Tuesday 24th May 2011 – Thursday 26th May 2011

St Jorioz (Annecy), International du Lac Annecy, (ACSI2011-1462)

Unusually, when we left Thonnon, we felt rather sad, we had a really good time there.

You may note, I have not mentioned the weather. This is because it has been brilliant, and I do not want to tempt fate.

Today, it is 28C when we arrive at Annecy.

This site is excellent, we have been here before almost exactly two years ago.

The Dutch are here in force, but there are no fewer than four other British vans, in addition to ourselves.

The campsite is excellent, two swimming pools, one for “serious swimming”, and this one for floating about and cooling down.



It is so hot today we have had to change our routine, so that in the heat of the afternoon, we can just lie about.

Cycled into Annecy(about six easy miles away), in the morning, before it became too hot.

The old town really is beautiful, with colourful old buildings.

and quaint little alleyways.

Plenty of scenes to paint here, if Kathleen ever gets round to using her talents and giving it a try.

Not to mention pavement bars, yes that is Kathleen drinking a half litre of beer.

This is her pondering if she should buy the handbag she had just seen and liked very much.

I told her I was not moving from this bar, until she went and bought it, not a bad deal for me I thought!.

So kids, you had better get saving, because if your inheritance is not going down our necks, your mother is spending it on handbags!

Kathleen again, drunk in charge of a bicycle, as we cycle along the cycle track back to the campsite.

Thursday, again we wake up to a beautiful morning, it is going to be hot again today.

We cycle to Faverges, about 10.5 miles away, in the opposite direction to Annecy.


For those of you who know anything about Physical Geography, you will recognise this as an excellent example of a glaciated valley. Steep slides, and almost flat valley floor, gradually sloping up to the head of the valley.


Isn’t it marvellous what you learn reading my stuff? You could probably get a GCSE Geography with that knowledge alone.

This may look like a road, but it is in fact a dedicated, traffic free, cycle route (Piste Cyclable they call it) which runs the whole length of the lake and beyond.


The white gravel bits at the side are for pedestrians, while the tarmac area is for bicycles and people on Roller Skates/Boots.

I am not sure how far it runs for, the last time we were here (almost exactly two years ago), we made it as far as Faverges, which we do again this year.

My ambition is to get Kathleen to cycle all the way to Albertville, which is about 12 miles beyond Faverges, nothing doing so far, but I am sure I will coax her into it.


Another little scheme this visit is to cycle around the lake, anti-clockwise, we did it clock-wise, last time we were here, it is about 24 miles.

As you can probably tell, the route is an old railway line, which they have reclaimed as a long distance cycle route and footpath.

It is all very well done, and very pretty, but some stretches are so beautiful it is difficult to keep watching where you are going, instead of looking at the scenery.

The final proof it is an old railway line, we disappear into a tunnel, just beside the village of Duingt, about halfway along the lake.

It is all lit and perfectly good to cycle through, no cars or lorries to compete with here.










I have managed to find a source of Tonic water for the Gin and Tonics, now I am going to have to find a Lidl, to buy some more Zinfandel Rose, the last bottle has just gone in the fridge to cool, it must be evaporating.

Kathleen is on half a bottle per day, plus a session with the Vanish soap every other day, I think I will have to check her into a clinic when we get back to the UK.

After such a hot day, thunder was always a possibility. Sure enough, at about 6:00pm, the thunder claps began to roll around the hills surrounding the lake. By the time I am writing this, at about 8:00pm it is begining to brighten up again.

Saturday 20th June 2009 - Thursday 25th June 2009

International du Lac d’Annecy, St Jorioz nr Annecy (ACSI2009-1089) N45.83077 E6.17837

Occasionally, you see Campervans, or Caravans arrive at a site very early in the morning, ie before 09:30. I have often wondered how they achieve this, have they driven all night? Now I understand how, their partners (wives) have fallen out with the site next door, and they have moved 200 yards down the road. So it is that we arrive at this site, and as I am busy connecting up the electricity, an English man arrives and asks me, “how did you get here so early, have you driven all night?”…..

Joking aside, I have to say Kathleen was right (isn’t she always?), this site is much better, and it is 4Euro a night cheaper, so if you come this way, this is the one to choose. It even has wifi at your van, although on our arrival it is not working.

Once settled (again), we set off along the cycle track south towards Albertville. We do not make it all of the way there, but we get to Faverges, which at 11miles is about half way there. So we have a round trip of 22 miles, before returning for lunch. We also find a third church about 2miles away, which has mass Saturday 18:30. For lunch I eat the remainder of the garlic sausage I bought, since Kathleen is beginning to complain that it is trying to fight its’ way out of the fridge.

