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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2886 |
20th February 2020 Hiking - Walking: Briare Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: cloudy start but sunny later. Max Speed: Distance Covered: Wednesday 19th February – travel to France – cloudy. The start of our five-week adventure to the French mountains begins today but with our shuttle not going until 3.50 pm we were in no hurry to leave Felixstowe. I even had time to do my exercises before loading the van, Mag had been her very organised in advance self as usual and we left home with no problems at 11.45. We actually made really good time despite the atrocious condition of the A 12 and were put on a train an hour early:) This meant we were way too early for our overnight stop on Mont Hubert just outside Calais and made it as far as the Camper Aire at the Pont de L’Arche having covered 280 miles. We then stretched our legs with an evening stroll around the medieval town talking to the many cats before returning to the van for tea and an early night. Thursday 20th February – travel + walk at Briare *** cloudy start but sunny later. Good night with the ten other campervans at Pont de L’Arche and if anything, we were way too hot under two quits! We were heading to Briare for our lunch stop and made it there by about 2.30. After a sandwich we had a walk across the famous 1800th century aqueduct taking the canal across the fast-flowing river Loire, once again the water had been drained for repairs. With a few hours of daylight left we decided to press on following the river for several miles through the wine growing Sancerre region, always pretty. We made it to our spot at Digoin by the River Loire but it was a bit of a struggle as the French have reduced the speed limit on single lane roads to 80 km (50 miles) and its very hard to keep to that especially with dozy lorry drivers up your backside hooting but there are loads of speed cameras and we were fined last year for being only 4km over the limit, we need to get cruise control fitted as it would take away a lot of the strain. We had a quick walk to the river before tea, cards,read,knit etc and another fairly early night as we had covered another 301 miles. Friday 21st February – travel + walks at Digoin and Nantua – sunny. After last night’s nice sunset, we were treated to a sunrise over the Loire as we relaxed reading in bed after another warm comfortable night. As it was a lovely morning Mag did her stand up exercises down by the river and had a go on the fitness equipment near the park – exercise bike and leg stretcher!! I did my Coach Kozac back exercises near the van as my back has been really playing up during the long hours of driving – Mag has been making me a hot water bottle to ease it as much as possible! With breakfast out of the way we decided to go for a nice walk along the tree lined river path to yet another aqueduct over the loire, carrying a canal, and very lovely it was too - you cant beat reflections in a canal for a nice picture:) We are keeping our usual bird list and I spotted a Stork flying over, sadly Mag missed it! With the Lac at Nantua our destination for lunch only about 120 miles away we had a relaxing drive in beautiful rolling green countryside with pairs of Buzzards everywhere! Then at Bourg en Bresse Mag got to see a stork - sitting on top of a lamp post!!! We found a small supermarket and got our first French bread and brie. Then we did the gorge and small mountain section leading to our Lac side stop at Nantua where we enjoyed bread and cheese in the sun watching the local’s promenade along the Lac! Even a gang of hoodies wished us Bon Appetit!! We then had a nice walk by the Lac watching the coots diving, a canoe paddling, kids cycling and were lucky enough to see a Chamois sunbathing on the scree across the road! There were 8 paragliders up above the hills too. It was then just an hour to our first mountain stop at Menthieres in the Jura, just outside Geneva, a place we have skied and snowshoed several times before. The windy tree lined trip up the mountain is always good but we were shocked when we reached the ski lift as there was very little snow! It doesn’t really matter as this is a tiny resort with only 3 or 4 lifts. It only opens for skiing on a Wednesday and Sunday anyway and out of the 8 nights we have spent here we have only skied on two day. Sadly, even showshoeing is out of the question with this little snow. Still never mind we have plenty of options for that and plenty of time. And as there is no one here we got our usual parking spot with stunning views down the valley! It was nice to relax in the warm sunshine over a cuppa enjoying the view. We were then treated to the most amazing sunset with the sky a vivid red and orange as the sun sank behind the mountains:) There were then 20 or so walkers setting out up the hill in the dark! Goodness knows where they were off to – maybe a nature walk of some kind. They appeared to have a guide with them. We will enjoy a walk in the mountains here tomorrow and probably try to ski the bigger resort of Lelex after the busy weekend. |
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