Autumn holiday, 10 October 2026

St-Etienne-du-Bois, Ain

This morning, first thing after breakfast, I told the Swan Whisperer that I was going to catch a bus into the city centre and have a proper look round. 

I just missed the bus, so walked for several stops until I came to the place where there were only a few minutes left to wait for the next one. It duly came, and I got off at the station. 

I thought at first that Aix-les-Bains was going to prove rather dull, the only interesting things I saw on the way in were a rather peculiar statue

and a "Salon du Chocolat" at the casino. I was tempted to investigate the latter, but decided not to, and walked on. Finally, I hit pay dirt - lovely independent shops, a Monoprix (which I did walk round!), a bakery, where I got bread for lunch and then the local market,

both covered and outdoor. I didn't buy anything, but really enjoyed wandering around, until I discovered that the next bus back to the aire was due in 8 minutes, and I needed to get a wiggle on if I were to catch it. 

I did catch it, but made a mistake and stayed on a stop too far. It looked as though it would be nearer, but the road I thought led straight to it ended up on a building site! So I walked down to the lake, enjoying the pollarded limes bordering the lake path,

and so back to the WoMo. 

The SW had returned from his own walk by then, so we used the services and headed on, driving cross-country to this little village, where we have been able to park up by the local church (I gather this is very much a Thing, but we are the only WoMo here just now). The drive was a mixture - the usual endless roundabouts and industrial/commercial areas, but also lovely countryside and pretty villages. There was even a rainbow on the side of a hill, which neither of us had ever seen before, but of course as soon as I got my phone out to take a picture, it disappeared! 

Autumn Holiday, 9 October 2026

Aix-les-Bains, Savoie

We started off this morning with a disagreement about what to do. The Swan Whisperer wanted to drive up to some lake near Beaufort, and I wanted to visit the heritage museum in Ugines. In the end, we could do neither. First of all, the Satnav showed that the road to the lake was closed - snow? Mud? Roadworks? Who knows! And then when we got to Ugines, we couldn't find anywhere to park near the museum, and weren't altogether too sure we'd even found the museum! So we came away, and drove here to Aix-les-Bains. 

Lunch was a mistake - it was too fatty with butter and cheese, and I felt very sick after it. After a nap it was better, so we drove back on ourselves a bit to the nearest E Leclerc, where I did some shopping, and then came back to the aire. After a cup of tea, the SW announced his intention of going for a walk. I had understood that we had been going to go for a walk together, but this was evidently not his plan, so I went for my own walk a bit later. Which was lovely - along the waterfront,

and then up along the Tillet (a little stream that runs into the Lac du Bourget), and across a small, wooded park. I'd have thought I'd gone the wrong way had I not seen a couple walking their dog in front of me! 

I went slightly the wrong way myself, as my phone told me the SW was in a park a little way away, and I thought that was where the motorhome aire was. He seemed not to be moving, so when I realised my mistake, I rang his phone to make sure he hadn't dropped it somewhere, but all was well. I got back to the WoMo shortly before he did, and will spend the evening watching YouTube videos in bed! 

I think we leave the Alps tomorrow and start heading slowly home. We haven't slept at higher than about 700 metres, but, apart from when my digestion has gone back on me, I've felt as well as I usually feel here! 

Autumn Holiday, 8 October 2026

Albertville, Savoie

What a wet day! We knew it was going to happen, but it really was wet. I stayed in all morning, and made soup for lunch - it has been a cold day. The Swan Whisperer went for a walk and came back soaked to the skin and had to change! 

After lunch, we drove up to the village of Conflans, just above the town, which has a lovely mediaeval centre, just the kind of place I love.

I remembered my water, walking shoes (and yes, I did wear socks! First time since spring!) and trekking poles and managed very well, if rather slowly. Unfortunately my watch doesn't seem to like trekking poles any more than it likes supermarket shopping trolleys, and Strava stopped recording half-way round our walk, so I have no accurate record! 

Anyway, the rain by then had dwindled to a drizzle, so although we were by no means dry, we weren't soaked when we got in. We came back to the campsite and haven't moved since. Of course, now that it is dark and cold, the rain is (at least temporarily) away! We move on tomorrow, so I hope it does stay fine. Forecast is iffy! 

Autumn Holiday, 7 October 2026

Albertville, Savoie

Today started badly and ended well, which is the best way round!

