July 24, 2023
Lac du Passy to Taconnaz
The forecast thunderstorms arrived at about 4:30. I woke up to the thunder and some very heavy rain followed not long after. It woke Tobias as well so he ended up snuggled between us but I think we all managed to get a bit more sleep before we woke up at about 7:30. It was still raining so we outsourced some entertainment to Bluey while I got breakfast ready in the vestibule. Tobias is generally really good at being gentle with the tent, but cramming any 2 year old in a small, fragile, space for too long is always tricky. Luckily the rain stopped and we could eat outside, though the sky looked constantly threatening and thunder echoed around in the mountains so we did all our packing inside.
The thundery weather had us rethinking our day today. It was due to be a beautiful, but steep, 30km ride to Taconnaz, the closest spot with some camping options. The whole route followed along a train line though so we knew that at any moment we could bail and get a lift up the mountain.
The rain held off until a few huge drops while we were folding up the groundsheet. The lovely Dutch family next door offered us a coffee which we couldn't refuse since they had a shelter, we hadn't yet had a coffee, and we were not feeling hugely motivated to get going. Just as we were getting actually organized to go it started pouring down so we put Tobias in the trailer under the cover of the sanitary building. By now it was nearing 12:00 so we really needed to hit the road. We got drenched leaving but it cleared by the time we reached the first potential train station in Saint Gervais les Bains and Tobias was of course asleep so we pushed on to Chedde. Here was where our climbing was due to start but there was a train coming by in 20 minutes so we opted for that instead.
The train that came was a very old one with a conductor who liked to stick to the rules. There was only room for 2 bikes and already one there. We made the very quick decision that I would go with my bike and Tobias in the trailer then James would wait for the next train in an hour. We didn't want to both wait incase there was only one space on the next train, but in hindsight (i.e. when we have more than 20 seconds to think something through) we should have left the trailer with James. I had an awful lot of things to maneuver. It was a beautiful ride and Tobias adapted to the changed plans really well and sat on a seat by himself while I maneuvered the trailer out of the doorway at the stops. He kept saying "Papa next train". Luckily when we arrived the lady with the other bike helped me with all the stuff and I didn't lose Tobias. With heavier rain forecast in the evening and all our stuff wet we decided to just throw money at our problem and stay in a hotel. Tobias and I had to puzzle to work out how to get everything up there from the station since James' bike has the trailer attachment. In the end I used my lock to chain the trailer up in the train shelter and biked up with Tobias and all the luggage. By the time we had checked in, gotten my bike down to the storage room and luggage to our room we just made it back down there to meet James on the next train and bring the bike up.
We were planning to just lean into our laziness and eat in the hotel restaurant tonight, but unfortunately the kitchen was closed so we had to carry on with the logistics. I hung out with Tobias in the big play room while James biked down the road and picked up picnic supplies for dinner. I'll have to wait for my burger and fries that I've been craving. We had a bit of time to kill after dinner so went down to the pool. While we were swimming a big thunderstorm arrived and water was instantly pouring down the driveways. It made us very grateful to be warm, dry, and indoors tonight.
The weather should be a bit better tomorrow, or so everyone keeps telling us. If not sunny at least a little drier. We have just a short ride of less than 20km, but again mostly uphill.
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Today's ride: 9 km (6 miles)
Total: 2,395 km (1,487 miles)
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