TMB Day 3: Easy day with new company and cheese fondue

Today was a shorter and easier day.  We caught up with Alex who was staying at another refuge last night and chatted for a bit before he was on his way as Andrew kept stopping and taking photos of these cute Swiss houses along the way. 

We ended up catching up to Mike from England and spending the rest of the day chatting with him.  We noticed him from yesterday at dinner and along the trails.   Mike was doing the full TMB on his own.    His pack was massive and I kept asking him what he was caring.  One of the items was  an umbrella.  An umbrella!  Apparently that is what one of these touring companies recommended!  Isn't that what Gortex is for?   He figured his pack was close to 60lbs.  He laughed when I told him our was close to 12lbs.  Even if we were doing the whole loop are pack would be close to 12lbs.   I may have added another pair of underwear!!  Icebreaker doesn't stink!

Mike was staying in Champex and we were staying in a refuge only 1km past the tourist looking town.  We stopped for cheese fondue and basked in the sun over looking Champex lac around lunch time.  Ah cheese fondue in the Alps on a multi day hike.  So strange but somehow too awesome for words. 

Back home we would be rationing the hard cheese and chocolate for a few days and then switching to boil in a bag food. 

We stayed at Gite Bon Apri where we met up with Alex from Estonia and shared stories and adventures of our lives over dinner.  This would be the last time we would see Alex as he would be heading on the Bovine trail of the TMB and we would be hiking up to Fenetre d'Arpette.