Didn’t sleep well as I was little anxious about the start of our hike. I knew what to expect when I hike in the USA. Choose a trail, pack your gear, find a campsite to set up your tent. Repeat. The TMB is different. Choose a trail variant, call ahead to find a bed or room not really knowing how far you can hike that day, figure out food as you go, figure out water as you go. Now I understand why one would use a guide.

We had a good filling breakfast at the hotel. Walked across the street to the bus that would take us to the trail head. Went to the tram that would take us the first bit up the mountain. The day before we checked out the Tram and it would start at 7:00. Arrived at 7:30. Cool. Oh no found I misread the schedule this tram starts at 9:00. So quickly back on the return bus to the Bellvue tram made it. Packed into the tram with about 20 other early morning hikers. The tram takes from 1065m to 1900 meters. About 2600 feet. Glad we didn’t have to walk up. $14. Well worth it. We started hiking at 8:30am. Weather was overcast and cool making the hiking great.

Off we went our next stop was going to be about 1300 meters So a 1800 elevation drop. Nice! But know this isn’t a leisurely stroll down its a steep decent on slippery gravel. Did I mention how beautiful these mountains are. They are gorgeous 😊

We get to Bionnassy as expected we keep going down I’m not really thinking anything about it, we keep going down We get to Bionson Hey wait is this where we are supposed to be? We are now at 1065 meters a decent of about 2700 feet Pulled out map pulled out guide book Duh missed the turn off what to do. Having now gone about 2 miles too far. Now what? Then another American and his Canadian hiking buddy walk up. Hey do you know where we are and where is the TMB? They made the same mistake. We consult the maps and guide book to figure out a plan. A passing driver helped. Off we go up the road. About 15 minutes later we run into 4 Americans coming down the road we are going up. They ask do you know where the TMB is? Yes we say you passed it So now there are 8 of us heading up the road. They all walk about twice as fast as Missy and I so soon they are gone. Up about 300 meters and getting some more French help and we find the trail. Yah!!! 3+ miles and 2+++ hours of tough extra hiking and we are back on track. So the Boy Scout messed up twice in one day. Bummer. In Les Contamines we met an Australian couple that miss the turn as well  so I feel less stupid but just as sore

Back on track. Beautiful villages, rivers, mountains. Now we are tired but moving along. We make it to village La Villette Hmm coffee anywhere? We meet two men walking and asked them if there was a coffee shop nearby. No there wasn’t but we could come to their house. So off we went.  Turns out that two German families had rented a Chalet. They introduced us to their wonderful family. They have three awesome teenage children. The 14 year old boy joined in the conversation.  He was so impressive. The girl was kind and gracious explaining the special cake they served with the best coffee we have had in France. Of course the conversation quickly turned to Trump and shared my views that he is a danger to the world.  They shared their belief that Brexit was bad for the EU and Britain.  We took our group picture and continued on our way.

The trail was now well marked but we were dragging so the distances felt far.  The countryside is now gorgeous.High peaks, flowing rivers, farms and hamlets. A beautiful hike.  Lots of pictures.

One final push up the trail to Les Contamines. Beautiful tourist village.  A short 30 minute walk to our hotel. Checked in.  Hot shower. Lay down a few minutes. An excellent meal in the hotel with way too much food to finish. Back to bed.  A great first day on the TMB.