Aiguilles de la Pennaz

Much less blue sky today - but still surprisingly warm - and for a half term weekend not another soul in sight (bar one distant runner) as we made our way back up into one of our favourites - the Nant vally. I guess the fact that all the buvets & refuges have shut really does make a difference.

Our plan was fairly simple - wander along until snow, tiredness (lol) or a need for coffee & cake stopped us. With the alpage cattle fences now all gone it was great to be able to explore the little ravines and outcrops that I walk past when I'm guiding the Tour - and we spent a fair bit of time going nowhere all that fast. Little blue gentians and the odd bellflower were still out - but high up into the conifer zone the real stars of the show at the moment were the larch & silver birch trees which shine bright orange in a sea of dark green.

I took this looking at the Aiguilles - when we stopped for a picnic lunch - but we turned back not far from here when we started to encounter snow that was just the annoying type of wet & slippy.