Monday 2nd July

We awoke, breakfasted and over breakfast, had a quick discussion about possible contenders for our next day out and eventually plumped for the “Gorges de Fier” near  Lovagny, which is about 10 km from Annecy.  It was another lovely day and we were pleased to see that one of the routing options was via the Col de Forclaz again, so off we set. Somehow, we had a much better appreciation of the road and views today!! Whilst we had enjoyed it all the day before, it had been slightly overshadowed by fear of the unknown.

It was a hot day, and the gorges were actually a great place to visit on a hot day as they were cool and shady. The Fier is actually a River – short (just under 72 km) but very powerful, which has channelled a deep chasm through the rocks, forming the Gorges.

They were turned into a tourist attraction by an enterprising Victorian chap who created a series of suspended footbridges in 1869. The men who built it were transported inside barrels moved via a system of pulleys to fix the path to the rock face, we were told. Having walked on it, I can’t quite envisage how that worked, as it is suspended some 20 to 30 metres above the current path of the river. The path is around 250 metres long, so was quite a feat of engineering.

The Fier (pronounce Fee) is a tricky old river and can rise from its normal, placid state to a raging torrent in minutes, during heavy rainfall. There was a graphic which showed the height of the river during flood conditions. You would not want to be caught on the path at such times as it is clearly totally submerged!

The main Albertville to Annecy SNCF line runs next to and indeed crosses the gorge. It is so close you could almost reach out and touch it! Quite exciting when a train whipped past!

Entry to the Gorge was very reasonably priced, so that was a bonus. We stopped at the cafe on the way back and had a very nice ice-cream. We considered – briefly – popping into nearby Montrottier Castle but it was so flipping hot, we decided to run for home and our lovely cooling lake. Sadly, though, we needed a few provs for tonight’s meal so we popped into a supermarket on the way home. Not that I mind – I love a foreign supermarket!

Back at the site we were delighted to see that we had been joined by an English couple we had met on our last visit. It was so nice to see them again.

We spent the remainder of the day relaxing, reading, swimming and boating. Blissful. We were also entertained by the local schoolkids showing off their newly acquired musical talents on the land next to the site. Some were very good, others were enthusiastic, let’s say.

We cooked a pizza on the Cadac – enough for lunch tomorrow too. Delicious. And – in attempt to work this off – we went out for another cycle ride – this time around the nearby town of Doussard. And very pleasant it was too, on a lovely sunny evening, with the sting of the sun cooling off. Another lovely day. Gotta love holidays!

Tuesday 3rd July

Today we had decided to visit the ski resort of La Sambuy.  I had read about it and sounded just the sort of place we might like. We arrived at about 10:45 and jumped straight onto the chair lift. We were the only 2 people on it (I think the operating assistants were quite glad to see us!)  and when we reached the top, we were the only two people there too! We had the place to ourselves to explore. To be honest, there’s not that much – other than breathtaking views – to see, so we walked around, read all the info boards and then made our way back down. There were more people on the lift by now and we were glad to have got there early.

One of the other things there is a summer luge. We have been on one before and loved it. We had thus bought tickets to enable us to have five goes each. What larks! You get dragged up the slope on a rack & pinion and then you come down – this ride had 9 big bends and 3 “jumps”. You do have brakes – but they’re for sissies, right? We had such fun. And then Paul spotted – The Devil Buggies! These are 4 wheeled buggies which are dragged up the mountain by a modified ski-lift contraption, which hooks onto the front of the buggy. Once you’ve been dragged up, you make your own way down a marked path at whatever speed suits you. I think you can guess! There was a slight hitch while they found a helmet to fit my beloved’s rather large bonce and then he was off! He absolutely loved it. But it took up two of his luge tickets so he only had two more goes left on the luge, whereas I had FOUR!! We stopped for a coffee and some luscious caramel “pain perdu” – aka eggy bread. More cycling required!

 

Once all our tickets had been used up, we went back to the site for more RRBS – Reading, Relaxing, Boating and swimming. The lake was quite choppy today and we bounced around a fair bit. All good fun.

Tonight was the England game versus Columbia, so Paul went off to the bar to watch the game. There followed an evening of cleaning and – yes – a bit of boredom for me. And it went on. And on. Extra time, penalties. The lot. But we won so I had a happy hubby. And so to bed.

Weds 4th July

We spent the morning RRBSing and then went out in the early afternoon. We had a cycle ride into Annecy planned but we wanted to do it later in the day, once the heat had died down a bit. Obviously we weren’t going to drive straight to Annecy. Far too predictable. We went up to the Crêt du Chatillon on Mount Semnoz, high above the western shore of the lake. It’s quite a famous climb for serious cyclists and was, indeed, the penultimate stage of the 2013 Tour de France. From what I can gather, a “crêt” is cliff or edge of the mountain.

There are some fantastic views from the summit – Mont Blanc can be seen. We saw snow capped big mountains but were never sure exactly which was the great white mountain!

Eventually, we made our way back down the mountain and found some parking with no height restrictions in Sevrier – roughly half way along the west shore. The path is so brilliant and very heavily used. Rightly so. We had a very pleasant 5km cycle into the town. We chained our bikes to the railings and had a gentle wander, stopping for a drink next to the very famous and much-photographed Palais de L’Isle. Then it was home, supper and bed – but not before sitting outside to witness the thunder and lighting we could see over Annecy. We had a proper grandstand view. It was brilliant. Literally! Eventually it started to rain so we nipped indoors and retired.

Thursday 5th July

The thunder had rolled around all night but the next morning dawned clear again. We had a proper lie-in – the first of the holiday.  It must have been gone 9!  We had a lazy day planned in preparation for our departure tomorrow.  A bit of RRBS interspersed with tidying stuff away. Nothing too strenuous!

Around lunchtime, we popped to Doussard for stamps. Just too late! The sacred lunch-break of France had struck. We were, however, just in time to pick up a lovely Reblochon and Lardons quiche. As we had an hour to kill, we went up in the mountains. We spotted a “Dangerous Road” sign, so of course – we took it. We drove as far as we could before the road petered out and then, on the way back, Paul had a hankering to paddle in a mountain stream, so we stopped and ate our quiches and did a bit of paddling (him,not me).

We passed the remainder of the afternoon alternating between relaxing and packing the boat away and generally tidying up.

In the early evening, we cycled to Duingt – about 10km each way. We went to the Spinnaker pub/bar restaurant. Fab location. Regrettably we left not having had anything to eat or drink. Paul’s review here will explain why. Very disappointing. But their loss. We took the photos we wanted, had a rest. They could have made money from us but they chose not to. And I really fancied a Pina Colada!!

We bought some drinks in the local Tabac and sat and gazed at the lake for a while and then we heard a rumble or two. We decided to make a run for home. It was not to be. Half way back the deluge began. It was actually really funny and quite refreshing! But we were pretty soaked. All credit to the team at the Auberge Du Boucanier (which I had re-dubbed Pirate Pete’s) for allowing us in. Nice meal and then home and eventually – bed.