Friday 21st August 2020

Today we are going a staggering 2km from the free parking, with a stream to the back of us and mountains to the front, to a small charming campsite which is considered to be a “hidden gem”, we shall see. It is just out of town and it’s called Camping Le Trejeux. The heat today is expected to be 32 – 33 degrees, even though the free spot is very beautiful and all that, we will bake, so we are in search of shade for today. Hayley found the place which was not on our usual resource of camping sites and stops so we thought that we would give it a go.

The short 5-minute drive took us into a thicker wooded area, with the campsite entrance hidden among trees. Straight away we know that this was the place, very charming, done in the old fashioned way with a small wooden hut for the reception, a small restaurant, lots of trees, and very very quiet.

Fantastic. Oh dear, we have arrived at the wrong time, French lunchtime. The two-hour break will not be broken for anyone and we are about an hour and a half too early, they have seen us but will not stop their lunch for us. Why should they? Lunch is important to the French, unlike the UK where we have lunch on the go, rushing around, answering phones, apparently “getting things done”. No, here lunch is lunch and they are having it and that’s that, we will just have to wait.

Our time comes and the lady from the site takes Hayley away to find our pitch. A lovely lady who speaks excellent English and explains the rules of the site and how everything has to be just so. Excellent. We like that. We are given just what we wanted a large flat pitch, in a corner surrounded by trees. Perfect. We get set up and settle into our new home, getting a pile of laundry done while we are here.

We do have one problem looming, however – gas! We need gas, lots of gas. If we are on a campsite or parking that has electricity then we can do everything except cook, if there is no electricity then we depend on gas for everything. Gas runs the heating, hot water, cooking, and fridge freezer.

Recently we have been having trouble in France filling up at the LPG stations. Some years back LPG cars were the rage for a very short time so a couple of companies set up installing LPG installations in motorhomes. The idea is that you can drive into any garage anywhere in Europe and if they have LPG you can fill up. All you needed was an adaptor to fit the host country’s LPG pumps. Easy… No…

In France, the LPG system, although extensive is not very well maintained. The failure rate in France with LPG is high, plenty of places but when you try and fill up the gun used to attach to your van’s gas inlet is not reliable stopping you from filling up, what’s more, it’s worse in the summer because of the heat and the air pressure change.

We are on our last sniff of gas and we have weeks to go. Because of all the filling failures, we think that we have a problem with our system and a couple of hours have been spent calling back and forth to the UK suppliers of the equipment to try and help us out, even to the point that they had us make a little gasket out of plastic. Interesting.

The company are indeed helpful but we still need to get gas into our bottles. There are two suppliers locally in Annecy which is only 30 minutes’ drive away from where we are. First thing tomorrow we will try and see if we can get gas, otherwise we might need to get some serious replumbing done to fit a standard French system or worse, go back home.

Thursday 20th August 2020

This morning in Thones is clear and bright. Deep blue sky and clean fresh air. There was another short shower of rain in the night but the morning is just beautiful. A joy. We never use phrases or words like that but when you wake up to a day and view as we have then yes it’s a joy! So glad we stayed…

This morning we will take a walk for a couple of hours to a small village called Les Clefs, which takes in a small 2000-year-old Roman bridge that just happened to be here. It’s about an hour there and back so it’ll be enough as the weather is forecast to be hot again 30+ degrees.

On with the sturdy boots and off we go…

A lovely walk with some great views once again. Back at the van, we sit for the afternoon in the shade while Hayley plots up the route for the next few days.

Tonight we manage our dinner at the back of the van next to the stream.

What a day.

Wednesday 19th August 2020

We loved the Lake Cenis spot, it was amazing but we learned a lesson on altitude sickness. We will definitely go again but next time NO DRINK and easy on the exercise. We make a nice peaceful recovery at Lake Bourget, a place that we have been to before but we didn’t stay in the campsite the last time, there is a parking place just outside for a few euros, but we felt we needed a bit of a reset this time so opted for the campsite which was perfect.

Today we are heading to the town of Thones which is the capital of Roublechon cheese. The cows here are allowed to wander around free and to eat the fine grass and flowers that grow on the French Alps producing the finest cheese. Can be expensive but well worth it if you like cheese. We do!

After an hour and a half drive again through the best views you can drive through, we arrive at a spot that Hayley has found just on the road out of Thones and on a stream. It’s beautiful.

We are surrounded by tree-covered mountains with a stream bubbling at the back of the van. Stunning. The weather is bright and sunny and everything just looks beautiful and as nature intended.

Once set up and comfortable we take a short walk around the town which is clean, tidy, and charming. Coffee and cake have to be had so we find a nice French patisserie and have a couple of very fancy cakes, tea, and coffee. Wonderful.

