Only Swiss Bank Account holder's need visit

The Swiss Alps
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For those who have been waiting patiently, here they are - the blogs from the Tour de Mont Blanc. Well 3/4 of them so far. Harder to find net cafes in Alps than Spain!

Well Jim and I landed in Geneva on Sunday morning and went to buy our return train tickets in Champex where the walk starts/finishes. It's a bit confusing with the Swiss Francs here as they are so close in value to the Aussie Dollar (ie CHF1=$AUD0.94) that you expect everything to be cheap. So when our return train rides cost us CHF114 EACH we were a little shocked. About 1/3 of our budget would be spent in just getting there!

I wouldn't be suprised if they were flushing with purified chilled, bottled Evian water!

Inside the tent
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Nevertheless, we were able to borrow a good Marmot 'Swallow' tent from Jim's boss at Ellis Brigham in Bristol for the trip. It's very spacious for the two of us and looks almost new!

The train ride took about 1hr 40mins and had some amazing scenery! We pretty much rode around Lake Geneva! We swapped trains at Martigny and caught a smaller train to another small town I can't remember or pronounce but it was something like Orseries(?) Then came the fun ride. A full sized coach/bus zig-zagging up the side of a hill full of hairpin bends! For the Hobart readers, imagine Nelson Rd but with thinner roads, way more condensed turns and steeper! I think half our ticket price went to the bus driver as danger money! Oh, and the Swiss haven't discovered crash barriers either. If the driver turns too early/late then there isn't a second chance! I suppose it's a good incentive to make sure you do it correct the first time though!

Champex
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We arrive at Champex and found the campsite. F******* CHF15 EACH TO CAMP IN OUR OWN TENT!! The Swiss may not have great OH&S policies but they know how to capitalise on tourist markets. And the stupid town didn't have any ATM's or banks so Jim and I had to make do with what little cash we had left to buy our food from the poor excuse for a supermarket. The next ATM we were told was in a town we'd pass through the next day so looked forward to that.

The campsite, although expensive, did have nice hot showers (A change from the Jamboree) in a pink men's bathroom, which did confuse me at first, and the water in the cisterns above the toilet was chilled water. With the prices at the campsite, I wouldn't be suprised if they were flushing with purified, chilled, bottled Evian water!

On the lighter side, they did have an outdoor table-tennis table for to use for free (I should bloody hope so!) We played a little tournament together which I won due to the constant timed assistance of a light breeze and the obvious slant of the table top.

We also ran into a couple who were walking in an anti-clockwise direction and so were almost finished and able to provide us with some tips about places we would encounter soon. We went to bed with the intention of getting an early start on the mamouth journey that awaited us.