Sunday 21st dawns bright and sunny, the thunderstorms of the last two days appear to have gone (fingers crossed). In the UK, it is Fathers Day, uncharacteristically Kathleen is out of bed first. I think perhaps I am going to get looked after for the day?. It was a false alarm.

We cycle into Annecy, about six miles away. There are whole families, young and old, out in the sun, either cycling or skating on roller blades along the cycle track in both directions.

It makes you realise that the man who invented lycra (cycling shorts for women) should have a knighthood.

We have a good wander around Annecy (the old medieval town), there is a huge market going on, mostly food, and it is very busy, and have an excellent lunch by the Palais d’Isle. Then retire back to the campsite, where I am treated to an icecream and a superb coffee by Kathleen, before idling away the rest of the afternoon lying in the sun, followed by loosing at Petang (French boules) to Kathleen.

Monday is a “housework” day, ie do some washing, tidy the van etc, with the afternoon spent in the pool.

On Tuesday, we (I) prepare a picnic, and set off on our bikes. The stated aim is to go to Annecy and enjoy the park beside the lake. However I have a secret agenda which is to cycle around the lake (25 miles according to my estimates), Kathleen of course using her womens intuition, is aware of my secret agenda. We cycle into Annecy (six miles), then continue through the park and around the top of the lake. We get to the end of the cycle track (9 miles). So far it has been reasonably flat, now it begins to be a lot more undulating, as we weave through ancient small villages on the “quiet” side of the lake, then climb a long slow hill after Menthon Saint-Bernard. So far so good, no complaints. Then a steep hill down into Talloires. I know I am home and dry now, there is no way we are going to cycle back up the hill, so the only option is ahead. We stop for our picnic by the lake. Kathleen points out that she knew all of the time that I would attempt to get her to cycle around the lake. We are now at 15 miles, and sitting looking across the lake at Duingt. After our lunch we cycle the rest of the way along the lake, and on to Doussard, then rejoin the cycle track to head back along the other side towards Saint-Jorioz where we started. We stop off for coffee and a beer.

When we get back, my estimate of 25 miles turns out to be surprisingly accurate at 24.85 miles on our “cyclemeters”. Kathleen says she feels she could do another 10 miles, but declines to join me, as I continue on to the supermarket, to buy coffee, cakes and chocolate as a treat to us for completing what is to be part of the Tour de France on 23rd July 2009 (well almost, we missed out the climb upto the chateau at Bluffy).

Wednesday is hair washing day, so as usual Kathleen does not want to ruffle her hair when she has just washed it. In the morning I cycle south along the lake past Dousard. It is really hot and sunny today (27C), so most of the rest of the day is spent lying around. Out of curiosity we both check our blood pressure, mine is 117/68 and Kathleen 119/71, wonder if we can get a prescription for a ferry crossing and say a months campsite fees, instead of BP tablets? After our evening meal, we go out for another ten mile ride, Kathleen feels she has done nothing all day, except eat cakes (which I bought), so needs some exercise.

Thursday is to be our last day here, a week from today, we are scheduled to be on the ferry back to the UK. We have a final cycle ride into Annecy, then along the river which flows out of the lake through Annecy. This brings Kathleens total cycling for the week to 98 miles, why not do another two miles to make the round 100 you might ask. In the evening we have a drink with a very nice English couple (John and Linda, from Cheshire), who we first met on the previous site, and subsequently they came here.

Friday 19th June 2009

Europa, St Jorioz nr Annecy (ACSI2009-1088) N45.830009 E6.18169

The good news is that we get through the height barrier exactly as the French guy explained to me, we would. Although Kathleen spent the 5km of the hill gripping her seat, the only problem we had was adistinct smell of burning disk brakes by the time we reached the bottom.

No problems finding our way here.

So you are thinking, what went wrong?. Well, when we got to the site, they told Kathleen that the only pitches they had left were so called “comfort” pitches. They each have individual water supply (ie tap) and waste disposal point, but they cost 4Euro extra, per night, thus increasing our cost to 19Euro per night.

The boss is not happy about this. I try to point out that say 6 nights at 4Euro is only 24Euro extra, so given that we have been away for about 12 weeks, this is neither here nor there. But, no it is niggling away at her. So we cycle to the next site along the lake (only about 200metres), and we will be moving there tomorrow.

Eventually we have run out of luck with the weather too, we have not had any rain for weeks, last was at Colle-sur-Loop, but last night we had a thunderstorm, and today it has has continued to thunder and rain on and off.

But Lake Annecy is beautiful, pity I cannot download any photographs.

Sunday is approaching, so we have done the other essential chore, ie we have found the church!, there is a choice of two, one about a mile away (09:30 Sunday), and one about three miles away (11:00 Sunday).

We have bought three hours internet time, so the rest of the evening is to be spent trying to contact Gary, Dana, Phillippa, Claire on Skype, so far without success! (except for Dana).