flat.

She welcomes me with a big smile and immense generosity, offering me the option to stay several nights if I feel I need it. I am incredibly grateful. It will give me time to prepare the next days. On the first evening, she shows me around Grenoble and we go and pick up a little meal, which we eat in her beautiful flat.

Hugo also messaged me in the afternoon to say he got an incredible sports massage. Oof, it is so tempting, and my muscles are well overdue for a little massage. I book a session for the next day.

Day 94: Massage Day!

Today’s plan: my massage. The massage therapist, Olivier, welcomes me into his treatment room and, for the next two hours, helps me eliminate all the tension and soreness in my poor calves and quadriceps. Honestly, I strongly recommend it. He is passionate about his work, extremely competent, and attentive to his clients. Right, I’ll leave you his card if you pass through Grenoble.

Since I cannot get back on the trail until the day after tomorrow, I take the chance to relax, but also to buy new shoes and a USB cable (it has broken twice, this time I’m getting a high end one for extreme conditions that comes with a lifetime guarantee, and if it breaks again I’m going to lose it). I find my shoe brand online with a 40% discount. Oof, that price is music to my ears. I wanted to wait until the start of Stage 5 to buy them, but never mind, I’m doing it now. I order them and use Katia’s address. I pay an extra 4 euros to receive them the next day because I’m leaving again in two days. Perfect, confirmed, the delivery driver will come tomorrow morning between 9.00 and 11.00.

Day 95: A Strange Postal Service

The next morning, I wake up before 9.00 so I do not miss my parcel arriving. Hours go by, it is now 12.00, and still nothing. I go on the postal website to check the progress of my parcel, and I see that the driver came but, since he did not have the building entry code, he left again. Damn. He could not be bothered to call me? He had my number though. I call UPS to explain, and they tell me I will not be able to receive my parcel until tomorrow afternoon. Erm, no madam, that doesn’t work, I have to leave tomorrow morning for the Vercors. After a lot of negotiating, the receptionist tells me I can pick the parcel up directly at the centre in the late afternoon. I check online and see the centre is only about a 30 minute bus ride away. Phew, all good.

Tomorrow, I will leave Grenoble to get back to the hike at Corrençon en Vercors. There will be rain during this first day, but the weather will clear for the days on the ridges. So I go and buy food for the next three days as well as an extra 1.5 litre bottle of water so I have a total of 4 litres of water with me.

Later in the afternoon, I go to collect my parcel and I finally get my gorgeous new pair of Trabuco 12s.

Since it is my last evening with Katia, I make two summer salads to thank her for all this incredible hospitality. We spend our final evening talking about feminism, the very difficult situations of sexism and harassment that women still face in French universities and workplaces, as well as hiking (Katia did the Pacific Crest Trail last year). Katia, if you read this article, once again thank you immensely for your great generosity and kindness.

Day 96: Dizziness

This time, that’s it. Today, I can finally get back on the trail. I am really excited to discover the famous Vercors I have heard so much about, which is even the emblem on the HexaTrek logo. I rejoin the trail at Corrençon sur Vercors (thanks to the kind bus driver who detoured from his route to drop me right at the trail).

At the last refuge before entering the Vercors, I hydrate as much as possible and fill my 4 litres of water. Oof, that’s really heavy. Today, since the day is quite rainy and misty and I set off around midday, my goal is to walk a small 15 kilometres so I am well positioned to begin the series of ridges the next day.

From the first kilometres, I develop a headache. I do not worry too much, I take a paracetamol and carry on. The forest I am moving through reminds me a bit of Quebec. Compared to Belledonne, this trail is a joke. No scree, just a good smooth path where I can look at the scenery while walking.

I reach a first unstaffed refuge fairly quickly and take a good break there to eat a bit and hydrate. I set off again around 4.00 pm, with only 8 kilometres left in the day.

A few kilometres later, I enter the Hauts Plateaux du Vercors. I notice a shepherd’s hut in a wide open valley. Whoever is there seems to have an incredible spot.

I cross the valley, then start to head into the woods. For hours, the only people I have met are a couple walking the other way. It is one of the first times on the trail that I feel this isolated. I am walking peacefully when I start hearing bells. Oh, a flock of sheep must be approaching. I scan the surroundings when I hear patous barking. I do what I have learned: I move to the side to give the flock space, and I place my cap in front of me so the patou can come and smell my scent. It must be a nervous patou because when I put my hat on the ground, it gets scared and runs off, charging straight into the poor ewes. Another patou soon comes over, and instead of scaring me, it comes to be petted.

The flock is huge and has not moved for several minutes. This is going to take a while. Impossible to go around. After a good ten minutes of waiting, a shepherdess appears. We chat a little. She tells me her flock has more than 1,000 ewes. She also confirms that she is the one living in the shepherd’s hut I spotted about twenty minutes earlier. After a few minutes of conversation, we say goodbye, and I continue on my way.

