Les Écrins aka GR54

This Summer, we (Nathalie, Camille, Tim) had the chance to visit the Écrins National Park to hike the famous GR54a trail. The "a" stands for "alpine": instead of walking around the mountains, the trail takes us across the rocky terrain, through steep but magnificient mountain passes.

With our tents, gas stove and joy, we spent 8 days and 7 nights camping as we explored the heart of the park.

For this report, we would love to share a glimpse of our journey through eight comic strips illustrating a particular story that represents an event, a thought or our fantasy for each day. Alongside the comics, you will find a few photographs that capture the essence of the place.

Day 1 : The ride

It is D-day minus one, we're ready. Tomorrow we'll all meet up in Geneva to take the Flixbus to Grenoble. In the morning, something really extraordinary happens! The bus coming straight from Belgium is right on time, without any delay. Buuuut.... Tim isn't there. Victim of a terrible sleepless night, he didn't wake up in time 😲.

Fortunately, the transports and connections are excellent that day and he arrives "only" three hours late, loaded down like a mule and eager to share the load between the three of us. We start to split up the luggage, but there's a catch.
Tim realises he shouln't have brought a mattress for Camille, and Camille is desperate at the thought of having to carry two mattresses. Just a little misunderstanding when preparing the equipment, oops !
Nathalie, on the other hand, is jumping for joy at the thought of carrying the onion for 62 hours... A what?
Tim had prepared the meals for the first three days. You could call them luxury meals, but they're super heavy. The onion is the symbol of the straw that broke the camel's back. Tim has now learned the lesson.

Day 2 : Guardian angels

At a mountain pass, we take a lovely photo of our "flying buddy". Our imaginations run wild and we picture a little angel flying with us, clinging to our shoulder. Can we enthrust it our heavy bags ? The answer remains unclear... What if the angel is exerting force on our shoulder ? Is it really it who is flying? Perhaps we are carrying the angel...
There are too many unkown about the biology of angels. The one thing that is certain is that the day is not over and we have to carry our backpacks ourselves.

Day 3 : Food tales

The mountains are extremely diverse and well defined. The stratification often reminds us of delicious dishes such as succulent thick mille-feuilles, french croissants, or a piece of marble cake. If you prefer savoury flavours, fries are for you. Otherwise, you can also enjoy a scoop of pistachio ice cream. Walking makes you hungry.

Day 4 : The water mystery

As we walk through this rugged and rather arid landscape, a thought crosses all our minds. "But where does all this water come from?"
It seems to flow in the gush of torrents already formed from the top of each mountain, pass, etc. There are no visible glaciers. We have found the one and only possible explanation: marmots labor.

Day 5 : Friends for life

A herd of donkeys greets us at the bend of the path. Without hesitation, Camille rushes toward the nearest donkey in need for petting ! Camille's affection is clearly not enough because the donkey turns to Timothée for even more scratches. In an parallel universe, they have surely adopted the donkey and are living their best life together.

Day 6 : "Feinter le rocher"

We saw on the map that today's section is mainly flat and goes around a mountain. We aren't very keen on doing that. On the same map, we notice another small dotted trail that crosses straight through the imposing mountain. We're not sure how accessible it is, but we're lucky enough to find a guidebook of this specific route. Aside from the overly technical language used, our attention is immediately drawn to the word "feinter" (to feint, or to fake) in associated with "the rock", which make us laugh and imagine all sorts of things.

In the end of the day, could we claim victory over the rock ? Unfortunately not. The trail was very difficult, closer to climbing than hiking. So we turned back after a tough battle with the rock face.

Day 7 : Science and philosophy

This long journey provides an opportunity to discuss fascinating topics. We talk about everything, from scientific facts to personal and philosophical talks to commun questions. Those questions can be summarized by the following four examples:

• Why does Tim need to fart shortly after eating raisins?
• What would we do if we only had one year left to live?
• What is that black, hairless patch on the inside of a donkey's front leg?
• How can we express difficult things to our beloved ones?

This non-exhaustive list pales in comparison to the breadth of topics covered. Politics, ecology, space, memories, imagination, etc.

Day 8 : Riddles

Our last day is filled with riddles, puzzles and guessing games. This comic strip sums it all up in a nice potpourri.

The closing word

On our last evening, we went to a wonderful restaurant where we enjoyed burrata cheese and a Mediterranean salad, Breton pancakes, crozet gratin, cannelo and sweet pancakes. We were sooo happy...

... and sooo tired...

... but filled with marvelous memories !