We just got an update from our wild woman, Marlene! Marlene wrote in about her Tour du Mont Blanc:
The 110-mile circuit was exquisitely beautiful! And every day was an adventure. There are 11 passes (called cols over there) – so a day most often included a pass. There is 35,000´of elevation gained and lost over the whole loop. We were happy to have our hiking poles.
The Europeans love their mountains like we do. There were runners and bikers on these trails. We crossed glaciers, forded raging rivers, etc. When Lloyd and I started off, we had set aside 3 weeks just to make sure we would be able to complete it. It ended up taking us 13 days. You can tell by the one photo taken of me at the end how very happy we were…..proud of our accomplishment but, moreso, so happy to have seen what we did enroute. The evenings around the dinner tables in the huts were fascinating seated with people from all over the world – not just Europeans but people from Israel, Hong Kong, etc. Not very many Americans were on the route.
We were intrigued with the food changes as we passed from the French Alps to the Italian Alps and finally into the Swiss Alps. It was all we had hoped it would be and then some.
We are in Iceland now and fascinated with this distinctly different environment. We´re going glacier walking today…… I hope you are well and I hope this rendition makes it to you.
I went for my first swim in a month here in Iceland. Actually, it was in one of their geothermal pools and I don´t have my goggles with me but it felt good to stretch out like you do when you´re swimming. Got lots of training ahead of me. Once I get access to a few more clothes than these two outfits and my own bed, it´ll be a lot of fun to get more focused on this triathlon. :o) Marlene
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