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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3688 |
23rd March 2016 Skiing: La Chevrerie-St-Jean D’Aulps Wind Direction: sunny periods/windy Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: Max Speed: 39.55 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 34.85 mile (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Wednesday 23rd March – ski **** La Chevrerie/St-Jean D’Aulps sunny periods/windy ( 34.85 miles, 39.55 kts max speed ) Good night in Le Chevrerie ski lift car park and woke to mainly blue skies but very windy! But this was our last chance to go skiing this holiday so decided to risk it! Not in a particular hurry to get up the mountain and nor was anyone one else even with a steady stream of cars arriving the first people didn’t get on the lift until 9.20! We walked the short distance to the ticket office and bought 5 hours for 44 Euros for two:) and were on the lift at 9.30 as big clouds were hanging over the high peaks:( The main feature of these two resorts is they haven’t actually got that many pistes but are linked together by two nice 5 km red runs so you can do a circuit in approx. an hour:) You start on the Du Torchon chair followed by the Des Follys button to the Col des Follys for stunning views and a mega long run into St-Jean D’ Aulps but it was very windy at the Col and was hard going skiing against it!!! We made it to the start of the steep run whose main feature is a large column of rock:) To be honest this is some of the worst pisted runs we have ever skied:( very uneven and bumpy and as it was cold it took a few hours to soften up. Also when the sun disappeared behind cloud you couldn’t see the lie of the land very well which made you very nervous:( but we made it down the first 5 km with no incident’s reaching the Du Lac button which takes you to the Aulp La Grande Terche and down to the telecabine. Aulp seemed like a ghost town with no one about but when we got to the beginners bowl – the Le Plateau 1500m - there were hundreds of kids having fun learning but luckily didn’t venture far from these runs leaving the rest of the resorts very quiet:) We soon found our way to the spanky new Des Tetes chair for stunning views of Mont Blanc, Roc D’Enfer and down to the beautiful isolated Graydon village where we walked to last year! We then skied a blue and red to the telecabine then it was over to the Col de Graydon 1800m for the 5 km return to Le Chevrerie which was bad as the sun hadn’t reached this side leaving the piste hard and bumpy:( We were soon back at the Col des Follys then skied back down on the blue and red which were not too bad then back up to the Col for another circuit. This time the red down past the restaurant in the middle of nowhere was very good and we wanted to do it again but did not have enough time! There was a problem with the new Des Tetes lift so with skied down to the telecabine again which was much improved this time:) It was time to find somewhere for our picnic and because of the high winds at the top it was crowded at the Le Plateau including sadly lots of English (including a few Oafs!!) having a day away from Morzine or Les Gets! So we went to the picnic table we used last time at the top of the Tetes chair which was sheltered from the wind and enjoyed the views and rolls:) We tried the blue in the Combe de Graydon but this was bad and the light poor too so we headed back as we were nearly out of time anyway. The 5 km Le Grand Souvroz was much improved and when we got back to Le Chevrerie Mag headed back to the van while I managed to get one more lift up and tried the tree lined Les Favieres green which was very nice:) It was then back to the van for a cuppa and cake while watching a group of youngsters having a cross country ski leason on a steep slope – it looked really hard to us but they were having great fun and were very determined having go after go to get it right. Then it was time to start the journey home:( Our plan was to stay at Nantua at our spot by the Lac, things went well and we made it past the busy Geneva with no problems only to be held up for a while as the Gendarmes had blocked the road while a breakdown truck tried to recovered a crashed car!!! Then when we reach Nanua the circus had taken over our carpark and there were camels and lamas everywhere!!! So we continued toward Bourg en Bresse and some found a lovely lonely spot at a paraglider take-off near Belvay with fantastic views down to the Gorge de l’ Ain and were treated to an amazing sunset: Thursday 24th March – Travelling:( We have decided that we like this overnight spot a lot better than Nantua and it is only about 15 miles further to drive so next time we think we will head for here. The circus being in town did us a favour!! It is a very beautiful view of the Jura hills to wake up to with the river Ain running through the bottom of the valley underneath some white cliffs:) The blue sky helped of course. Mag went for a walk down the lane then after breakfast we set out. We made a couple of stops at a supermarket for bread and a sports hypermarket which was massive but still had to have their mega sale outside in a tent! Nothing tempted us so back in the van and the 216 mile drive back to Briare. This is the best bit of the journey as tomorrow is very dull! We saw lots of Red kites all along the route together with the occasional