Owner:
squiz
Member
Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3072
|
7th March 2019
Hiking - Walking: Circuit of Lac de Vallon Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: heavy rain, sleety snow with sunny periods late afternoon. Max Speed: Distance Covered: 2.32 miles (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise)
Thursday 7th March – Snow shoe **** Circuit of Lac de Vallon, La
Chevrerie in France + sightseeing travel – heavy rain, sleety snow with
sunny periods late afternoon.
1 hours 45 minutes out, 2.32 miles covered.
Good night in our out of the way spot at Le Chautets behind the little ski
resort of Bernex and it seemed to rain all night. Easy start, lay-in
reading, rain eased so Mag did her exercises outside and had a wander up
the rushing river – her favourite. She said the pine trees had a coating
of snow high up so the rain down here had been snow up there. With only a
couple of days left before we have to start making our way home, we were
not sure what to do with the weather not looking great:( In the end I
decided to head over to one of our favourites the little resort of La
Chevrerie a beautiful spot for both skiing and snow shoeing so if the
weather improves at least we have some options for some last minute fun in
the mountains! Leaving Bernex in heavy rain we get in a bit of a muddle but
soon find the way, the scenery is just lovely, windy mountain roads with
copper leaf trees and snow-covered pines high up with loads of traditional
wooden chalets. We came out on the main Morzine road so turned right to go
to the supermarket for a few bits. You are definitely in Brit country here
and the shop was busy with chalet staff stocking up to please a load of
moaning wet skiers returning from a very miserable day on the slopes! Only
20 Euros spent mainly on our first rotisserie Chicken a bargain at 7.95
euros – the cheapest one we have seen - we have seen them for double
that! Then its back down the impressive gorge road making a small detour up
to the resort that links to La Chevrerie past the stunning Roc de Enfer,
St-Jean-d’Aulps where several very wet slalom skiers were heading back to
their sponsored vans looking very cheesed off! It was several km. to our
turn off towards Bellevaux before coming to the dead-end road to La
Chevrerie, then as we climbed higher the rain turned to sleety snow and the
poor old van only just made it on the icy slush up past the wood yard to
get our first glimpse of the beautiful frozen Lac de Vallon. I drove to the
ski lift right at the end - we have parked here several times including one
very noisy New Year’s Eve! Due to the poor weather the carpark was nearly
empty but the piste down did look good! Then it was back to park up for the
night right by the Lac with the little fairy-tale chapel of St. Bruno
across the water. To be honest it did look different, the small steeple
has either been covered in copper or the old one has been cleaned because
it looks a bit shiny and harsh! Still we parked up on firm ground so even
if it snows, we can get off and I snapped away with the camera as the sun
came out and we are surrounded by rocky peaks covered in snow covered pines
just amazing. Time for us to enjoy our still warm chicken and then we were
going to snow shoe around the Lac but it started to rain then snow. So,
Mag sorted pics on the computer – picking her favourites from my many for
a more manageable file, while I read. Then at about four it cleared so we
quickly wrapped up, got the snow shoes on and set off around the Lac. A
walk we have done several times but very enjoyable none the less. You have
to cross a couple of little bridges piled high with snow to get up to the
chapel. It was some of the hardest snow to walk in we have ever come across
and we kept sinking in at least a foot! I walked down to the waters edge
and got a nice shot of our van parked across the Lac before meeting Mag
back at the stone trough with its swan neck water spout before following
the path around the Lac. The best section is at the far end where the
narrow path goes close to the water, well ice I mean. I tried walking on
the ice at one point and to discover it was not very thick and ended up
with a wet foot - made Mag laugh! Then back along the new path at the side
of the road (you used to have to walk on the road) with the snow shoes
coming off as we ran out of the white stuff. Back at the van it was time
for yummy nut loaf and jam with a cuppa. There was a humped off heron on a
post in the lac, how it survives up here is beyond us and there were
several birds of prey circling above probably an eagle of some sort? Could
be our coldest night of the holiday today with light snow forecast for
tomorrow so can’t make any plans until the morning, nothing new there
then!!!
Photo Gallery Here
|
Toys Used:
Statsbar:
About MY Statsbar
|