Family walking in Samoens

So we’ve seen snow on the higher summits for a few weeks now (and even down to 1,200-1,300m on a couple of occasions – skiing in Samoens should be good this winter!) although the walking season definitely isn’t over yet. With such breathtaking autumn colours, it’s an incredible time of year to enjoy some alpine outings.

Enjoy autumn in the Alps!

This weekend, we took to the hills with some friends for a family day out. Read on to find out more…

Alpine walking in autumn – perfect for the whole family

With the huge amounts of excitement and scampering, I’m not entirely sure how many children there were (some of the dads were definitely questionable in the role as adults at times…) but our merry little group set off at a very civilised 10am. We were walking up to the Refuge de Sales (one of my favourite outings) to celebrate a first birthday. And what a day we had for it.

Blue skies greeted us and the October sunshine showcased the vivid autumnal colours impeccably. Warm enough for t-shirts and cool enough for comfortable uphill walking with Barney on my back, conditions were perfect.

The climb to the refuge would normally take about two hours but with the younger members of our group exploring, collecting sticks and funny shaped stones, taking the chance to clamber on the boulders that we normally walk past without much consideration, the journey was considerably longer, but also considerably more amusing!

After a lunch stop to refuel the kids and adults (although child energy levels seemed infinite at this point), we headed on up to our destination, the refuge.

(This panoramic photo was taken with the iPhone app mentioned in our previous post)

Even with the enthusiastic bouncing around that accompanied the younger contingent, the wildlife didn’t seem bothered and we saw a number of ibex and even some elusive chamois between our lunch stop and the refuge.

After birthday cake (yum!), a chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ in both French and English we started making our way back down to the valley. With fatigue finally starting to show in some of the little legs, we paused for a game of pass-the-parcel where lollipops and a piece of homemade chocolate crunchy cake topped up the energy levels of the more tired junior hikers.

The birthday boy had clearly found it exhausting being carried around by dad all day…

An amazing day out and, despite the distance and the climbing, a great example of how the mountains are perfect for walkers of all ages… Albeit with sufficient time and “cake support”! There will be some children (and adults alike!) sleeping well tonight!

Our photos

You can see all of our photos on our Flickr photo page and all of the photos above by clicking on the small images below.

Until next time…