WET, WET DAY TO VALFRÉJUS

August 21, 2026

TERMIGNON –> VALFRÉJUS
VIA ALPINA DAY 61 – FRIDAY 21 AUGUST 2026

DISTANCE HIKED: 10.25km (+14km by bus)
ELEVATION GAIN: 169 m

TOTAL DISTANCE HIKED: 1,534.18 km
TOTAL ELEVATION GAIN: 80, 347 m

It wasn’t raining when I woke around 5am. I woke Hammer and suggested we pack up before the rain returned, even though neither of us wanted to get away too early. We were hoping to get breakfast at the town bakery, which opened at 7am.

And just as we started packing, the rain returned.

Our tent and fly were going to be soaking wet, but at least we’d be heading off. Anticipating another wet hiking day, I had booked a hotel on our route, about 24km away. Not a crazy distance and without a huge amount of elevation gain.

We left the campground in the rain, figuring we’d find some shelter while waiting for the bakery to open. What a disappointment. We arrived at 6.30am, only to discover that the bakery had suffered some sort of setback and was closed for good after 46 years of operation. The Sherpa convenience store across the road would sell bread and pastries. Sadly, it didn’t open until 7.30am. It was too long to stand around in the rain waiting, so we hiked on.

The low-hanging mist and rain closed out any views we might have had. We consoled ourselves with the positives—at least there was no wind, so it wasn’t that bad!

The landscape in the valley below had a grey, almost industrial feel to it, which wasn’t particularly uplifting. Even our wet-weather friends, the Alpine salamanders or efts, had deserted us.

The hiking terrain wasn’t particularly challenging, so I was surprised to find that my clothes underneath my wet-weather gear were getting wet. Hammer was having no problems. I eventually realised that my brand-new Outdoor Research Gore-Tex jacket was leaking through the seams, despite the seam seals.

I was getting so cold that I was having trouble operating my phone to navigate. The rain hitting the screen kept turning the map off, making things even more difficult. Hammer, meanwhile, remained warm and dry in his Patagonia rain shell.

We still had at least another 15km to hike. I was getting mildly hypothermic and, importantly, we weren’t in the wilderness. We decided to descend from the trail and find some shelter, and hopefully a safer way forward.

We discovered we weren’t far from the town of Bramans, which had a tourist office. It turns out the town is famous for being on the route where Hannibal is believed to have crossed the Alps with his elephants on his way to Italy to take on the Roman Empire.

Despite the language difficulties, the tourist officer pointed us towards a place where, in about an hour, we could catch a bus to Modane, which was on our hiking route.
Sweet relief.

We walked down to the main road and settled into the bus shelter to wait. I was cold and shivering, so I ran on the spot to try to warm up. It was miserable, but at least we had a way out.

Eventually the bus arrived—and to our surprise, it was full of dry hikers who had also decided to escape the rain. We looked like drowned rats, but no one batted an eyelid.

Modane is a large town set at the head of the valley. Despite its dramatic setting, it’s not particularly attractive. The bus stop was across from the train station and, fortunately, there was a pâtisserie across the road.

But before we even got there, a local shuttle bus to Valfréjus pulled up. The Universe at work again.

I spoke to the driver, who said he’d be back in an hour on his return to Valfréjus—or at least that’s what we understood.

We went to the pâtisserie and finally had our much-delayed breakfast: hot chocolate and a pain au chocolat. By now, the cold shivering was beginning to subside.

An hour and a half later, we were in Valfréjus and able to check into our hotel early. By another strange coincidence, the young man at the front desk was travelling to Australia in October to spend a year on a working holiday.

A long soak in a hot bath slowly brought the circulation back to my feet. Hammer went to the shop to get some supplies, followed by a shower and a cold beer.