13.5m at least with mountain man Patrick

Patrick lives here in the village of le Vaud which has stunning views back over the lake to the French mountains.

Patrick is training for a mad mountain ultra marathon - 60km race - straight up. So after I ducked out for last week's 5 hour run today was going to be a short 2 and half hours. So nothing to worry about then!

We set off at pretty much 7:32am and did not get back to the house until 10:16 so we ran for a good 2h 44mins which is the longest time on feet I've had for ages. Patrick kindly lent me a water bottle and he had his camel back and we were going no where near civilisation, let alone be passing any fountains that my usual lake site routes offer.

At every junction Patrick went for the steepest incline. Choice of route became clear. Straight up, no compromise. Hey ho. He told me not to run on the super steep sections to conserve energy - but his non-running soon put distance between up as he leapt from rock to rock effortlessly as I stumbled alone behind.

Mixture of forest trail and running through meadows in valleys flanked by tall trees and it feels like we are the only people on the mountain.

The air is thick with wood chips burning as we pass a buvette where a couple of guy say hi.

Suddenly there is a house lost on it's own in the mountain and an old guy with a big beard comes out in pick truck so we open the gate for him - he looks like an old version of Davy Crockett.

After just over one hour Patrick makes a surprised observation that we're only 3-4 minutes behind his normal schedule to get to that point. I'm flattered.

Best bit of the run was at col de la coix, which has a massive new wooden cross put up in 2011 and stone outlook from which we could see the lake and the whole Mont Blanc massive right down to where the snow line stops. Amazing for me as living at lake level I only get to see the summit peaking over the foot hills. Visibility was clearest I've ever seen it.

The cross marks a high point and we head home.

Patrick runs through a muddy puddle much to my amusement and I'm feeling the pace.

We negotiate a herd of cows and the associated Alpen pizzas and fly clouds that come with such things.

I took three gels and needed each one. The downhill was great and when the signs started mentioning le Vaud 1 hour I knew there was not much more running to do.

I was whacked at the end, but very please to have not dragged Patrick's pace down too much and was delighted to have seen the view and explored some great new trails.

Only disappointment was the Garmin which even with the full battery has decided to turn itself off if I touched it or move it in the wrong direction. So zero data today in that department.

Bad combo of old shorts and gel leak meant some nasty chaffing.

Back in Rolle the recovery was a swim in the lake and a spin in a kayak. Both were the business!