Enjoying the delights of Lac d'Annecy

Wednesday 19 June 2019

Nido’s parked up at a peaceful aire in Lathuile, surrounded on all sides by high mountains and close to the southern shore of Lac d’Annecy. The owners also run the adjacent garden centre and the pitches are grassy and spacious, with plenty of room to get out the awning and relax outside the van.    We’ve been feeding our stale baguette to the very tame sparrows and the local blackbird’s now singing to safeguard his territory.

The sounds of the town eventually died away last night, although the young lads were playing a loud game of pétanque into the early hours; they seemed to be enjoying themselves.  Early this morning a few of the vans made a hasty retreat before the lady came around to collect the money for staying on the aire.  I’d popped out to buy some bread and croissants and we were mid-breakfast when she cheerfully wished us ‘bon appetit’….and asked for payment!   The diesel in town was quite cheap so I topped up Nido and we left for our next stop.  Annecy has a free aire just across the road from the lake and only about 15 minutes walk from the old town.  I expected it to be rammed but there were a couple of spaces available.  We quickly parked and locked up and walked along the lakeside, past the yachts and pleasure boats towards town.  Annecy is a busy place, with lots of tourists.  The old town is delightful, with medieval buildings and narrow streets separated by canals that run through the middle - a little Venice in the central Alps.  We had a good walk around enjoying the ambience, as the restaurants prepared for the busy lunch service. As Cathy had been good, I treated her (and me) to an ice cream!  It was very hot so we made the most of the high buildings and narrow streets to seek a bit of shade to eat our cones and people watch.

Back at the aire, vans were queuing to grab one of the ten spaces, so we offered up our space to another panel van and drove back towards town, clockwise around the lake, heading for the municipal beach at Angon on the eastern side of the lake.  However, the parking is for cars only so we had to move on.  I’d picked an aire to check out on the southern tip of the lake at Lathuile.  Although a bit expensive at €12 (including 4A electric), it’s in a lovely location with fields, trees and birdlife in abundance, plus the panoramic views of the surrounding mountains. We pitched up, hooked up the electric and Cathy made a pot of tea while I wound out the awning to give us some welcome shade.  She also did some washing as it would soon dry in the hot breeze and the awning is ideal to string a line from.

We were soon ready for the swim we missed out on earlier, so walked down to the local beach, where lots of young families were already enjoying the turquoise water, gently warmed by subterranean hot springs. It was a lovely swim, surrounded by the mountains, with lots of people para-gliding from the tops and catching the thermals, some landing in the field next to the beach.  We enjoyed a sunbathe in the hot sunshine before wandering back to the aire.  The rest of the evening was spent chilling out, feeding the birds and eating outside as the sun set over the mountains.  A really enjoyable, relaxing day.  Tomorrow we’re planning to head into the hills to find somewhere quiet to camp for a couple of nights.  I’m also hoping to get a bike ride in.  

Annecy old town

A lovely pitch on the aire

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