We are planning dinner at the van tonight so it’s back to base just as the clouds are gathering which is followed by a shower of rain, nothing major but enough to cancel dinner at the back of the van next to the stream. Tomorrow maybe?

Instead, we settle for a Pizza in town, not your typical cheese and tomato with another couple of toppings but a cream pizza with lots of the local Roublechon cheese. Well, why not…

A lovely day in a lovely town. Maybe we should stay another day.

Sunday 16th August 2020

After a warm night in the van with temperatures at low 30s, this morning we wake up to a cool fresh day with patchy cloud. We are 300m above sea level and today we are going back uphill, this Alps thing is all up and down and today it’s up!

We do a full van service today and, after nearly three weeks a full van wash, all 12 euros of it, but it is well worth it. If there is one thing the French do well and that’s car, van, and truck washing facilities. She now looks her best again.

Today we are heading for the beautiful town of La Chambre, (The Room?). Sure enough, it is very pretty and has a shop or “laiterie”, cheesemaker, 72nd on some kind of cheese tour route. Great. We are lucky to be parked right next to it.

It’s much cooler today with the threat of rain later on in the early evening so we set off for a walk around the small town. It’s a very nice place, just a high street, and a church but it’s very charming, clean, tidy and shut, it’s a Sunday.

Just before going back to the van and calling it a day, we take a good walk in the nearby forest. We walk much further than we thought and maybe shouldn’t have done without our sturdy walking boots.

Tomorrow we are heading for the Mont Cenis Lake, more than 2 kms above sea level. The highest we have all been as a bunch.

Saturday 16th August 2020

It’s a public holiday today in France, something about Mary going up to heaven! Oh and anyone going to the UK from France now has to quarantine for 14 days. We did see that coming probably before the government did!

Today we have set a new record for heat in the van, a staggering 41 degrees…

We are just trundling our way around the wonderful French Alps. It’s brilliant, the views are amazing but the roads around these parts can sometimes be challenging. Today we are in Bourgneuf a tiny village not far from Albertville, home of the 1992 winter Olympics.

We have a smashing spot, free again, with an amazing view of, yes, more mountains. It’s so hot though today. We manage a walk but the temperature just wears you down.

A quiet peaceful day today, we have some good shade against some trees but the van is just baking. By 8 pm the temp starts to fall so dinner is had as the only local restaurant has closed because of the bank holiday. We have a great dinner all the same.

Friday 14th August 2020

Overnight we had some very heavy rain, but really heavy. About time, the French have had a severe drought in some places so it will have been a godsend. It started at about 7 pm and went on non-stop until about 2 am so we are feeling a little groggy due to the lack of real sleep.

Today we are going up to Mont Lachat. A popular place for skiers and paragliders, girls and boys that put on a crash hat and jump off a mountain and float about for an hour or two before landing in someone’s garden.

The first part of the trip is a telecabin cable car, which is brilliant. Again not very busy here and the locals are very good at the social distancing thing here and very pleased to see us. The 12 euro return trip is well worth the money, the second and longest part of the journey is an open chairlift to the summit of Lachat.

What an view, stunning, it’s just painful to the eyes the vastness of the mountains and hills here, so steep and so long. An amazing sight.

We watch some girls and boys in crash hats jump off the edge unfolding some tissue paper-like canopies as they go. Frighting to watch but probably very very exhilarating. Nah, we will keep our feet on terra firma thanks.

After an hour or two we head back down in the cable car back into the town for an ice cream before starting up Jess and setting off for the town of Beaufort and a campsite. Yes, today we will pay for the night. Not done that in a while.

More long twisting roads. Hayley is driving today and negotiates it all very well. Tight bends, big trucks, and cyclists, yes lots of cyclists, tons of them. At one point we were overtaken by one!

The campsite is ok, not the best we have stayed at but it’s a chance to do some laundry, plug the van into some electricity and get all our tech charged up.

On reflection, this place is quite nice, set amongst steep tree-covered hills and a beautiful blue sky. Dinner outside tonight. A lovely evening.

Thursday 13th August 2020

There is a light shower of rain this morning, no fancy sun rises today. After breakfast, we pack up and secure our stuff and set off on the 30 minute downhill, twisty turny, potentially dangerous, roads to the main town of Annecy right on lake Annecy. It will be the first time we will have been to a large, busy, and very public place. There is no use in hiding, so armed with our mask and hand sanitiser we give it a go.

There is a free Aire in the town where we can dump water, fill up with fresh, and sort out the toilet. It is packed. The whole town is just chaos, some doing social distancing some not. It is good though to now see people out and about. There is a small beach on the lake which is just rammed full. Yes, the infection numbers are going up in France and this is why with people flocking to places like this. Follow the rules, keep yourself clean, and you will be fine.

