Hiking through the French Alps on the Hexatrek & starting stage 3 - Day 44
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- Опубліковано 15 лип 2024
- The Hexatrek is an epic 3034km long distance trail that goes through France, including the Alps & Pyrenees.
This is a vlog of day 44 of this incredible thru-hike.
You can find the route and more information about the Hexatrek here: en.hexatrek.com
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Thanks for watching.
MY GEAR LIST
SLEEP SYSTEM
Tent - Floating Cloud 1 3fulgear.com
Sleeping pad - Z-Lite Sol amzn.to/3qGxrhi
Sleeping Bag - Helium Solo shorturl.at/cxD16
BACKPACK
Osprey Aether 60L
WATER FILTER
Sawyer mini
TECH
Anker Power Bank 20000 mAh amzn.to/3oPQRzH
12 Watt Solar Panel
Suunto Ambit3 Peak GPS Watch
IPhone 11 Pro
CLOTHING
Brooks Cascadia 16 Trail Shoes www.brooksrunning.com/en_gb
Soloman Bonatti Rain Jacket
Balega Blister Resist Socks amzn.to/43QJaIm
Runderwear Boxer Shorts amzn.to/45R0mzf
#hexatrek #thruhike #hiking
Great stuff. I might have missed you commenting, but overall, across the entire hike, do you have a favourite stretch / region? Looking forward to the next instalment!
Great question, it’s very hard to pick a favourite part as the regions of the Hexatrek are so different. But if I had to pick 1 then I would say the second half of stage 2 was just incredible especially summiting Cheval Blanc at 2830m. The mountain scenary of the Alps is something any hiker should experience.
Some other highlights was the tour des Ecrins at the start of stage 3. The Ardeche valley at the start of stage 4 was otherworldly. The Pyrenees especially the second half of stage 5 was very mystical with a ton of lakes. The first 2 days of stage 6 was insanely beautiful aswell. And the 13th century castles of stage 1 was also very cool to explore as there’s so many of them along the trail.
Next instalment should be uploaded on Friday 👍🏼
What a gorgeous video, shots and views are simply outstanding here!
Thank you my friend 👍🏼 I’ve been watching some of your shorts and they look awesome. I’ll be catching up on some of your videos now I’m resting from my hike 😊
I loved this, agree with others: exceptional shots! Looks like a fairytale!
👍🏼💚
Brilliant mate!
Thank you 🙏🏻
Such an unbelievable world that you have seen. Most people do not even get to know that this exists.
The world is a beautiful place. I hope to explore much more of it in the years to come 😊
Beautiful. Thanx for sharing this.
And thank you for watching 😊
Thanks for sharing your adventures. I love your channel!
Glad you’re enjoying 😊 thanks for the support 👍🏼
Mate, you're a legend for getting in that glacier water! What a brilliant hike. What dreams are made of. I hear you about the extra couple of kilos, really slows you down. Didn't know there were places you were allowed to wild camp in France, thats awesome
The Hexatrek was incredible, and that glacier water was bloody freezing 🥶😂 my legs felt really good when I got out though. Yeah they call it ‘bivouacing’ in France. You can set up your tent after 7pm and you have to be gone by 9am the next morning. Most place you can do it, just not in towns or next to houses etc. and there are some national parks and nature reserves which specifically say no bivouacing. 71% of the Hexatrek you are allowed to wild camp along which was awesome.
@@RyansNextAdventure yeah there's definitely something to be said for cold water dips. I go for the occasional winter dip in the sea and feel great afterwards, if not so much during 😆 I thought bivouacing would be just for bivvy bags given the name. Sounds like they have a good common sense attitude towards wild camping, looks a great hike
Great video Ryan and fantastic scenery.
I know cold exposure is good for you but that water looked so cold.
Did you take micro spikes?
Which Sim card are you using and how is the coverage?
It was bloody freezing! But it felt really good when I got out and it was nice to cool down. I didn’t have micro-spikes, the snow was passable. There was one bit that was a bit scary as I descended from Cheval Blanc, but there were clear footprints to follow where previous hikers walked which made it ok. I saw lots of hikers without micro-spikes. I just took it slow and steady. If you’re getting to stage 2 a few weeks before I did then micro-spikes wouldn’t be a bad idea. But they won’t be needed much. I used an O2 SIM card, you can get a £15 a month pay as you go bundle,. And use up to 25GB of data in the EU. This was more than enough for me. O2 is the best network for the EU as the others only have 5GB limits in Europe. The coverage was pretty good overall, I never went more than 3 days without signal, and that was only a couple of times, there will be alot of no signal in the mountains but you will find signal again within a day or 2. At the end of stage 1 you will be in Switzaland for a few days and they aren’t in the EU so I had no signal. And the start of stage 2 is very close to the border and my phone thought I was still in Switzerland so took a few days to get signal again. Ofcoarse make sure all the maps are downloaded onto the Hexatrek app for offline use and you should be fine. Hope this helps.
Another tip that I’ve just thought of is make sure you have a chunk of cash on you. Stage 2 & 3 are through the Alps and stage 4 & 5 the Pyrenees. These stages you will be staying and potentially eating at the mountain refuges a lot, pretty much all of them only take cash, so you don’t want to get stuck without cash in the mountains. I also experienced quite a lot of bakery’s and shops that only accepted cash or preferred cash.
Thanks so much Ryan for all your advice, you are making my walk easier, stress free and more enjoyable.
My start date is May 15 so I think I will be taking Microspikes.
At what location do you think I would be totally finished with them and could post them to a friend?
How much cash would you recommend carrying on the sections mentioned?
Thanks again for your help.
@@alankelly349 No problem, happy to help 👍🏼. I would say you don’t need micro spikes after you pass Chamonix on stage 2, I didn’t see any snow past that and you should be fine sending them back in Chamonix. I had €200 of cash on me which was enough for the entire Alps. The mountain refugees are on average about €20 a night, camping outside them is on average €5 a night. The meals range between €10-€20 per meal. I tried to stay on the cheaper side for this hike and only stayed in accommodation when I really needed it so the €200 lasted a while. I had another €200 cash on me for the Pyrenees and only used about €100 of it. But if you plan to use the refugees a lot more than maybe a bit more cash might be a good idea. You won’t ever be a million miles from a cash point on the trail, there are cash points in a lot of the bigger towns along the trail so you don’t have to carry too much cash. I would say €200-€300 would be plenty for half the trail. Again depends a bit on your budget.
Thanks so much Ryan