Chamonix-Mont Blanc, as they call it these days, was a bust. To start with, the weather has gone back on us and it is much colder (but I'm still not wearing socks!) and very wet. So the mountains were wreathed in mist and we barely saw the eponymous mountain. We remembered, though, that we had seen it when we went to Italy and accidentally routed ourselves that way. We did catch a glimpse of snow, but I expect it will have all gone by this time next year. Oh the other hand, they do forecast snow for up there tomorrow! I wonder. 

Anyway, when we got there, we went to the car park, but it was still raining and there seemed to be no way of crossing the motorway. So we argued with the Satnav until it consented to drive us round the town, which looked very splendid - loads of posh hotels you can just imagine wealthy Brits staying in a hundred years ago! 

After that, things got even more pear-shaped, as the Satnav decided to pay us out for being so mean to it, and first of all kept making us drive over the most appalling hairpin bends - I was very, very nearly sick - and then it couldn't find the campsite! We had stopped en route for lunch in a random Auchan car park, and the road got better after that when we ignored its instructions and followed the road signs to Albertville. But it decided the camp was up a parallel road to where it actually is, which doesn't have a cut-through! Oh well, we found it in the end. 

We thought we would like to visit the Tremplin 92 exhibition which is situated in the old Olympic hall (now an ice rink, climbing wall, concert venue and various seminar rooms), and, very luckily, I looked on its website to find that it was going to be closed tomorrow and Friday! However, it was 4:00 pm by then, and the place didn't close until 6:00, so we quickly drank our cups of tea and headed into the town. 

The exhibition - it is too small, really, to be called a museum - was great fun.

There was a lot about the Alps and the mountain environment, and even more about the 1992 winter Olympics, and the forthcoming 2030 ones. There were also VR headsets of a bobsleigh run, a microlight ride and another one, but my carsickness was too recent to risk it. The SW had a go on the bobsleigh and said it was great fun. I reckoned that if I actually got into the bobsleigh, I'd not be able to get out again!

When we had exhausted the delights of the exhibition, we went out of doors and walked over to where we could see the Olympic Cauldron

- it had temporarily stopped raining - and I took a photo of the outside of the stadium, too. Then we went back to the campsite and flaked out until supper!

 Tomorrow we think we'll go to a mediaeval village - Conflens, I think they call it - just above the town. Mind you, the forecast is appalling. It's a good job we did go to the Fer a Cheval yesterday, as they close it when there is a yellow warning for torrential rain, as there is just now. I just hope the weather will clear a bit after tomorrow. 

Autumn Holiday, 6 October 2026

Tagnines, Haute-Savoie

The Swan Whisperer went to get bread this morning, and we didn't hurry away; in fact, he had his coffee before we set off. We drove up to the Fer a Cheval, about 20 km from here. Motorhome have to park in the furthest away car-park, and it is a 10-minute walk, all uphill, to get to the centre, where there is a restaurant, a souvenir shop and a tourist office (closed for the mid-season). There are also a great many hikes, and the SW decreed that we would go on one of them.

I was already regretting not having brought my trekking poles, and my water, and not having worn my stout walking-shoes, even though that would have meant also wearing socks and my feet would have been too hot. By the time we were half-way up the walk (just like Clapham Woods, it appeared to be uphill all the way, and the lovely mountain views

disappeared into woodland)

I was gasping for breath in a way I haven't for some years now. Bear in mind that we were at over 9000 metres, and went quite a lot higher (Strava says 104 metres). The SW was very patient, but you could feel he was longing to rush on at his own pace. Finally, finally, finally the torture was over, but I was fit for nothing.

There was a drinking-fountain just before we got to the restaurant, and I made good use of it! We had lunch - both of us had a "salad paysanne", which was lettuce with tomatoes, croutons, cubes of cheese, lardons and a hard-boiled egg. Very nice. I drank non-alcoholic 1664, which wasn't quite as nice as the full-fat version, but still very drinkable. Then I had a café gourmand to finish with. 

Then a final 10-minute walk back down the hill to the WoMo, and I flaked out inside while we drove back, going out of our way to go to the Super U, where I scored some lovely fresh pear juice which we drank with our supper. On the way back to the campsite, we stopped again at a Mr Bricolage and the SW got a hook-and-loop fastener to try to keep the bedroom door in place - it slides, and its catch no longer works. 

