Day 3
Another lovely start to another day. Last night’s meal was
fantastic, the hotel may only have a 2 or 3 start rating but the food was 5
star plus, and yes I have eaten at 5 start hotels. Breakfast this morning was a
typical continental affair of breads, croissants, yoghurts, jams, hams and
cheeses etc. with juice, tea, coffee or hot chocolate to wash it all down with.
Then back to the rooms for a last freshen up before the
routine packing of luggage. By about 9.30am we were back on the road. Today’s
trip would be a simple A to B trip, but it would take us to the town of Annecy,
where I intended to stop for lunch by the lake, and then we would head over the
mountains to Bourg Saint Maurice.
We left the hotel and headed up the mountain for the first
petrol stop of the day. Here we met some English bikers followed by a Porsche,
a similar set up to own little convoy. In fact our convoy reminded me of an old
kid’s film called “The Land Before Time” with Little Foot, Ducky, Sarah, Petewee
and Spike, a mixed bag of young dinosaurs that had to make a long journey
together to get to a safe place. Anyway after filling up with fuel and having a
nice chat, we parted and went our separate ways. With a bitter last good bye
from one of the bikers who said, “the roads only get better from here”.
The scenery was stunning the roads a delight to drive
everything thing was going well, skies were blue, trees green and the roads
dry. But then we had another glitch with the satnav. I think I now know what
had gone on with it. I have set the way points too far apart, and once off
route the satnav redirects us the quickest way to the next way point and not
where I want to g. If the way points
were a mile or so apart the Garmin would just send us on our way but some of my
way points are forty plus miles apart and there lies my problem. This put us
onto the second unplanned motorway of the trip and a toll of six euros seventy
each. However it cost Ian more as he
panicked at the pay station and dropped his change all over the floor. I wasn’t
very happy, I think that losing the bike then having unnecessary silly mistakes
was just getting to me, but life is a lesson and we can all learn. It didn’t
take long and we were soon back on track and Annecy was the next port of call.
We soon arrived at Annecy with the sun shining and the skies blue with broken
cloud. We parked up, got the rolls we had made at breakfast and sat by the
crystal clear waters just soaking in the views, sights and sounds. 
After lunch we then decided to go for a wonder around the
town and take in its shops, alleyways markets, and history. My mum then
decided, whilst sat in the park that she would like to go for a boat ride
around the lake. I was a little concerned. I knew that in the afternoon we had a long
ride ahead of us, and that we had already pushed our arrival time from early to
late afternoon. Any further delay would
see that turning into evening, and the other thing that worried me was that
they forecast rain. But I had to weigh this up with the fact that she may never
get to do this again, so we went for the boat trip. It was lovely to see the
views from the boat, life is a compromise and this was a compromise worth
taking.
We had a lovely sail around the lake and we were given the
history of how the lake was formed and who lived where along it shores, with
the boat now landed we were soon once again on our way and the last thing we
did before leaving was the inevitable fuel stop. The road that runs down the
side of the lake was stunning. From there we headed to Alberteville then turned
left to Flumet. However for whatever reason the way was blocked and a detour
was in place. By this time I had pulled the paper maps out and with them in
hand we followed the detour signs. The detour was no disappointment a little
tight in places but lovely exciting roads. Several miles later we were back on
route and now we were headed straight over the top of the mountain to Bourg.
I had done this trip before in 2008 when Ian and I had done
our first Alpine adventure. To be honest I couldn’t remember the first part,
but then again, that was six years ago. The roads were great winding left and
right and zig zagging their way through the mountain. We stopped at a ski
resort that only six years ago had a couple of hotels, but now it is quite a
large, almost a town. We dropped down
the mountain again through farmland, where cows were being milked on the side
of the road with a mobile milking machine.
We then headed up the next mountain. Up we went just getting higher and
higher then down the other side into a valley I did remember; a little flat
bottomed valley, hidden in, and completely surrounded by mountains.
We travelled left along its flat fields before turning once
more up into the mountains. I remember this part well, as I can remember
overtaking a caravan whilst ascending the mountain side six years ago. Here the
sides of the mountains were heavily covered in pine trees and the ground and
rocks, shrouded with a thick layer of moss. We once again had to zig zag back
and forth just to get up the side of the mountain. This road lead to another
valley high up in the mountains so high that no trees grow but there is a lovey
blue lake, which sadly and for reasons unknown to me, was now quite empty. We
had to circle the lake, and then came the last climb through the bare grey
rock; snow still in places lined the road’s edge. I must admit I was now a little
apprehensive about what it had lead us
into, it was on this last climb that it started to rain. Not now, I thought,
not here, just please wait for another half an hour. The road was steep, tight
and narrow, the rain wasn’t too bad and we pushed on higher and higher. The
road hung onto the edge of the mountain side or carved its way through cuttings
in the rock.
Finally we had made the top, it had been worth it. The views on the way up had just been
stunning, now it was just a matter of getting down the other side. The rain had
gotten heavier and I was concerned for Ian, but he assured us he was ok so we
continued. At first the roads zig zags, then it follows a naturally dropping
valley and winds and meanders along its length then the satnav shows a big blob
of purple, “what’s that?” asks Sue, ah yes that is a very steep drop where the
road cuts back and forth so tight and so much that the satnav can’t actually
distinguish were we are. It is a great drive, you just really don’t want
anything coming up the other way, we headed down back and forth left then
right, then satnav couldn’t work out whether we were going up or down, by now
thankfully the rain had stopped. Many turns later we were at the bottom, and
now just final drive following the river into Bourg.
Soon we could see the town below us and a sense of relief
was felt by myself, as I knew how dangerous the mountain roads could be in the
wet and it had been a long day. Ironically the last time we rode down this
mountain we had to stop and wait, as shepherds were bringing their sheep down,
this time we were just lucky to avoid a herd of cows that were being driven
down.
As we drove down the part of the mountain road, heading into
town, I said to Sue “food or hotel?” her reply was “hotel, I’m knackered” so I set
the satnav to go to the hotel, but we
couldn’t immediately pin point the hotel, so we instantly had a change of plan
and we headed to Maccy D’s. Ok not the best food in the world but it was now
nearly 7.30pm and it was cheap easy and like everything that’s meant to be bad
for you good. We used the free wifi and pinpointed the hotel, and after eating
we were soon at the hotel. We shuffled
the cars around so we could park without worry of getting a parking ticket. We then
unloaded the cars and found our rooms, the hotel was nice and we were soon warm,
dry and comfortable.
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