It is not long after that everything becomes complicated. I have not even been back on the trail for ten minutes when suddenly everything starts swaying, I nearly faint, and I catch myself just in time before collapsing to the ground. Wow, what just happened? My ribcage tightens and I feel strong anxiety symptoms, without actually feeling stressed. It is not the dizziness itself that worries me, it is the combination of all these symptoms added to the migraine I had earlier.

Without thinking too much, I start walking again towards my goal for the day, before stopping about ten minutes later. I realise the stupid risk I am taking. The trails are deserted, I am going deeper and deeper into the forest, I have no mobile signal, and although I have my satellite safety beacon, it will not do me much good if I lose consciousness. Sometimes you have to remember that safety must come before the trail.

My best chance lies with the shepherdess I met about twenty minutes earlier. It is far safer for me to go back to her rather than remain alone for the next few hours.

With a heavy heart, I turn back, and about twenty minutes later, I hear the bells hanging from the ewes’ necks. I sigh with relief. I wave to the shepherdess, who comes over. When I explain the situation, she very generously invites me to stay at her place for the night, and she even puts my rucksack on her shoulders to help me. We head back to her hut, following the ewes, who stop every minute to graze a bit of grass. Being a shepherd in the Vercors can be very stressful because several wolf packs regularly attempt attacks on the flocks. Clara tells me that since the start of the season, she has not lost a single ewe. Yet a wolf has already come within ten metres of her. To protect the flock, three patous walk with Clara, as well as two Border Collies whose job is to keep the flock together as one group. Five goats are also part of this cheerful company, but being very proud, they slightly reject the patous’ authority.

While Clara takes care of the flock, I go inside to rest. I am exhausted and freezing. The ewes, naturally very curious, soon cluster in front of the window to watch the stranger in their domain.

In the evening, Clara and I share a meal together and I learn more about the shepherd’s life. We have a lovely evening, then I go up to the second floor to sleep.

That night, I think a bit about what I will do over the next few days. My parents will arrive in Carcassonne tomorrow morning, so I could take a train to go and meet them as early as 8 September.

I have crossed out the possibility of continuing to hike alone in the Vercors. When you set off solo hiking, you accept a certain level of risk, but one that remains manageable. I always have a safety beacon with me in case of trouble, which reduces the risks further. However, the episode I had yesterday adds a level of risk I am not ready to take, given the balance between benefits and danger. I am obsessed with hiking and with life in nature, but sometimes you have to make the decision to leave the trail for a few days to assess the situation. Even if a landscape promises to be magnificent, there will be others I will encounter along my way. A life, for example, I only have one. My episode is probably just due to great fatigue, but you should not gamble with luck. In the coming days, I will see a doctor to check that everything is in order.

Day 97: A Day Full of Humanity

The next morning, I thank Clara from the bottom of my heart, take her WhatsApp contact so I can message her when I am safely back in town, and set off again very slowly.

Given what happened yesterday, I am a bit nervous walking alone since there are still 8 kilometres between me and the first signs of civilisation. Luckily, everything goes well, and I make it back to Corrençon sur Vercors under a magnificent sun.

In Corrençon sur Vercors, I start hitchhiking back to Grenoble since there is no bus serving this place.

I get picked up by a friendly person working in the outdoor industry who drops me in Villars de Lans. The magic happens a few moments later.

A friendly gentleman named Jean Pierre picks me up in his car. He has to go to a clinic in Grenoble to have some tests done, so he offers to drop me in the city. Perfect. We get on well, and I tell him about my big adventure. I tell him about my disappointment at not seeing Mont Aiguille, which is the emblem of the HexaTrek. That’s when he turns to me and offers to drive me to that mountain. I am speechless. It is almost an hour’s drive, not to mention the return. I tell him it is incredibly generous, but that I do not want to take advantage of his kindness. He replies that he has not seen the place in almost 20 years and that he would be happy to go back. He tells me the tests will take about thirty minutes, then we can go and eat together, then head towards Mont Aiguille. Deal. My afternoon turns into an unexpected road trip.

I wait for Jean Pierre in a café, then when he returns, he even buys me lunch. We hit the road together. I text Hugo to tell him this crazy story and tell him I am going to a village called Chichilianne. And then, another crazy coincidence: Hugo tells me he is there for the afternoon. What were the odds.

A memorable road trip with Jean Pierre begins. After an hour on the road, Mont Aiguille appears in all its splendour. I am so happy to be able to contemplate it. It is crazy how sometimes bad luck turns into good luck. In the village, I go to say hello to Hugo, who invites me for dinner and the night at his home with his mother. We agree to meet later, and Jean Pierre even offers to drive me right there.

Back in Grenoble, I warmly thank Jean Pierre, who turned a day of disappointment, having had to cancel the Vercors, into a day that will remain a memorable souvenir.

In the evening, I share a wonderful moment with Hugo and his mother. Tomorrow, I will take the train to Carcassonne (since I have already done Stage 4), and I will meet my parents, whom I have not seen for three months.