Lac de Lou to Col de la Madeleine France

Day 78 Tuesday 21 July 2026

It’s been another awesome day… it started with a 5hr hike to Lac de Pierre Blanche via Lac de Lou and then a drive to the Col de la Madeleine for the night.

At a height of 2300m alt, it was a lovely cool night and a peaceful sleep with only the ‘white noise’ from the stream behind us. We decided that we would hike to Lake Lou and depart from La Chasse carpark 7km back down from Val Thorens.

Arriving at 8am there was no problems in finding a parking spot. So after breakfast we set off at 9am. From 1888m in we had to go up a bit via a lovely restaurant area with small animals, a garden and play ground. 

View of our trail

Then down to join the trail that can also be taken from the village. It took us an hour to reach the lovely Lake Lou (2035m) that also has a refuge restaurant. 

We decided that we would continue on to Lac de Pierre Blanche (White Rock Lake) another 2km onwards but to 2304alt. There’s no denying it that it was a hard slog but we took our time and 1 hour later we had made it! We enjoyed a well deserved rest before doing our return journey.

 This time it was harder on the legs than the lungs. But the views made up for it.

Back to Bluey just before 2pm we had a bite to eat and a drink before continuing 30km back down to the valley. We did stop to have a look at a quaint chapel along the way.

But not for long before we turned off to zig zag our way up again for 26km to the Col de la Madeleine (2014, 2022). We had forgotten how tight the road was in places. Arriving at 4:45pm we were happy to get a spot in the carpark and enjoyed the amazing views here of both sides of the col.

73km 

Mont d’Arbois to Val Thorens France

Day 77 Monday 20 July 2026

Last night we explored the Thermal Park in Le Fayet. It’s a beautiful shady parkland and as the name suggests also provides the opportunity for thermal bath therapies since 1815.  Now owned by Loréal, it has  recently re-opened after a huge renovation. We walked along the river to the falls. On our way back we couldn’t resist a ride on the recently built elevator that connects the park to the township of St Gervais. Quite an ingenious way of using the towns waste water as the counter weight to be more energy efficient.

The next morning we had a lovely walk up at Mont d’Arbois and then drove 114km to the highest ski resort in Europe, Val Thorens @2300m alt!

It was a later start today as the gondola up to Mont d’Arbois didn’t start until 9am. At 8:30am we bought a day use ticket from Le Fayet @ €25pp. 

Bluey parking spot

Thermal baths

Waterfall

It was a 15mins trip to St.Gervais. We then caught the gondola to Le Bettex and changed again gondolas to go up to Mont d’Arbois, arriving at 9:30am. 

It was a beautiful sunny day but the view was a bit hazy over the mountain peaks. 

Our walk took us up to Mount Joux, offering more great views.

 Then we descended to Lake Joux, a small man made lake. 

From here we completed our loop back to the Mont d’Arbois gondola station. We took the 11:45am trip back down to Le Fayet (we gave our tickets away to a family) and then walked back to Bluey. We used the dump point and then drove along the valley via Megeve where we stopped for some fuel and a quick shop. 

We continued along the valley via Albertville and to Moutiers where we veered off to take the road to Val Thorens (38km).

By this time we were only Interested in finding a spot for tonight. The resort is huge with lots of large apartments and new builds happening. We ended up on the far side on a nice flat piece of land with another 2 motorhomes. We have been surprised with how few motorhomes we have seen in this area.  Anyway up here @2300m alt its a cool 20° with a strong breeze which is a nice change from the 30°+ in the valley below. Tomorrow we will explore …

114km

By this time we were only Interested in finding a spot for tonight. The resort is huge with lots of large apartments and new builds happening. We ended up on the far side on a nice flat piece of land with another 2 motorhomes. We have been surprised with how few motorhomes we have seen in this area.  Anyway up here @2300m alt its a cool 20° with a strong breeze which is a nice change from the 30°+ in the valley below. Tomorrow we will explore …