8/5 Chapelle d Aboundance to Mines d Or

We woke up revived and ready for another day with surprisingly few aches and pains. I suspect we are conditioned by now. The hotel breakfast was superb - I'd love to return to this place for a few days!
As planned we taxied to the Col d Bassachaux @ 1778 meters costing 35€. I really wanted to hike this part but was concerned about being stuck here in the Gite due to weather or not seeing the scenery which was said to be fabulous. So we skipped a 15km segment and walked onwards from the col. The GR comes up the hill and hits the road at the Gite hairpins around and contours onward angling slightly uphill for a good distance in trees. Views begin to open up and out come the cameras! It just gets better the further you go finally breaking into the open. The alps here are considerably commercialized with lifts in all directions many taking mountain bikes up for their insane runs down. The riders - many women- clad in full hard body armor. The GR runs separately for hikers on parallel track in France but you share it crossing to Swiss - gotta be wary then! The scenery was magnificent as we approached the Col d Chesery The air cool, the sun warm- fast moving broken clouds moved shadows rapidly across the verdant green mountainscape . I could have laid down here all day. We reach the Swiss refuge at the col and had drinks with a cake slice on the terrace. The WC was cleaner then most restaurants anywhere. Day tourists up on the lifts were plentiful. In front of the refuge was Lac Vert - gorgeous in a green meadow bowel. We walked the road up to the next pass missing the hiker GR route opposite across the lake. Honestly the photo ops were better from the road and we ended up the same place - the Portes de l'Hiver @ 6877ft. Reaching this spot a gentleman in an English accented voice asked if I had come a very long way? I simply said yes! Tammy and I had a short but great discussion with this English couple currently living locally. We went onwards now down steeply here watching our backs for the banzai bikers. We reached a Gite Chaux Palin @ 6047 ft and stopped for a sandwich lunch. There were many voices here including English and Dutch. Great sandwich and off we went. The views were as advertised - and superlatives run short. I'm glad I saw it in fair weather! The trend is downhill down the length of the valley and the views change constantly with angle and light. Camera out, there was no speed walking here - I was savoring this. We sat on a hillside and rested in the patchy sun -15:00 - while the clicking of the grasshoppers sounded like so many lawn sprinklers.
We could see the next pass at the end of the green valley with the beautiful mountains the Dents Blanche before us. As we pulled on our boots the clouds near the pass rapidly darkened and swirled. We moved as quickly as breath would allow to make the pass, but before we were even close sprinkles began. But the storm was local and moved off to our left towards the valley town of Crosets where it really dumped in a silver wall of water. We made the pass climbing 750ft to - Col d Coux@6300 ft in brilliant early evening light. There is a Swiss customs station here- closed - as well as an old borderstone and diagrams indicating the peaks. Another beautiful green basin lay before us and far below was our lodging. (2034 ft actually) so down we went into the warm basin on a narrow track straight from the col - the GR wider goes more to the left. Our legs were sore from the day prior and we were hobbling arriving the Chalet d'Or. Its a beautiful location with a lake and views. We booked in for 2 nights. Our dinner was the plat du jour - a sausage made here at the chalet lightly grilled - it was rich somewhat like a liver sausage with texture. The waitress said we were real "Frenchies"! The chocolate cake for desert turned out to be brownies ( even better) and good ones at that!
We slept well - I remember seeing lightning flashes through my eyelids .