Bimbles With The Cooke

Bimbles With The Cooke Looking to travel ourselves happy ... after-all, it's already quite late in the day

01/09/2026

Join us for a challenging hike up and around Lake Pomenaz in the French Alps …

That one was tough

Days 1239, 1240 of full time vanlifeThere are some places we pull into and immediately feel at home, and Plaine Joux is ...
27/08/2026

Days 1239, 1240 of full time vanlife

There are some places we pull into and immediately feel at home, and Plaine Joux is certainly one of them. Set high above Sallanches in the Passy Haute-Savoie region, the paid Aire working out about £13 a night is incredible. For that, you get access to showers, toilets, and a common room. Oh yes, and views that one would quite happily pay double that to view. If we thought Mont Blanc looked good from our previous park-up, then today we have just hit the jackpot.

The area is also a haven for outdoor adventures, and there is a high chance of getting taken out by a mountain biker or perhaps one of the many paragliders dotted around the skyline. After getting the van sorted, we take the short walk down to Lac Vert, which is beautiful but very busy. Nigel points out that there will be plenty of opportunity in the next day or so for some hill repeats on scree. Nicola considers drowning Nigel in the lake.

After dinner, and with golden hour light illuminating the Massif, we join the others taking in the view. It’s busy, but everyone is pretty relaxed, and the atmosphere very chilled. A day in the mountains will do that for you.

The following morning, we hike to Refuge le Chatelet D’Ayeres, a decent stomp up where we enjoy a morning coffee, once again set against a backdrop of the Mont Blanc Massif which dominates pretty much every viewpoint. Later, we are out on those hill repeats on scree, Nicola’s confidence slowly growing, and Nigel somehow making it out alive.

Another quiet evening in front of Mont Blanc, and we have decided to extend our stay here in Plain Joux. It turns out we can get public transport to Chamonix, removing the need to move the van. Nigel has also found us another hike to do, one that will probably test our nerve more so than anything we have done before.

That, however, will have to be a story for next time …

(Vlog linked in the comments)

Days 1233-1238 of full time vanlife After leaving Switzerland we spend a few days catching up with work back in La Chapp...
26/08/2026

Days 1233-1238 of full time vanlife
After leaving Switzerland we spend a few days catching up with work back in La Chappell where the heat dome has well and truly hit. It’s a great free Aire and we hope it remains so for the foreseeable as it’s not only a great location to jump into Switzerland, but also has a number of fantastic hikes right from the van door.

Those will have to wait until our next visit as today we are heading towards Chamonix, although not planning on staying in the town. Instead Nicola finds us a parking spot high above Sallanches and our initial plan is just one night here before finding something for the weekend.

The following morning the car-park is filling up early and everyone seems to be kitted for a long hike in the mountains. Nigel checks his phone for options in the area and discovers they have stumbled upon the trail head for a hike that will take us high up passing 3 different refugees. One of the benefits of this life is our ability to change plans and so instead of packing up and driving on, we get our hiking kit together, cobble together some snacks, download the route and away we go.

The initial couple of kilometres are straight up (a common theme we would soon discover in the French Alps) and it’s slow going, especially with the sun breaking over the distant peaks. After about an hour Refuge de Doran swings into view and we join a handful of other hikers over coffee, impenetrable jagged peaks seemingly barring our progress further up the valley.

And then Nigel spots our route, making the mistake of pointing the tiny zig-zag crumbling path out to Nicola. He thinks we should have made these coffees mostly Irish.

Soon we are standing at the base of the path and if we thought the route before was steep, then this one has just won 1st prize at the local gradient awards. It’s a case of 4 points of contact, lots of huffing and puffing, and perhaps the odd naughty word (mostly directed at Nigel who’s also trying to film for the vlog).

Soon we reach the end of the single track and straight onto Nicolas second favourite (type-2 fun that is) path, the ridge line. Nigel however is in his element, the mountains always feeling like where he belongs. He even hears Nicola exclaim a few WOWs, in between bouts of ‘Lordy that’s a long way down’. And each time we turn around we have incredible views of the Mont Blanc Massif. What an amazing landscape to hike in.

