Following on from my post yesterday, which started in the small village of Trogne… The route took us up through the woods and across the alpage to the Pas de Lovegno (@2,695m or 8,842ft) before descending towards Lac le Louché. From there the path meanders down the left side of the Val de Réchy, passing the wonderfully named Gouille de la Grand-Rionde (which is just a small pond, but it provides any would-be photographer with the opportunity to capture one of those classic mountain reflection shots – see pic 3). Eventually a left turn takes you up and over the Col de Cou (honestly, you couldn’t make up better names if you tried!) and then another left brings you back along and down the east side of the Val d’Hérens.

It was part way along this path that I encountered the most butterflies that I’ve ever seen in one place – all puddling away and completely oblivious to my presence. (See pics 16 & 17). The vast majority of them were Small Blues (which actually are more brown – and you can see just how small they are by pic 15) but there were quite a few others in there to make things a little more interesting.