16. Jun, 2016

WEDNESDAY 15-06-16

We had a bit more rain again during the night, not enough to dampen our spirits as we were leaving, but all those miserable, cheerless Caravanner's were staying for longer, no wonder they were having a lie-in, which meant we had the shower block to ourselves again.

Before setting off for Annecy I warmed the vehicles engine thoroughly as we had some steep climbing to do as soon as we left Lalley village. As it was warming, I swept all of the dead flies up off the floor and wondered if it was Ghandi who invented the fly swat, or maybe it was a Frenchman. The Chef went in to Reception to pay for our two night stay and request another Wi-Fi ticket as I'd only used one of my allocated two days. It appears this wasn't well received but she did manage to secure a ticket which I used to upload yesterday's blog ramblings before leaving.

The scenery for the first part of today's hundred miles was quite dramatic, though there was lots of low cloud about. Fortunately when we passed through here last year the weather was so much better and we managed to get a few decent photographs. Nonetheless The Chef snapped numerous pictures using not one, but two different cameras. I have yet to view today's offerings, some things shouldn't be rushed, but savoured. Maybe there'll be a rare telegraph pole or blurred tree captured for posterity, who knows.

The second part of the journey was busier and spent mainly on toll roads, before eventually arriving at Annecy. We had camped here for a few days about 15 years ago. I can only assume last time we were on the other side of the lake as the side we have finished up on is very commercialised, there's no way I'd want a holiday here now. The co-ordinates I had punched in to the Sat-nav bought us to the free Aire near the town centre. 'A very busy Aire, get there early for a space' the entry read in the book. Well all of the motorhomer's who had arrived there did so a damned site earlier than this morning. There's space for about 10 vehicles, but they all looked as if they'd been there a while, which is against both the rules and the spirit of Aires. This one has a maximum stay of just 24 hours. Clearly the local authority, whilst being generous enough to provide an Aire, don't monitor its use or abuse, to the detriment of people like us who are just passing through. This then forced us on to a campsite. My 'Plan B' site didn't seem to exist any longer when we arrived at the co-ordinates, and so we just cruised slowly along the busy road running just 'inland' from the lake until we saw a sign for a campsite, which very fortunately as it turned out, is just around the corner from the supermarket we are to visit tomorrow morning as we leave for Switzerland, fully stocked with food.

They have clearly had a lot of rain here. When we tried to get on our allocated grass pitch we got wheel spin and so I moved along a few pitches to one nearer the roadway and I put down our wooden boards and drove on to them. Hopefully they will stop us from sinking in to the very boggy ground. It's good thing we're only here for one night.

We can tell who the campers are who have been here a while as they've got coughs and colds. The sounds of nasal de-scaling in the showers tomorrow morning should be something quite spiritual, what a disgusting habit.

We went for a walk to find the lake, and by following the map displayed at the campsite we ended up on a piece of land twelve feet by twelve feet with no possibility of walking left or right along the lakes shoreline. Back we came to the cycleway which encircles the entire lake.

It may have been there the last time we were here, and we just hadn't noticed it. But these days things are different, now we have Lycra-Man, and his racing or mountain bike. Are these people riding round the lake at speed  enjoying the views? No they are not, it's heads down and ride like fury. They probably ride around the lake every day in an attempt to beat their previous time. I know it's each-to-their-own but I struggle to find the pleasure in what they do. As for Brits who do it, they could just as easily stay at home and ride around Rutland Water Reservoir in the rain, just to make it an authentic summer pursuit, for a fraction of the price. Annecy, we loved you 15 years ago, but you won't be seeing us again.

Tonight The Chef has created  Penn with a Cheese sauce and salad, washed down with a drop of liquid red grape (I try and get my Five-A-Day).

We have elected not to pay for electricity this evening as we don't really need it for just one night, however there is a flaw in such a plan. We were going to watch a film this evening to break the monotony of an evening onsite, until The Chef asked the very pertinent question (and I wished she hadn't) "Can we watch a film with the DVD player?", and sadly the answer was "Non". How's that for a bit of French then?  Our Television with the built in DVD player can work on mains or 12v. However, since its DVD packed up we've had to replace it with a cheapie DVD player which is powered by mains electricity, and since we have elected not to have mains electricity tonight, we ain't gonna be watching no film. So I suppose we'll have to talk to each other instead.

Tomorrow we hit the road for about another 170 miles, heading for Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland, a place we love, and if all goes to plan regarding photos and video uploads at a later date, you'll love as well.

16. Jun, 2016

16. Jun, 2016

16. Jun, 2016