Inter-Rail 2006

Wednesday 2nd August 2006 - St Gervais to Chamonix

After a good night's sleep (this became a precious commodity as the holiday progressed!) in our St Gervais hotel, we awoke to fresh mountain air and our first real sight of mountains, having arrived in darkness, late the previous night. After a *huge* breakfast, largely consisting of bread and cheese.... still a novelty this early in our trip.... we got our things together and headed for the train station again. After a fairly short wait, we caught the Mont Blanc Express to Chamonix, only 45 minutes away from St Gervais. After a quick chat in the tourist information office in the centre of Chamonix, we selected a camp site and walked to the outskirts of the town with our gear, checked into the campsite at the foot of Mont Blanc, pitched our tents and then had a wander through this lovely Alpine town.

We had lunch in one of the town squares and watched the numerous para-gliders descend from the top of one of the mountains. Afterwards, Martin got well and truly beaten by Jack, playing chess on a large outdoor chess board in the same square. After getting groceries, we went back ot the camp site to relax and spent the evening playing cards in the campsite cafe.