Our summer holiday this year was the Walkers Haute Route that runs from Chamonix in France to Zermatt in Switzerland across the Alps. We started at Champex Lac and hiked for 11 days up and over 10 mountain passes covering 170 odd kilometres. We had brilliant weather, albeit surprising when we awoke to the mountains covered in snow one morning.
At times the trail was pasture complete with cows (their bells really do reverberate through the Swiss valleys) and at other times thin mountain paths with perilous drops and the danger of falling rocks.
One of the real pleasures of the Walkers Haute Route is that at the end of each day, whether we were in a village staying in a small hostel or in a mountain hut, we were met with fantastic hospitality and great cheese. And sometimes a stunning view like the one below from the dining room of the Cabane de Moiry which overlooks Moiry icefall.
Finally after 11 days we arrived above Zermatt with the Matterhorn standing proud to welcome us. 
All in all it was a fantastic trip into the mountains that has whet the appetite for further high altitude wandering.
M & S
