Travels in a Campervan: alps

Wednesday, 19 June 2019

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

Wishy Washy's Laundry!

Tuesday, 18 June 2019

Hiking and swimming in Cascades de Herisson

Tuesday 18 June 2019

Nido’s parked up at an aire overlooking Lac du Nantua, in the Ain department, part of the central Alps. The lake’s surrounded by high limestone cliffs; I can see lots of inaccessible caves and there’s also been several landslides, leaving a scar and taking out a few pine trees on the way down. The town’s a bit tired, like many following the financial crash, although lots of people were out walking, sitting and enjoying the hot, late evening sunshine.

It was very peaceful at Lac d’Ilay last night and the birdsong woke us, so we were up and about early. The view at breakfast was as lovely as yesterday. It was quite cool in the shade but the rising sun soon burnt off the dew. We sat outside a while last night, stargazing and watching many passenger planes pass over heading south. The bats were out catching the insects over the lake. The plan today was to visit some waterfalls listed in the ‘Wild Swimming France’ book - Cascades de Herisson. This is one of the main tourist attractions of the Jura and there were already quite a few cars parked when we arrived at 1030. I’d originally plugged in the wrong coordinates, but this led us to a viewing point high above one of the waterfalls, so it wasn’t time wasted. We’d already packed a rucksack with food, water and swimming gear and followed the well marked paths up into the damp gorge. The ground and stones were quite wet and slippery underfoot, but on the steeper sections there were sets of metal steps. The two main falls - Eventail and Le Grand Saut were quite easy to walk to and busy, but our target was the next one - Le Gour Bleu (Blue Pool), where a plunge pool has been scoured from beneath and into the cliff. There’s a small beach on either side, the far side being in bright sunshine. The shallows were fine for paddling, although the stones were quite sharp, but we were wearing our swimming shoes. The water was cool but not too cold, although it took a few seconds to get used to it! A waterfall pool swim is always exhilarating and this was no exception. We whooped as we entered the pool swimming against the water that had cascaded down. The fall was a bit too powerful to swim directly into, although a smaller fall to one side was fine to sit under and enjoy the pummelling. We were also able to walk behind the main waterfall which was magical. We were the only people to take a swim - the mad Brits! - but I suspect the people watching were quite envious as it was a hot, sticky morning. Refreshed and changed, we made our way back down the slippery paths and steps to the van.

Our next stop was planned to be an aire at Clairvaux-les-Lacs, but on arrival the aire was next to a busy, noisy road. We stayed for lunch and moved on. The next was in Arinthod, but was bit isolated next to a sports field and so we moved on to Thoirette but again, there was a busy road with a view of the supermarket. I’d checked them out in ‘Search for Sites’ and ‘Park4Night’ beforehand, as well as the Camperstops book, but I think the photos are taken by estate agents - they hide the truth! Still, France has plenty of aires and wild camping places to stay and this led us to Lac du Nantua. It was hot when we arrived but a welcome strong breeze was blowing down the valley and over the lake, so we sat outside the van for a while to cool down. I had planned to cook tonight, but it was too hot in the van so we changed and wandered into town for something to eat. Many of the eateries seem to be closed on Tuesday evenings, so we had a beer outside a bar and ended up with some good old fast food - it was cheap and it hit the spot! The walk back along the lakeside was in hot evening sunshine and we’re now sat outside the van, listening to the birds and watching the sun-glowing cliffs on the other side of the lake. It’s a fairly noisy place with a road just behind us, but hopefully it’ll quieten down later.

Despite only doing fairly short hops each day, we’ve covered a lot of ground and are still perhaps travelling more than we’d like - it’s a hard habit to break, but we have another seven weeks so don’t need to rush. We’re heading towards Lac d’Annecy next and further swimming areas in the central Alps. I think we’ll start to slow down there, spending more than a night in places. This will allow us to wild swim, enjoy the alpine meadows and views of the mountains and also give me time to get out on my road bike. I won’t be climbing any of the iconic Tour de France stages (although I am looking forward to seeing Alpe d’Huez and Mont Ventoux), but I can pretend and dream….perhaps I’ll make just a couple of Alpe d’Huez’s 21 hairpin bends before I have to turn around and find a cafe!