Monthly Archives: July 2022

Return to the Alps – Week 1

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Our first trip abroad for three years – family camping, walking, cycling, swimming etc in Samoëns, France. HOT.

Finally on the ferry after 2 hours queueing at Dover – nowhere near as bad as the headlines but still not ideal
Warm enough to run around the deck in short sleeves and admire the lovely Calais evening
Lakes next to the campsite
With summer flowers
Ready for a cycling expedition to the supermarket
Shady spot in the forest for lunch
Experimental cycle up some alpine hairpins. Verdict: sustained steep gradient plus heavy loads plus ridiculous heat equals not possible. The ride down was fun though
Samoens centre ville
Babies enjoying the cafe by the lake
Introducing Jess to sundaes (“But it’s not Sunday!”)
Tree climbing and swinging
Probably the closest we’ll get to alpenglow this holiday
Walk from Col du Joux Plan – high enough for some views
Lovely grassy hills
Claire entertainingly eating raisins at lunch time
Slightly cloudy made a nice change
Flying!
Ellen and Jess leading the way
Heading up the ridge
Distant jaggedness
The mountains around Samoëns
High point of the day
Negotiating cows (with bells)
Relatively successful ice cream sharing
Forest cascade
Paddling party
Streams in woods are excellent for cooling off
Beech forest wandering
View from the high road
Cycling up the valley
Quite a convoy of five bikes, a tandem and three trailers
Destination: Cirque Fer a Cheval
Impressive cliffs and more cascades
In no hurry to do anything else in the heat
We found a shady spot for coffee, which turned into lunch…
A good alpine stream
Buggy buddies (there was a lot of swapping children around)
Little walk for a different view of the cirque
Bit too hot out of the shade to linger though
A cooler rainy day was much appreciated! We walked into town and found a carousel
Inevitably leading to a ride
After a pizza lunch we discovered the unusual but excellent Botanic Garden, a steep and narrow strip of hillside where Jess enjoyed finding all the steps
In some castle ruins at the top
Back down through the rain
Gondola!
We enjoyed watching the parapentes take off
Lunch view
Cirque from a distance
Loop de lac
I’m not looking – I don’t want a photo.