buzzard and peregrine falcon. No storks this time, they must have decided to go south. When we were en-route for Nevers we decided to cut across country which takes several miles off the journey and it is a lot better countryside as the other way is all motorway and busy single track road. Cutting through Digoin and along a very long, very straight road, only bending to cross the canal Littoral du Loire, we came to Diou. We stopped here for lunch at a picnic area on the banks of the Loire. We were quite pleased that we were actually heading in the right direction because we hadn’t seen a signpost for Nevers for a long time!! After lunch we carried on on the small straight road to Decize – it was amazing, no cars whatsoever. Joined the main road to Nevers and on to our overnight stop at Briare and…… astonishing – there were about 10 campers in our usual spot!!! We moved on to another place we found on the way here on the outskirts of town and on the banks of the Loire. We were pleased with our spot and after a cuppa we set out for a walk along the banks of the river and the canal. We were making simple willow wreaths while we walked and also broke a branch of a small tree which had a bunch of mistletoe growing on it. Rob had mentioned he would like one for his roundhouse at work so we will take it home for him:) While we were walking an old gentleman started to talk to us in French and although we didn’t understand anything he said we managed to get the gist that he was worried about our van, was anxious that we had locked it up because of drug users!!! Presumably nicking stuff and causing trouble in our car park:( He was gesturing snorting and injecting!!! We carried on our walk but decided to move into the town because basically when it is dark you can’t see the view and we have found a place just along from the main town camper Aire but in an ordinary parking space so we are not part of the gang!! Made a curry and settled in for the night – a lot more relaxed than we would have been staying where we were once we knew there could be trouble! Friday 25th March – travel – start in rain finish in sunshine :) After moving because a nice local old boy told us there is a drug problem we moved up to the spot where the campers park by the marina near the canal. The camper places where taken so we parked by the boat yard which was fine until we went to bed and there was a noise on and off all night like a generator running:( So we had a bit of a disturbed night and woke to heavy rain too, so were keen to get going. As it is Good Friday we thought everyone would be on holiday and the shops would be closed – wrong!!! Everything was open, the kids were at school, workman were busy digging holes, the postman was out and about and there were lorries everywhere but this meant Lidl was open so we stopped for cake. It was going to be a momentous day for our lovely VW campervan – a real mile stone – turning 100,000 miles!!!! So with one eye on the speedo we headed for Orleans and were within a few miles of it turning over when we reached the motorway with no way of stopping for me to take a picture – sad I know!!! Luckily there was a turn off to a large industrial area where we rode around for several minutes watching for it to turn!! Having seen it turn, taken the pic we could continue our journey to Orleans and then on toward the long road to Rouen. Mag took over just past Orleans and we then stopped by the river at the nice Pont de l’Arche where we went for a short walk. With the bulk of the journey made I took over for the last 100 miles of motorway, we even paid 8 Euro toll on a section just before Boulogne. After topping up with diesel in Boulogne it was the nice section along the coast now bathed in brilliant sunshine:) In Wimereux we saw a lady in a huge 4x4 pick-up reverse into a car, luckily it didn’t hold us up. We arrived in the beautiful Ambleteuse with the tide well out and the sun setting. So after cake and a cuppa we spent a fantastic hour on the beach walking on the wet sand, rock pooling and taking pics – loads of people had come out to see the sunset – always brilliant here! It was then a short drive to our last night here in France at a car park in Escales where we can easily get to the ferry in the morning – we hope there is no problems as we heard on Radio 2 that there were long hold-ups on the English side today:( So comes to an end another fantastic trip to France, this trip to the mountains has now become our favourite trip as we both absolutely love the mountains and love looking out small ski resorts, cheap and away from the crowds! Again we were not disappointed and in three weeks we skied 8 times and went snow shoeing 5 times, if the truth be known we actually like the snowshoeing better as you can really get to some truly stunning places away from the crowds:) The weather has been great, a good mixture going from snow chains to sunshine!! We actually skied three resorts we have never been to before and I have listed them in order we liked them: - 1st equal – Lelex and Bernex, 2nd Praz de Lys/Sommand, 3rd Le Chevrerie and 4th Thollon les Memises We love going skiing in our little campervan and have stopped in some fantastic spots all free :) so for 22 nights in France including 8 days skiing, ferry and diesel the trip has cost us approx. £600 - What a bargain :) Photo Gallery here |
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