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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2884 |
2nd April 2014 Skiing: Semnoz Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny periods Max Speed: Distance Covered: Wednesday 2nd April **** ski and walk **** sunny periods We did ski our 2 hours at Semnoz:) It cost us 9 euros each in the end because it is Wednesday which means that all primary school children get the day or part of the day off so it counts as peak! No reduction for closures because they opened the Versant Bauges side up again:) The main run down the middle was shut but the lovely red and two greens were open so after a couple of runs down to the main area at 9 o’clock to get our lift pass we went over and enjoyed the Bauges side for the rest of our time because both the chair lifts were quite slow whereas the drag lift to the red was really fast giving us more skiing in the time we had left:) We spent some time watching a snow kiter jumping and having great fun. Back to the van by 11.30. We packed up and drove back down the mountain to the river where we had our lunch yesterday (at the Cascades du Pissieu) because we thought we might find the spare camera battery which is unfortunately lost! We thought it might have fallen out of the rucksack when we had our picnic but it wasn’t there:( Still it meant we could enjoy sitting by the river in the sun again watching the dippers and black caps which did arrive eventually. We dragged ourselves away and set off, meaning to put some miles in towards our long journey back tomorrow but we hadn’t gone very far before we were distracted by a sign to the Pont de l’Abime which was actually directly under the Semnoz cliffs. The bridge was great, very old and built using the same technology as the Eifel tower. It spanned the Gorges du Cheran and the river, which was that wonderful melted snow green, was a very long way down! After spending some time on the bridge we went to turn round but saw a walk sign saying that it was only 20 minutes down to the bottom of the gorge to see the ‘chaos’. We couldn’t resist and after the 20 minute scramble down we were not disappointed as the river and the ‘chaos’ of huge rocks, which fell when the gorge opened up, was a real treat. You had to pinch yourself to think that we were there in another wonderful place found completely by accident:) After lots of photos we made the huge scramble back up the path and had a break and a cuppa sitting at a brilliantly placed picnic table near where we parked. The view was amazing of the bridge and the surrounding cliffs and at one point there were 6 buzzards/eagles (we are hopeless at telling the difference!) circling and calling overhead. Magic. We were tempted to move down to the bridge car park and stay here the night but it was only 5 o’clock so we decided to move on and after stopping at the Hyper U in Rumilly and driving through more gorges (Gorges du val Fier), we finally stopped for the night at Sur Lyand which is apparently a cross country skiing area but there isn’t very much evidence of it any more! Unfortunately although no snow for skiing there is enough to cut off the Col which would give us a good way out tomorrow so we will have to go back down the windy mountain the way we came:( Not the best parking space as not very level but it will do for tonight. Thursday 3rd April – Travelling and Cloudy We left our little mountain spot in quite thick cloud which was quite a relief as leaving that perfect skiing blue sky would have been very hard!! We wound our way down to the valley and headed through the country roads to the very expensive toll road! Not like us but by going home this way and paying through the teeth it means we get as much time as possible in the mountains. It does grate though!! So basically we just drove all day (about 8 hours with a half hour stop) until we got to Calais. The overhead traffic warning signs were saying there were difficulties and that Calais was closed which was a bit difficult to understand – closed for crossings or closed full stop! We decided to carry on and just after the toll the police were making lorries drive down the coned off outside lane and we measured about a mile and a quarter of solid lorries there and then when we got into Calais it was chaos with lorries backed up all along the motorway and especially the various turn offs to the ferries and the shuttle. We were held up a little bit where the road went from 3 lanes to 2 but cars were not that badly affected. We tuned into Radio 2 which you can pick up from Calais and they said it was ‘industrial action’. Hopefully it won’t affect us tomorrow. We drove past the eurotunnel turning then doubled back through Coquelles to get some diesel and went for a walk on the jetty where the ferries go in and out. Had a cuppa and nice stroll and watched 3 police cars screech up and go and get a woman with a suitcase on the jetty and put her into one of the cars! All action. Lots of camper vans in the aire where we went for free at New Year. It is now 7 euros a night and as we know the ferry engines throb and you get a disturbed night!! So that’s it apart from the awful journey back on the dual carriageways home. |
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