Annecy to Le Lechere

Another glorious days riding, albeit hot this afternoon!

I wanted to get in early for a change so I pre-packed quite a bit last night and got up at 7. I quickly got everything ready, downloaded a couple of maps on the phone that I’d forgotten and then checked out. I then rolled slowly into town and stopped at a Patisserie and bought a demi-baguette, for later, and a pain au raison for now. Delicious.

Then a few more photo’s; couldn’t help myself the town is quite different when no one is about. And finally around 8:10 I set off on the lake bike path. It’s a lovely ride following the side of the lake for the most part with lots of cyclists, walkers, runners and a few horses as well! I got to follow it for over 20 K’s before turning off onto the D12 at Faverges. This turned out to be another pretty road, and quiet, which went for 11 Ks to the top of my first Col, Col de Tamie.

I had to stop for a short break to eat some of the baguette with jam. The jam I bought in Denmark is still going strong, I’ve only had about a quarter. The road has Km markers with the current altitude and distance remaining to the top.

In due course I reached the first Col and then swung on to an even quieter road for the short haul up to the second Col of the day, the Collet de Tamie at 960m. I’m getting close but still haven’t been over 1000m yet. However I did achieve one other success today, I’ve now ticked over more than 10,000 m of climbing.

After the second Col there was a glorious descent without a car in sight to Albertville (home of the Winter Olympics in the 80’s or 90’s…) It has a surprisingly small town centre given the size of the town, but I had no problem finding somewhere for lunch. They only offered a 2 course formulae which I had with a (tiny) bottle of coke and half litre of sparkling water. The entrée was a Carpaccio of Mushroom (normally it is beef) with a bit of tangy salad, and the main was a leg of chicken with pasta (and cheese). It was all very tasty. I lingered a bit but then I thought I better get going.

At 12:45, in the heat of the day and it is hot, I headed east on the D990 up the Valley of Isere. This also turned out to be a pleasant route; I had been a bit concerned because of the N90 right next to it but the road often veered away and to top it all off I had a roaring tail wind for parts of it!

The hotel is a Thermal Spa hotel (sigh remember the 'Bellevue' Paul?) and is surprisingly modern (unlike the Bellevue). I’ve already picked the meal for tonight so I can’t wait J

The internet is a bit patchy so no uploading tonight, so I went down to the bar for a Kir and to get a bottle of water as I’m feeling quite dehydrated. I sat for a while in the bar but it is not that interesting so I took the water back to the room and then started to read (Tour has a rest day). I realised I was dropping off so I set the alarm for 7pm and then had a nap! Very relaxing. I read for a while and then did today’s diary and some washing before reading some more. And then it was time for dinner!

I was thinking of the hotels 5 courser but it is a lot of heavy fatty foods like Foie Gras so I think not (sorry Josh). Instead I went with the Menu du Jour which was cheaper and not so heavy. It started off with an Amuse en Bouche of shrimps (the menu may have said prawns but let’s face it, I’m from Australia…) which was ok. The entrée was Sardines with a potato salad. The salad was a bit odd on its own but went well with the Sardines. The main was pork with potato and was really delicious! There was supposed to be a cheese dish which they missed, but I wasn’t really in the mood so I let it go. And dessert was a nice apple tarte with almonds.

Between courses I was studying the route tomorrow; there may be a couple of places where there are shops on the Col de la Madeleine but none on the Col du Telegraphe. I am a bit nervous about tomorrow considering how tired I was after today. It will be a bit cooler tomorrow, 26C instead of 30C, and a chance of thunderstorms. If it does rain I hope it is after I finish the Madeleine descent.

I was pondering what to do if it is too much and realised that the mountain will be packed, which will be very cheerful and in the end I’ll just hitch hike if I have to! Another thought is to ring the owner and ask for a lift. We’ll see.

One bit of extremely good news, an opening appeared at Bourg d’Oisans and so I have two nights there. Yay!

I thought about going through my stuff and cutting off tags and anything else that could go J But couldn’t be bothered, so I updated this diary and read until bed time.