Another gorgeous day in the Haute Savoie - mountains, waterfalls, flowers, sunshine - mouth-watering scenery all around!
 |
| Mel and Maree in front of our hotel, the Croix-Blanche in Chamonix |
 |
| Goodbye Chamonix and Mt Blanc - breakfast with a view! |
We left town on the autoroute with a slight deviation at Houches thanks to TomTom being a bit slow off the mark this morning. Again a lovely warm sunny day with a few fluffy clouds. Turning off the peage at Cluses we took the road north towards the ski resorts of Les Gets and Morzine. Our first visit today was the Cirque du Fer- a-Cheval (means horse-shoe) which is a the head of a valley about 10 km past the well known ski resort, Samoens.
We drove alongside a pretty icy blue river (the Giffre) and eventually reached the entrance to a national park where we handed over 3.30 euros for car parking. Ahead we could see some snowy peaks - quite enticing as we got nearer. From the car park it was a short walk through the forest and then the whole splendour of the Cirque appeared before us. We were at the head of a valley, surrounded by a semi circle of mountains with sheer rock faces. With still a good amount of snow on the summits but the summer thaw in full swing, we were confronted by the sight and sound of a dozen or more high waterfalls - obviously the source of the icy river. A huge grassy meadow dotted with beautiful trees (sorry don't know what they are) extended for several acres at the foot of the mountains. From here a number of hiking trails lead up through the forest to the edge of some of the falls but we didn't have time today to venture far. There are so many wonderful hiking trails in this region - it would be fabulous to spend more time here and take some of these walks.
 |
| Part of the amazing Cirque du Fer-a-Cheval |
With only one road out of the valley, we drove back and stopped in the village of Sixt-Fer-a-Cheval (a member of the tightly controlled Plus Beaux Villages de France Association) for a couple of photos - very photogenic of course!
 |
| Looking up the valley from Sixt-Fer-a-Cheval to the Cirque |
Our plan was to drive back to Taninges and then follow the main road across to Thonon-les-Bains on Lac Leman. TomTom with his funny little ways sent us on a route from Samoens which was definitely a white (minor) road on the map. I as a bit slow to realise this but we decided to press on and were rewarded with a spectacular drive over a mountain pass with the summit being Col de Joux Plane at 1712 metres. We drove through forests, meadows covered with beautiful wildflowers and had great views in the distance to high snowy mountains. In other words, really stunning!
 |
| Wildflower meadows and mountains, Col de Joux Plane |
At the summit we were enchanted by a field of huge brown and white cows with great clanging bells around their necks. It was quite busy up here, with hikers, cyclists (pedal and power) and motorists, all stopped to admire the wide ranging views of the mountains or for refreshments in the café. I had a chat with an English cyclist who had pedalled up the mountain for lunch and was about to ride down again! A little further along the road people were picnicking and fishing by a small very green lake.
 |
| Cow heaven - not bad for cyclists either - summit, Col de Joux |
Heading down the other side, we passed many chairlifts and cable cars, some operating for hikers, but most waiting idly for the next ski season. It was not too far down to Morzine which appears to be largely a purpose built ski resort. Here we had a toasty baguette and a brief thunderstorm. These storms appear very quickly in the mountains and then disappear equally rapidly.
 |
| Lunch stop - Morzine |
It was blue skies again as we continued our descent through the very scenic Gorges du Pont du Diable and finally to the shores of Lac Leman. There are a number of towns along the shore and the area is quite heavily populated. Our destination was the second Plus Beaux Village of the day, Yvoire, a medieval town on the lakefront.
 |
| Lakeside, Yvoire |
Very pretty, with flowers everywhere and obviously very popular, Yvoire is one of those places that look as though they are purpose built for a film set - I kind of expected Kevin Costner to leap off one of the balconies in his Robin Hood outfit. Nevertheless it is enchanting and we stopped off at one of the many flower bedecked eating places for coffee. By this time is was 5 pm so we joined the rush hour traffic for the one hour journey to Annecy. Apparently a lot of people work in nearby Switzerland - high incomes - but live in France - lower cost of living. Best of both worlds really.
 |
| Flower show, Yvoire. We had coffee on the terrace here. |
Annecy was a bit of a mission with all the traffic but we found our apartment easily and Jean-Pierre and Patricia were waiting to check us in and show us around. They were most hospitable and even helped us to haul our luggage up two flights of stairs. Jess and Baptitse turned up from Montbeliard in their rental car - having had 3 great days at the music festival. They had stopped off in Geneva on the way while we were following mountain roads through Haute Savoie.
Annecy is a lovely as ever and we strolled into town after we had settled ourselves into our spacious and modern three bedroom apartment - only one block form the lake with glimpses of the water from the balcony. Our route into the old town takes us along the lake shore and of course the long evenings make this a really pleasant walk of about 15 minutes.
In town, there were heaps of people out and about and a band playing beside the old prison building that divides the river in two. A lovely balmy evening and we enjoyed a nightcap before heading back to the apartment and crashing.
 |
| Evening by the lake, Annecy |
No comments:
Post a Comment