Argentiere and the Gorge d'Arveyron

The book we were using 'Mont Blanc Trails' has hundreds of paths in it but little description and at first was quite confusing but once you get used to how all the paths interlink it becomes a very useful companion. You reach a signpost and can instantly work out from the guidebook what is possible if you take any of the alternative directions. For a nice light easy day we went up to Chalet Floria passing a signpost on the Petit Balcon Sud to Argentiere, looking through the book on the chalet terrace we realised that by going back down to the Petit Balcon we could take a number of tracks towards Argentiere, a village about 5 miles away from Chamonix, and then either walk back along the river or catch the bus/train. 

Many guide books mention that if the weather is bad on one side of the Chamonix valley it is often better either on the other side or further down the valley and with the extensive network of footpaths and free tourist bus service it should always be possible to find a walk somewhere.

Of course it is not always possible to know which side the bad weather is going to be on until you are in it, as happened to us on our way from Flegere to Lac Blanc.

We decided to get away from storm and head back to the valley and explore some more of the paths that follow the river out of Chamonix towards Argentiere.

At least we were able to swap the thunder and hailstones for rain.

Not knowing where we were actually heading to we followed signs from Les to the Gorge d'Arveyron through a forest littered with huge bolders, relics of a time when the glacier filed the valley before heading up to a viewpoint above the river. The view, despite the rain was spectacular, the photo not really doing justice to such an amazing place.