We are soon on our descent, mostly on decent paths, apart from one section which apparently has us crossing a recent rockslide. Something tells us that this won’t be the last boulder hopping we will do this summer. We pass the second refuge, but with prices far exceeding our budget push on, sufficing with water, dried mango and nuts. The 3rd refuge is a little off our track but Nicola is determined to visit all 3 and this time our will power waivers as we order a cold beer, strong coffee and a bag of crisps.

Refreshed, and 15 euros lighter in the pocket, we continue on towards the van to discover the car park is now completely packed. It’s a good job we planned to stay an extra night, and later in the evening it empties from the day hikers, leaving only a few cars and vans, and once again a very peaceful night.

Tomorrow we head to Plain Joux where we plan to spend a night or two, but that will have to be a story for next time …

25/08/2026

Join us for a wonderful hike in the French Alps .. all set again beautiful Mont Blanc

Days 1,228 and 1,229 of full time van life Today we are attempting to get our van up and over the Grimsel Pass, at a hei...
24/08/2026

Days 1,228 and 1,229 of full time van life

Today we are attempting to get our van up and over the Grimsel Pass, at a height of 2,164m where we also hope to spend the night before heading further up over the Furka Pass tomorrow morning.

The drive up actually isn’t too taxing, with long sweeping switchbacks on a reasonably wide road. The main concern are the bikers who seem to want to treat the route like the Isle of Man TT. Still, we make it up without incident and head out on a short walk around some of the high alpine lakes, the temperature as expected quite a few degrees cooler than down in the valley.

It’s a reasonably quiet night and Nigel even manages to get out and do a spot of sunrise photography before coffee and an early start. We are keen to get up (and) down from the Furka Pass (2,436) before the boy racers get up and our early start sees us climb up with only a handful of supercars tearing past.

Our time in Swizlernad has been amazing and while our tight budget has meant skipping the heavy hitters such as Jungfrau, as well as hiking / running up most routes instead of cable cars, we don’t feel like we have missed out. Swizlernad can be expensive, yes, but we have proved that it’s also very doable on a budget, especially with free transport provided by all of the campsites.

We have already started a Swiss budget savings account for 2027 and when we return we may indeed get up to the top of Europe before most likely strapping ourselves to an extra from the latest Bond movie and throwing ourselves over the edge of a cliff.

It’s time now though to cross back over into France where we will spend a few days in La Chappell before starting our summer in the French Alps…

That, however, will have to be a story for next time…

Day 1231 of full time vanlife It’s our last full day at the campsite, and once again our plans will involve a mixture of...
22/08/2026

Day 1231 of full time vanlife

It’s our last full day at the campsite, and once again our plans will involve a mixture of hiking and snacking with plenty of ‘oh my goodness…look at that’ thrown in for good measure. Slack jaws oiled and ready.

The journey up to Ferpècle on the La Poste bus is an adventure in itself. The road narrowed to little more than a single track, seemingly barely wide enough for the bus, with the mountainside rising on one side and hundreds of feet of empty space falling away on the other. Every tight hairpin felt like a leap of faith. The driver didn’t reverse or attempt to squeeze past anything; instead, the horn sounded, the bus swung slowly around the bend, and for a few seconds the view through the window was almost entirely down. It was exhilarating, terrifying, and, somehow, completely routine for the driver.

We also found out that Nicola can hold her breath for the duration of the journey, and while in a few hours we could catch this free bus back down to town, her wide eyes and pale complexion suggested a long walk back.

We have a couple of options for our hike; to head upwards to the refuge, or along the valley floor. Nicolas’s knee is a little suspect, so we choose the latter, the towering cliffs on either side narrowing to the far end of the Canyon and the Mont Mine Glacier.