The town is very pretty, the Venice of France some call it, with a couple of canals and very picturesque restaurant-lined streets. Nice.

However, we are getting a bit fed up with it already. Too many people than what we have been used to, lots of the same kinds of restaurants and ice-cream shops, same, same and same again. No, we like the long unmarked roads, small dusty villages, green hills, and mountains. That’s what we came for.

We get back tot he van do the service, have a chat with a very nice English family who are out for the first time. Let’s get going. Let’s go to… the shops, we are running low on fruit, veg and yes beer.

We need to get back to the mountains and the peace so we make for Grand Bornand which is a beautiful ski resort.

Our arrival into Grand Bornand is later than our usual arrival times. We find the place we are staying in, it is free of charge and with a brilliant view from the driver’s position.

The town is charming, not too busy, plenty of restaurants which are full, so full you can’t get a place, no matter we will dine at Chez Jess tonight.

There is a cable car and chairlift here to Mont Lachat, popular with skiers, something we haven’t done although Hayley has tried with her good friends from School, in Glenshee. Skiing in the Alps or Glenshee. Hmmm, which one to choose?

We will try the cablecar tomorrow.

Wednesday 12th August 2020

We are staying put today. We wanted to catch the sunrise coming up over Mont Blanc, we’ve seen the sunrise over Grimsby Port so why not Mont Blanc? Also, the views here are just amazing, the temperature is perfect, it’s just too good to go yet, there is more to see.

We start the day at about 06:30 am and crack open a few blinds on the van to catch the sunrise. It didn’t disappoint, it was very much worth it.

Back to bed for an hour, breakfast, and a two-hour walk where we bought more of the best goat’s cheese in the world.

It’s a lovely day and after the walk, the plan is to have lunch at one of the local restaurants that we booked yesterday. It’s rubbish. In the end, they ignore the reservations and make everyone wait outside in the boiling heat, and none of the tables were shaded, and to top it all the staff where a little brusque shall we say. Anyway, so we give up and go done the hill a little to the next one which is more expensive but well shaded, nice friendly staff and we had the most amazing lunch of local fare, a tartiflette which is basically potatoes grilled with lardons and the local Roublechon cheese. Served with a green salad and a plate of mixed cold meats washed down with an ice-cold rose. Well, can Wednesdays be any better?

A short walk back to our base for a lazy afternoon into the evening, no dinner just a few drinks in the “Jess lounge Bar” and to bed.

Where to tomorrow?

Tuesday 11th August 2020

Today we will make for some cooler, fresher air, and our first stop in the French Alps proper. We are heading to the town of Annecy but we are not staying there, we will make the 1700 meter climb to Semnoz peak which has a 360-degree view of Lac du Bourget on one side and the Alps stretching across Switzerland and Italy on the other. The route is part toll and part free, but what a route. We go some of the way on the “White Motorway” which has the most amazing views. The landscape has changed considerably. Mountainous and green. Superb.

Our final stop is the Refuge d’ Semnoz. It’s a bit of a slog up some very steep and hairpin bends for about 40 minutes. Once it flattens out, after some 1650m height, we see the clearing of where we can park up. Sure enough, the view is astounding. From the front of the van, we see the Alps, Swiss, French and Italian, all in a line as well as Mont Blanc. An amazing site. At the back of the van, we can look down into the valley with Lake Bourget and the surrounding towns. From this spot, we can see the sunset in the valley at night and watch it come up again over the Alps.

There is nothing here except for some excellent walks and cycling. It’s challenging stuff on a bike, we watched some mad cyclists do the 1650 meter high climb just so they could get a photo at the summit.

Once settled in a spot we get the walking boots on and off we go for a short walk. There are some things here but not much. Three restaurants and two shops selling local cheese and we mean local, the cows and sheep freely wander around the Alpine hills. All you can hear all day and all night is the clanging of the cowbells as they eat and eats and eat. That’s all they do, eat.

Towards the end of our walk, we see what looks like gliders, it turns out that they are radio-controlled gliders, a local club comes here and flies them. They are amazing to watch and it kills a good 45 mins watching them skillfully control these model planes.

On the way back to the van we pop into one of the local cheese shops and buy some local goats cheese for dinner tonight. We shall see how good it is then.

Chilling out and watching the cows go by is the order of the remaining of the day before dinner which tonight will be quesadillas, a glass of white followed by oat biscuits and the local cheese which was just the best. We agreed, the best goat’s cheese ever, not this white, glue-like stuff from Waitrose, but firm, creamy, and just excellent. The rest of the night was watching the sun setting behind us with the colour of the Alps changing at the front. Magic.