My Journey Around Mont Blanc

My Journey Around Mont Blanc, Dan Karmi, Amazon.com Services LLC, 2019

The author allows an adult friend to convince him to undertake a strenuous, multi-day hike around Mont Blanc. It's a mountain in the Alps, on the border between France, Italy and Switzerland. A pair of potential obstacles present themselves. The first is that the author is 70 years old, so such a hike may not be such a great idea. The second is that the pair live in Israel, not known as a good mountain hiking training ground.

Nevertheless, the pair are on the trail, which is marked pretty well. There are inns and hostels every 10 or 20 kilometers, where a hiker can get a meal and a bed. There is a man with a car who will take your luggage from Hostel A to Hostel B. This is a huge help, because it eliminates the need to carry everything on your back. After a couple of days, the friend goes off with a couple of ladies, leaving the author to continue solo (also, not a great idea). Armed with a pair of smartphones, including one with GPS, the author learns that the trail is marked pretty well, but not totally well. This leads to a couple of instances of having to double back, and take another route. He meets fellow hikers from all over the world. The weather does not always cooperate, but being out in nature to such an extent is also a new experience.

This is a really interesting book, full of color pictures of the incredible scenery. It is not meant to be anything more than one person's experiences around Mont Blanc. Armchair travelers (and everyone else) will love it.