When we got in, I changed into pyjamas so that we could do a much-needed load of washing, and basically flopped on the bed reading until supper time. The kind SW cooked; it was fish with the end of the lemon butter sauce, mashed potatoes/cauliflower and carrots, followed by the kind of chocolate dessert that Americans call "pudding". 

I do hope that I won't be fit for nothing tomorrow - I only did nearly 8k steps, and I've done a lot more than that in my time, but it was uphill, at altitude, and I am exhausted! 

Autumn Holiday, 5 October 2026

Taninges, Haute-Savoie

We hadn't expected to be still here tonight - and we will, in fact, be staying another night. I had booked us into a Camping-Car Park at Sixt-Fer-a-Cheval (hoping, as I explained yesterday, to visit Chamonix tomorrow, but that will probably now happen on Wednesday), only to find when I got there that I had absolutely no telephone signal, none, nada, zilch. There was WiFi at the place, but I couldn't get logged in, as I think their systems were down. We couldn't get in there, either, and couldn't phone them up without a signal! So we came away and came back here, and he was very kind and booked us in for tonight and tomorrow night, no problem. We'll probably go up to the Fer a Cheval tomorrow anyway - it really isn't that far, and the Swan Whisperer would like to see it. 

Meanwhile, the first port of call this morning was to a Super U where I did a small shopping - quite forgetting the bread I'd wanted to get for lunch! Oh well, we did have some, but not a lovely fresh baguette! The Swan Whisperer suggested we visit Morzine, which wasn't too far away, so we drove there and parked up. It was a very pretty little ski resort. Hardly anywhere was open, it being both a Monday and October, you would expect that, but we enjoyed a short-Ish walk round the town.

Then we headed back to Sixt-Fer-a-Cheval, with the aforementioned result. The receptionist here said that there are no networks up there and it is a well-known problem. 

Anyway, once we got back here, the SW went off on a long walk by himself, and I stayed in as I was expecting a phone call, which duly came through. Then it was time to start getting supper, which was fresh pasta with a home-made tomato sauce (I should have blended it, but failed to), cabbage and leek. Followed by fromage blanc and strawberry compote! Delicious. 

Autumn Holiday, 4 October 2026

Taninges, Haut-Savoie

We weren't going to be here tonight - I had planned for us to stay at a lovely France Passion farm, although I can't now remember what it sold. However, the Swan Whisperer said it would be impossible to go there because it was at the end of a long single-track road - although in that case, how come it is a long-standing France Passion host, with excellent reviews? So he said we would go to this campsite.At least he paid! It's another OnlyCamp, so I asked the very nice receptionist in the camp where we stayed last night if she would be kind enough to ring them up and ask if there were any spaces for us. She quite understood my not liking to telephone in French (I can if I have to, but....) and was told that they had plenty of spaces, and we should arrive between 3 and 6 pm. 

It wasn't a long way from our overnight camp by the lake, but first we had to go to a local Carrefour Market to try to get gas, as our French cube had run out and the SW was quite convinced there were only dregs in the other one (in fact, as he apologised later, it is at least 1/3 full, we needn't have worried). So he then found another place in Annecy where he hoped we could get it, and, luckily, he was successful this time. 

Anyway, he then said that we wouldn't be able to go into Chamonix from where we are staying tomorrow and the next night, because there isn't a direct route. I do wish he had said that before I booked and paid for the Camping-Car Park, as I would have made other arrangements. As it is, he wants to go to some ghastly Cirque or other, although he says we will be at the bottom of it, but I bet there are nothing but hairpin bends all over. It might be impressive. But I'm annoyed as my vague meal plans for the week had us eating lunch in Chamonix (which I said several times before he said we couldn't go there!) so I wouldn't have to cook in the evening. 

Anyway, we got to this campsite shortly after 3, having stopped for the SW to have coffee and then again for a long lunch break (we didn't want to arrive before 3), and it is pleasant enough. As seems usual with OnlyCamps, the receptionist - a man this time - is very nice. And the scenery is lovely! 

I haven't really been out today, other than for an explore when we arrived, as I felt very dizzy and unwell this morning - sinussy, I think - and although that has passed, I got a raging headache. 4Head has seen that off, more or less, but even still. I should have liked to have gone to the farm.