What a spectacular view, and apart from the odd cheese factory (cow), we are pretty much alone. It’s spectacular, although we are both saddened to see evidence of the Glacier’s retreat, with year markers painted on large boulders as we advance forward. It would seem in the past 20 years the Glacier has shrunken quite considerably.

Enjoy our now customary boiled egg before retracing our steps back to the bus stop where our free transport awaits. The driver beckons us on board with a rosy cheeked smile. Nicola ignores his offer and carries on walking. While adding an extra six miles to our journey (along with about 500m of negative elevation), the walk is spectacular and at times we simply stand awestruck. Glaciers, steep cliffs, waterfalls, alpine meadows. Our eyes are almost sore from simply looking.

We are soon back at our campsite, once again just in time, as an afternoon storm rolls in, bringing with it quite a deluge of rain, curtailing our plans for a dip in the campsite’s pool. Nicola has also manage to pickup about 50 bars of Swiss chocolate which between getting back to the van and Nigel entering have magically vanished. Later we take a dander up into the village, the rain now eased to a light drizzle, locals and tourists slowly emerging back into the tiny cobbled streets.

Tomorrow we leave our campsite, embarking on our last two days in Switzerland where I hear the roads we may be looking to drive are a little interesting, and just as the colour has returned to Nicolas’s face.

That, however, will have to be a story for next time…

22/08/2026

Join us on an incredible hike up to the foot of an impressive Glacier in Switzerland

Day 1230 of full time vanlife Our time in this incredible country will soon be over, but not before perhaps our favourit...
21/08/2026

Day 1230 of full time vanlife

Our time in this incredible country will soon be over, but not before perhaps our favourite area so far - the Arolla valley in Val d'Hérens.

Checked into our campsite - once again very impressed, and while we don’t normally spend so much on camping, we feel the cost-to-quality ratio in three of the four places we have stayed is just right. The fourth place, remember that one - the farmer’s scrap yard? Yeah, he should really have been paying us.

Another free bus to the start of our trailhead, winding up through tiny roads, passing sleepy mountain hamlets. Soon we are on the hoof, and once again there isn’t really a gentle introduction to the hike up to Lac Bleu - it’s straight up, Nigel at times thinking he’s being chased down by some kind of asthmatic badger. As he turns to check on Nicola, the only words he can get out of her are ‘can’t breathe’.

Lac Bleu is one of those places that seems almost too vivid to be real. At 2,090 metres, the small lake sits in a hollow among larch and Arolla pine, its impossibly blue-green water contrasting sharply with the rugged mountains surrounding it.

We sit and try and take in the beauty around us. Sometimes it can be all too easy to walk to a place, have a quick look, make an image or two, and move on. We are, however, trying to be a bit more aware of the privilege we are living by doing this, and moments like this we know we need to slow down and properly take in. Perhaps some would even call it mindful.

Or perhaps we just tell ourselves that while secretly trying to re-inflate our lungs !

Our hike wasn’t done, mind you, not by a long shot, as we planned to get much higher, once again a relentless type-2 upward stomp. Soon we spotted our target for the day - a giant Swiss flag flapping in the wind. That would be our turnaround point, at around 2400m (which would also mark our highest hike to date). After a brief snack stop, we returned to the lake, now much busier than before, finding a shaded spot to enjoy our customary boiled egg sandwiches before making our way out towards Arolla village. This, on paper, looked like it would be a gentle amble through alpine meadows and down easy gradients shaded by the forest. Switzerland, however, didn’t get the memo and instead toyed with us on several occasions, dropping the trail down to almost the valley floor, before forcing us back up steep, narrow single tracks.

After around 90 minutes of hiking (and about 85 minutes of swearing from Nicola), we soon reached the village, and with it the promise of a cold beer and some ice cream. We sat under the cover of a large patio umbrella just as the first spots of rain started to bounce off the canvas, the distant rumble of thunder echoing through the valley.

A few hours later we were back at the van (via the bakery, of course), and it was time to make another plan for the following day, which may or may not involve a rather scary bus ride to reach our trailhead.

That, however, will have to be a story for next time…

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