GR54 Thru-Hike Day 1 | Epic Tour of the Écrins!

Welcome back, adventurers! 🏔️ This time Dave and I are tackling the GR54 — Tour of the Écrins, one of the toughest but most beautiful long-distance hikes in the Alps.
Day 1 sees us leaving Le Bourg-d’Oisans with overloaded packs, questionable French pronunciation 🤦‍♀️, and high hopes. The route takes us past the Sarenne Gorge, through charming alpine villages, and up towards the first climbs of this spectacular trek.
There’s gigantic alpine views, fun, marmots, storms brewing… and maybe even a couple of epic cycling teasers 🚴‍♀️
Stick around for the whole series — it’s going to be a journey full of mountains, mayhem, and maybe a little magic. ✨
#hikingadventures #wildcamping #thruhike #epichikes

Welcome back friends to another throughhike. And this one, well, it’s a special one. Very excited. Another alpine adventure. This time through the fantastic Ecrram mountain range. Remote, rugged, and unspoiled. The GR54, sometimes called the Tud Eran, is one of the most beautiful hikes in the Alps. It’s 193 km with a thigh burning 12,000 m of ascent and descent, and it crosses 14 magnificent mountain passes. Most people take 8 to 12 days to work it and it’s usually done clockwise. So do join us again for more mountains, marmuts, storms, sunshine and a fair bit of wild camping. Day one starts right here in the French town of Burgdon. So let’s go. See you in 10 days on 11. Tour of the Ephron. The GR54 officially starts and finishes at the tourist information center in Burg Wazong before crossing the bridge out of town. Not the most glamorous of trail heads, but don’t worry, the mountains are waiting. Let’s go look at the bridge. Now, that’s the bridge heading out of town in front of us, which is actually it’s the beginning of the Al Dues if you’re interested in cycling the route. And just before we head over that bridge, there’s a supermarket so you can stock up on any stuff that you need. Very excited. How about you, Dave? Are you very excited? No, I am. Leaving the town proper. [Music] So, we’re heading to this lagard over the bridge, which has a pretty nice view of the river. [Music] Now, the route used to go through the campsite, which we’re just about to walk to, but it’s been changed after a dispute with the owner. So uh follow us a day as they need to start the rebuild of life. [Music] That’s where the route used to go. It’s now bar sign and say it’s private property. Noir. No clue what S said, but I’ll do this way. There’s the EDF building and across the other side of the road is a left turn and we’re going to follow it down there. So, don’t start heading up the hairpins with the cyclists. This is also the starting point for the iconic cycling climb of Al Durz. But we’re not walking up those hair pins today. This is the way. [Music] So I think this just cuts off the zigzags, doesn’t it? [Music] Red and white, which is the color for the GR54. Excuses were two for a penny. And we reached Lagard. The smell of uh brakes as the cars go down the ales. Well, the sun’s definitely over the yard arm now. To be honest, it was when we got up, but and there is water on route. Just having a we water break. Fill up again. Basan dullard dagard. Tip to remember when you’re backpacking, never pick it up with one hand, stand it on something and [Music] just in a little clearing on the way to cold de la Seren. I’ just been saying this one might make quite a nice little camp spot. Except there is a warning on one of the trees about the river rising very rapidly. So I guess if you do camp here, do so at your own risk. [Music] First year 54 sign. Apologies for the the strimming [Music] onto the road. Bit foresty day to start with. Yeah. Get some views in the D. 1,352 m right at now. So, we’ve done about 500 m in 6.7 km. Yeah. All right. Well, we’re out of the trees now and it’s pretty, very pretty. Leor de Maron Maron. my useless pronunciation again. But anyway, this is where we are. Apologies, we’ll be butchering place names all week. [Music] And there’s another water opportunity just before the hotel. [Music] It’s obviously cyclist friendly. Always good to know if we ever decide to cycle up here, Dave. You never know. You never know. [Music] Good supply of water. We just topped up about 400 yards ago, but so far there’s been an abundance of it. Good to know there’s plenty water. It’s a good day to live. [Music] [Music] I’ll have done more mileage than Dave now. [Music] Yet another one. [Music] The GR54 passes to the right of the chapel, but we thought we’d take a look inside first. [Music] In addition to being a hiking trail, the Gorge de Laselen also features the longest black pie in Europe with a descent of 16 km. [Music] Having a little recap, I think we’re about halfway through the first day. Roughly 11k coldest seren our high point today one short of 2,000 meters and then we dropped to clava okay 1365 just passing the turn the via ald due I can see it see it glinting in the sun see it up this face here yeah it’s up that gully Somewhere up there. I think somebody’s car has overheated. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Seems like the perfect place to stop. So far so good. Weather’s nice. Surroundings are beautiful. And there’s just a little tiny white puffy cloud in the sky. There is rain forecast for later on. We’ll just see how far we get. [Music] Well, the views are really starting to open up now. I don’t know what those peaks are. Nothing to do with peaks. [Music] There’s actual vehicles up here, Dave. Why have we slogged all our way up on foot? Yeah, past them when we set off. [Music] [Music] We’re on a metal road, climbing higher. 2K to the cold of Seren across the ski runs [Music] and then the road ahead of us. just walked up there and there’s the colder Seren sign. There’s the uh refugeio just off to the left. Looks like it’s serving food and beverages from this charming refuge where incidentally we bought some lovely fresh goats cheese at a very reasonable price. There’s a jaw-dropping view of the snowcapped lame which we’ll be seeing a lot more of. Wind’s really blowing on the co. That’s where we’re headed down to. Well, wouldn’t you know it, we’re actually at the top of a cycling call. A decent composting toilet. I’d be a bit worried someone would look in and see me. And we’re heading off down the road. Tarmac, Dave. Can you believe it? Tarmac. Been overtaken by a million yellow cyclists today. Quite a few of them. Yeah, which is completely unexpected. Obviously, they’re heading for this path. Anyway, they’re gone now. Whizzed away down in this wind. Few more KS yet. About 4k. Find somewhere sheltering to put the tent up. Might be a challenge at the moment. Descent. Certainly some uh wild place to cycle. [Music] [Music] We’ve reached Clavans the Hort. [Music] Which way’s it pointing? Is it that way? Oh, is it down here? I think Cleaval Lab. Cleaval Laba. And this is officially the end of day one, isn’t it? If you’re doing it on a on most itineraries, this is the first camp. We’re not sure what’s here yet, but we’re going to fill it with water and then try and find a pitch. In the end, we surrendered to a sloping patch of ground as the first fat raindrops fell and thunder rolled in the distance. Well, we’ve made a little bit of a hasty camp tonight, haven’t we? Indeed. We got that tent up pretty damn quick. It’s raining and it’s sunny at the same time. It’s very hot in here. Let’s have a look at the view, shall we? So, that’s day one of the GR54 done. There it is. Happy with it? Granding for me. A long climb out of Bug Wazon, rewarded with big views and rounded off with a slightly sloping tent pitch in the rain. Classic start. Well, that’s a good job we got in when we did. Don’t know if you can hear that, but there’s a thunderstorm. Very relaxed over there. Tomorrow we head higher, crossing our first real mountain pass of the trek. Bit chilly though. Camping chaos. And if the weather plays nice, we should finally get a proper taste of the Eran in all their glory. When the going gets tough, life gets going to Lak Noir. Unfortunately, today is very black. Well, it just keeps getting better, doesn’t it? What are you doing, Dave? Should I pull back the flaps? See you there.