To Annecy: Our last stop in France

October 16, 2022

We had a great ride from Aix les Bains to Annecy. As we left Aix les Bains, the first four kilometres were in well-marked bike lanes. We turned East onto the Route de Bauges and began to follow the Sierroz river upstream through a forested area. According to Pat, the trip planner can not get it right as we are again going upstream. The climb was enjoyable on the shared divided highway. The morning traffic was consistent but not what we would call busy. There were many stretches that had no cars and the drivers here were very courteous.

About 15km into the ride and near the top of the 300 metre climb we stopped in the small town of Cusy. Perfect for a coffee at the local patisserie which had a full shop of breads and beautiful looking pastries. We sat at a table outside enjoying our so-so coffees and watched a steady stream of people heading into the patisserie. Everything looked so good that we also picked up a sandwich for the road.

A nice, forested road with some interesting rock faces.

A bit reminiscant of our ride in the Tarn.

The sign says it all.................The Sierroz river running downstream to Lac du Bourget

Snowies and chains needed after November. On a day like this it does not seem like November is only 6 weeks away.

Great looking breads at our coffee stop.

After enjoying our break, we passed a road on our left with a small ¨ROUTE BARRÉÉ¨ sign with a few plastic barricades. Just a short distance along, the GPS made it clear that the route barrée was actually ¨our¨ road. Doubling back we noted that the plastic barriers only covered one of the two lanes of the road. We carried on down the hill hoping not to have to head back up and seek out an alternate route. A fenced off barricade that blocked the whole road soon came into view. It was clearly marked with symbols indicating that no cars, bikes, horses or hikers should pass! The thought of a detour at this point was a pain so we moved the fence slightly more open than it was and we squeezed through, continuing to ride down the hill. How bad could it be as we could see that we were not the first through. A short distance later we came upon the issue - a small landslide had deposited rocks all over the roadway. We were so thankful that it was Sunday and there were no workers on the site. We threaded our bikes through the rubble and out the other side to the bookend route barrée. Our reward for our perseverance was a quiet road and access to the Pont de L'abime!

Pont de L'abime is a sight. A suspension bridge built in 1888 over le Chéran gorge. The road and views from here were great. We passed through several small villages including Gruffy, a key reason for the bridge being necessary as it was a vital link with Cusy. We then really enjoyed a quick downhill that was a perfect grade with smooth surfaces for a no brake decent. It was so much fun that Scott, hitting an almost 55kph max speed, missed the turn off but this faux pas (luckily) could be quickly remedied from the road below.

Nice picture of the road but it is the wrong road. This is where Scott called to Pat ¨not this way!¨

At this point it is not pretty but we knew that we could make it. So glad that there were no crews out today.

Geologically a perfect location on the stone columns to anchor the bridge. From the web, ¨On the night of August 15 to 16, 1944, to avoid the destruction of the bridge by German soldiers, the inhabitants of the area dismantled all the oak planks and hid them in barns and mazots. They will be replaced after the liberation of Haute-Savoie¨

Upon reaching Annecy we were in for a bit of a shock. It is much bigger than we expected and absolutely full of people. We were quite used to towns being rather empty of visitors at this time of year. Annecy was very busy. Pushing our bikes through the throngs, we could see that Annecy is an appealing medieval town with plenty of sights. On this sunny Sunday there were a lot of people that also agreed.

It was a struggle but eventually we found a bar that would serve us a cold beverage. Many were full, closing up or wanted to only serve meals. As we enjoyed our beer, we watched a couple of cycle tourers park their bikes beside ours and sit at the table next to us. We had a great conversation about our love for touring in France and their daughter who is spending the winter working in Banff. They were just on a weekend trip and were heading further down the lake to set up camp for the night. It would be so wonderful to be able to have an experience like this, close to home.

We found our hotel and carried our bags up the stairs to our room on the third floor. A hotel without an elevator certainly tests your stamina when you have to carry your gear up several flights of stairs at the end of the day!

A closer look at La Tournette at sunset.

Still many people out in the early evening and the restaurants were busy.

Not a great picture but I love the family of four heading home on the bikes. The two kids just climbed up on board, the youngest barely visible, and away they went on their e assist cargo bike.

After settling into our very bright corner room we headed down to the lake to see more of Annecy and the surrounding hills. What a spectacular setting. For dinner we had vegetarian dishes at an outside table near the main gate that we arrived through where we first entered the historic area of Annecy. Dessert was ice cream from the same stand that had a huge line up earlier in the day. We walked almost right up to the counter now and we shared a cup as we wandered the streets back to our hotel. A great ending to a very good day.

Tomorrow is our last day of cycling as we make our way back to Geneva.

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Today's ride: 36 km (22 miles)
Total: 1,171 km (727 miles)

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David MathersAnother great collection of photos and a super tour...Thanks for sharing! Can't wait till next year.
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