Spiritual day

On a very hot day we all drove up to Notre Dame de la Salette where, at 1800m, it was rather cooler than if we'd stayed in the valley. We first visited the sanctuary, an utterly forgettable place. It's the second most important pilgrimage site in France but looks like a prison with an ugly church attached. Thankfully the site is rather less tacky than Lourdes but the "school canteen" lunch was awful. Of course, prepared by nuns and volunteers, criticism was difficult.

After eating, half of the group went for walks according to fitness. We all walked up 150m to a col where I was let loose and shot up Les Chamoux, which involved a bit of scrambling. Then I headed out on the fairly level crest to the Croix de Rougny (2262m) where I had fine views and just three circling eagles for company. I continued to feed my spiritual side as I ran back to Les Chamoux where I took this photo of Le Vargas which the others were climbing. I later climbed this with Mme A who had been repulsed by the rocky ridge leading up to Les Chamoux.