Sospel to Menton, Day 37 So, finally, dawn has broken over Sospel on our 37th and last day of hiking the GTA from Lake Leman to Menton on the GR5 and GR52. As we set off from St. Gingolph on the 6th of August this last day seemed so distant as to be scarcely possible. Yet here we are, simply by putting one foot in front of the other and keeping going. I'd spent the evening with Simon and Nada and heard first hand of the real trauma and suffering...

St. Dalmas du Plan to Le Boreon - D32 The Gite des Marmottes was pretty good. For some strange reason the booking made provision for one en suite room with two single beds, which Godfrey allocated to Phil and myself. He and Richard were put into a bunk room to share with two French women. Phil and I weren't complaining but it would have made more sense to put the two French women in our room and for the four of us to occupy the bunks. I guess this...

Bousieyas to St. Etienne-de-Tinee - Day 28 The Buddhist refuge at Bousieyas was okay but they were a bit mean. Mean with meat. There wasn't any. At all. I think it was a veggie refuge. They were also mean to two German fellow hikers who hadn't booked ahead. We'd met this couple before in the gite in Brunissard, the night before we met up with the other Fools. He was the guy who put hot water on his cornflakes and then pretended it was okay. Just after we arrived...

Larche to Bousieyas, Day 27 So much for all that effort yesterday to avoid walking down a road. I even had to detour through Italy. And, guess what we did this morning? Yes, we walked the first four kilometres along a tarmac road. The lady running the auberge we'd been staying in offered to give us a lift up the road to the car park at the entrance to the valley up which we were headed to cross the inevitable col. Needless to say, we declined. The previous night's meal...

Ceillac to Maljasset, Day 25 Today was the best start to any day we've had so far. Why? Because Godfrey had kindly brought over some Marmite and today's breakfast was the first in France when I could use Britain's empire-building version of Kryptonite on my toast instead of the usual jam. Lego Tatiana was thrilled as well. I think she's also got pretty fed up with the runny jam too. I'd had this problem in Russia and had been saved by Tim Moffatt, the BBC's deputy head of High...

Brunissard to Ceillac, Day 24. In Brunissard we shared a room with two young men who had recently taken to hiking. They were preparing to take a trip to Nepal and go trekking there. In order to gain experience they'd decided to hike part of the GR5. this was their first foray into hiking. Ever. One was laid up in bed. Invalided by a small blister on his little toe. This had made walking uncomfortable and his knee hurt a bit. Consequently, he was going to take a taxi round...

Briançon to Brunissard. Day 23. You'd never guess we've just had two complete days and three nights off in Briançon. If you'd watched me inching my way up to the the Col des Ayes you'd be forgiven for thinking, 'Poor thing! He's on his chin strap. And that great big bloke with him seems to be cruelly pushing the pace, despite carrying 22kgs on his back.' You'd be right. Two days off seems to have had exactly the opposite effect. Instead of leaping up the mountain this morning, chamois-like, I...

Quite a number of people have shown interest in or commented on kit and equipment I've been using on the GR5. Some have asked for a blog about it. So, here it is. Paddy Dillon in Trekking the GR5 by Cicerone suggests you need no more than 10kgs. It's not clear if that's dry or wet weight (with or without water). 10kgs dry would seem to be an optimal weight to aim at. However, all this depends on why you are dong the GR5 and what you intend to...

Fun Week Day 7 - Plampinet to Briançon Plampinet offers two gîtes to stay in. We were booked into the Gîte Auberge de Cleida, which has some sort of connection to the 14th Alpine Hunter Regiment. I got the impression it had been a kind of officers' mess or their hunting lodge. It had also featured as part of the set of Belle et Sébastien the French drama set in during the Second World War in which an orphaned boy and a great big shaggy dog help resistance fighters...