This is one of the most scenic routes along the Chamonix valley starting at Les Houches just across the river. The starting point is the GR5 (and HexaTrek) point no 1 at Les Houches (pic 1). The route follows the GR5 up past Parc de Merlet and continues to Refuge Bellachat before coming to the rim and Le Brevent. This is by far the most elevation of the route, 1500 m in 9 km and pose ever more magnificent views of the Chamonix valley below, as well as glaciers on the other side.

This route provides an experience of pilgrimage that is unique in England. It starts and finishes with churches still containing relics of their original saints. Princess Eanswythe founded an abbey at Folkestone in the 7th Century and her relics, hidden since the Reformation, were re-discovered in 1885. The abbey at Minster was refounded in the 1930s on the site of an abbey built in the 8th Century to hold the relics of St Mildreth, Eanswythe’s great niece.