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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3073 |
8th March 2020 Hiking - Walking: Talloires Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny and warm Max Speed: Distance Covered: 5.56 miles (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Sunday 8th March – walk ***** Ermitage St Germain to Talloires with a circuit of the Roc de Chere (Reserve Naturelle) – sunny and warm:) Our second good night in our little lay-by just down the road from the Ermitage St. Germain with stunning views down to Lac Annecy. Woke to a nice day and as we are broken down up here until hopefully Monday morning when we have arranged for the breakdown people to tow us to a garage we thought we would head down into Talloires in search of supplies and being a Sunday we didn’t want to leave it too late as the shops probably close at dinnertime! So, breakfast done we pack cheese and ham getting to the Chapel at 10.30 where we chat to a nice English couple, keen ski tourers who live here who also took our pic. The wide track slopes gently down, there was even a man on a mountain bike with a trailer for his dog going down so we thought we were in for an easy stroll but we were wrong as you had to turn left to Talloires down a very rugged steep path. It was beautiful though walking through the trees with glimpses of snowy mountains and the Lac with wild flowers and the odd bird flitting about. It only took half an hour to reach the impressive church at Tailloires and then down into the old town where we quickly found a small but very well stocked supermarket buying bread, water, tomatoes, an apple and a large sugared brioche for later. We soon realised we had way too many clothes on, shorts and a t-shirt would have been fine when out walking with a fleece for when you stopped! With our ruck sacks full we headed down to the water front with its swanky Lac side hotels and promenaded around the calm bay with the locals out for their Sunday stroll. It is truly a lovely spot blue waters of the Lac with the towering Dents de Lafon mountains a popular spot for paragliders the backdrop and all set against a deep blue sky, just perfect:) We walked to the end of the prom past some fantastic houses. At the end the prom turns into a metre-wide concrete path over the Lac to what looks like a dead end. This large peninsular looks pretty inaccessible but we were wrong as we discover it is criss-crossed with well-marked walking routes. The only trouble is to get there the narrow, very rocky, path runs very steeply up which Mag found particularly hard and was dreading coming back down!!! Luckily, we meet a light-footed French Lady heading down who told us that there were some fantastic belvederes and you could do a circular walk with an easier return so we continued to struggle up and up to the top. We eventually made the Belvedere du Roc de Chere (625m) at 12.10 and it really was worth the hard climb up and we found an old seat for our picnic. It was a popular spot with all sorts up here having a picnic from families with young children to more mature sorts plus several super skinny/fit joggers! Our lunch was delicious, baguette, thick with salty butter with cheese and ham with a large tomato each followed by a yummy apple. Well refreshed we discover we had a chose of three routes back so took what looked like the easy option. This soon headed steeply up again to the Belvedere du la Cret (650m) offering if anything even better views! The path calmed down as we walked the length of the Reserve Naturelle, a lovely wooded area. We found a dummy which belonged to a nice American couple with two young boys in back packs who we chatted to; they also live here! We came out by the golf course before heading to the main road at Perriox and onto the paragliding landing field, at one point we counted 35 canopies flying in a fairly small area, more like Piccadilly Circus! Then into Les Granges where we soon find the footpath back and spot our van high above use! It is a bit of a snog up the last section but we make it in the end having been out for 4 hours 40 minutes covering 5.63 miles. With our clothes damp from hiking drying in the sun we enjoy a cuppa with the yummy brioche and jam. Mag then reads while I find enough energy to do all my exercises out in the sun with a steady stream of paragliders landing down below! So, one more night here, fingers crossed we are rescued tomorrow and that the fan belt can by replaced without too much drama and at a reasonable price. If things work out right the van will be mended, we will have stocked up at Lidl and driven to Margeriaz ready for some skiing/snow shoeing but I am not counting my chickens just yet this is France after all!!!! Photo Gallery Here Monday 9th March – Crap day – rescued by breakdown – mainly cloudy with showers. Good third night in our lay-by above Talloires and hopefully our last night if the breakdown truck turns up! After breakfast Mag rings Saga to check the score and was told they were looking for a garage, not a good start as we had been told they already had one! But then we got a text saying the breakdown truck was on the way and would be with us at approximately 11.06:) In fact a nice young man arrived 20 minutes early and our poor old van was soon on the back even if it was a tight fit!!! With us in the front of the truck we had a scary journey down to the small garage at a place called Seynod, on the outskirts of Annecy, with the driver holding his mobile all the way, following his sat-nav!!!!! At one point he even translated a message he had received saying we were going to stop on the way to change a lady’s wheel for her in the rain. This meant we got to the garage just in time for their two-hour lunch break but were told that they hoped to get the belt in during the afternoon. We were not overly concerned, so we sat in the van, had lunch, read, got bored and then the parts delivery van turned up at 3.45 giving them plenty of time to fit it. 45 minutes went by and nothing happened so I went and asked. The nice man at reception who luckily for us spoke some English told us that their one hoist was tied up with a mini in bits and that we might not be done today. As we had no water, we walked up the road and found a Lidl to stock up. It was clear as we approached 6 o’clock, we were going to be staying the night in the garage car park and Mag was getting more and more fed up:( At least we were not missing much as again the weather was not good, they certainly get a lot of rain in these parts! Also, tomorrow’s weather looks bad with rain all day but Wednesday is on for a ski at one of our favourites – Margeriaz! So, we passed the time reading, Mag colouring, knitting and doing puzzles and I actually played 20 games of patience, at one point winning 7 games in a row! |
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