A day of alpine scenery

We had a fantastic journey south from our Metabief parkup through alpine forests, valleys and plains, bypassing Geneva.

These roads seem to be the low alpine roads, the foothills of the true alpine roads, so no severe climbs, decents or hairpin bends but lots of the alpine scenery I love so much.

It was only 90 miles or so but took a while as all the little villages have a speed hump on entry and exit.

Take those humps in a motorhome at anything above a snails pace, and be prepared for all your crockery and cutlery to go airbourne and sound like the worst kind of accident when they crashland.

There was just one hump I didn't spot as the triangle's hadn't been painted back on following resurfacing, so we had just the one crash bang wollop moment.

Thankfully, no breakages so far.

So after a really enjoyable drive we arrived in Lac d' Annecy.

It's a really beautiful lake, but a real tourist honey pot.

I'd identified a free motorhome aire close to town, but some of the reviews mentioned motorhome leeches arriving and parking up for weeks on end, much to the annoyance of genuine motorhome travellers who just want secure parking to visit for a night or two.

Sure enough, when we arrived, there were what seemed to be long termers occupying all the places, just because they could and they're free - grrrr

No problem, we moved onto the local campsite, Camping Belverdere, nearby and managed to get the last remaining pitch for tonight.

After lunch we walked down into the old town and had a wander round the quaint cobbled streets.

As I mentioned earlier it is a proper tourist honeypot.

We decided on a sit down and have a cold drink in one of the pavement bars. 

Nobody paid much attention to us, eventually I caught the waiters eye and got a menu to choose drinks. 

After about 15 minutes, we were no nearer to ordering but our feet were rested and we debated just leaving. 

Having seen the bar prices it didn't take much to prompt our early exit without ordering.

8 euro for a 33cl beer ? 

5.5 euro for a coke ?

We left, 'nuf said !

We then needed a taxi back up the hill to the campsite as Sue wouldn't have made it walking, most towns are over-run with taxi's, not Annecy.

It needed a visit to the tourist information office who directed us to the railway station before we found a cabbie who gave a Gaelic shrug and a grung and we were off up the hill to our campsite.

So it's been a great day and Annecy was one of the places on my list, so I'm pleased to have ticked it off.

I'm looking forward to more spectacular scenery tomorrow as we venture further south towards the Cote d' Zure and Nice.

Some views of Lac d' Annecy and the old town

I love the turquoise waters of the lake which I think is as a result
of melted snow and ice waters from the mountains.
It seems to stay crystal clear 

We're the blue blob