An epic first day

I had dreamt about an epic first day and oh yes, I have got myself one. Pilgrims leave early, so this morning I woke up at 6h30. The morning air was fresh and cool. I had a nice breakfast with Caat and then drove to my starting point in Saint Jean d'Aulps. Some of our Alikats friends came as well which was amazing. Thank you Rachelle, Rod and Tiff. Rod put the first stamp in my passport. Yesterday, I had asked for a stamp in the Morzine tourist office, but the lady refused. Sorry, I can't do that, it is an official stamp. So what? I have an official pilgrims passport. Do you think I'm going to come back saying: look at the stamp, I own Morzine now. I couldn't convince her. At 9h, it was really time to go. Caat went for a yoga class at Lake Montriond which was on my route. So I would see her again after my first 5 kilometers. First I followed a path along a river. There I got immediately company from horse flies, as annoying as normal flies but these ones bite, even through your tshirt. Thank you deet! The climb towards the lake was in full sunshine, amazing but hot. The roads were busy due to the arrival of the Tour de France in Morzine today. But I was heading away from the hustle and bustle. Lake Montriond is a stunning place. I'm so happy that I have got the chance to say goodbye to Caat here. Very grateful as well that she supports all my crazy adventures. As she drove away in our camper, I realised it was just me, my backpack and more than 1000km now. The path next to the lake went very steep uphill. I didn't expect that it would have been so difficult for me. Looking back, I probably underestimated the heat and the altitude. I took it easy, heat stroke is a real risk on these days. Luckily the path levelled out after 50min. It took me along hamlets like le latay and la maison neuve. These are often only a couple of chalets where nobody lives permanently. By 13h, I was ready for my big climb to get to an altitude of 1800m. Only 15min into the climb, I was surprised by thunder. On my phone, I saw a thunderstorm coming. Climbing higher could put my life in danger and I didn't want to get soaking wet. So I decided to put safety first and descend again towards a couple of chalets. I found shelter under the porch of one of them. Time for lunch. It rained very hard for 20min, but nothing more. So looking back, I didn't need to come down boehoe! Around 14h, I climbed back to where I came from and higher. Once above the trees, the views where stunning. I could see the whole valley including Lindarets village and Avoriaz. But it was tough! The heat of the sun was intense and the horse flies kept circling me. No complaints though, I loved every minute. Around 16h, I reached the highest point. I probably looked like I fell in a swimming pool, but I felt like I was the king of the world. After that, the path goes up and down for 30min and ends up at coll de bassachaux. You can drive up here from Chatel, so suddenly I was surrounded by cars and tourists. But the fun thing is, there is a bar at the top. Whatever the price, I wanted a cool drink. The view over lake montriond deep below made it perfect. Time to go down. And it was a long way down. I had to descend almost 700 meters. Tough on the knees after a long day. A wild deer jumped away just in front of me. After a couple of steep switch backs, I arrived at the Chatel bike park. From there, I I could follow the river until the 1861 hostel. I didn't book, because they don't accept bookings for 1 night in weekends. But I thought, let's ask anyway. And yes, I got myself a bed in a 14bed dorm room. The shower was heaven. On top of that, there was a food truck in front selling burgers. Life has never been better. I sat down at the river next to the hostel for a while before going to bed. And yes, I will sleep well. Everybody can snore, I won't hear. My first kilometers are done and except for being tired, I feel fine. Let's do some more tomorrow!