Day 6 - Le Taillefer - June 2

Our group is huge - 28 people. It is usually a maximum of 20.  We were really worried it was going to be a nightmare walking with so many but only 12 of us went on the easier walk and 4 of those dropped off after lunch. So it worked out really well.  30*C today sunny day. 

The walkers come from Canada, the US, Ireland and the UK and they are pretty fit. They are an amazing group of people.  One british woman lectures on Russian Politics around the world. She speaks fluent Russian and some French.  Another teaches French in the UK and in France and is learning German.  One American was a banker in the midst of the GFC but didn’t know what that meant - insular.  He is Sicilian and on his way to see family after this. Amazing jobs. No one mentions Trump! 

We were driven to St Jorioz and from there walked around Lake Annecy to Duingt where we had lunch. 

Chateau Duingt to the left and Le Taillefer ridge on the right that we climbed.

 Morning Tea on the lake. The Tournette mountain (2351m) The tallest one. 

Typical house.

Then we walked up to the Belvedere for a great view over the lake. 

Then up to Le Taillefer (Le Marolais) alt 638m then Le Taillefer (Les Terres Noires) alt 650m.  So a 240m climb.  

There were masses of paragliders all over the sky.  Amazing that they didn't get entangled. 

Cooled our feet in the lake at the end of the walk. Not an ice cream shop to be found!  We were supposed to catch the boat back to Annecy but the public holiday for Ascension day meant the boats were too full to take us so we got picked up by the bus instead.  

Dinner at The Saint Brassierie every night this week.  Wine included.  Cater to GF. Tartiflette made with  local reblochon cheese made from raw milk with bacon or mushroom - potato bake! Quite a few vegetarians in our group. 

Day 5 - Annecy - June 1

Exploring Annecy (pronounced Ann-c) - the Venice of the Alps.  Our 34th wedding anniversary today. Beautiful sunny day 8*-29*C I don’t really think the French 29*C is the same as ours because it is still pretty cold. 

Our hotel catered for GF so after scrambled eggs I had GF muffins and rice cakes. 

Walked around the lake on the "itineraire obligatoire" via Les jardins de l’Europe and Le Palais de I’lle the picturesque medieval castle & prison in the middle of the Thiou Canal. 

 The water is the most superb colour and no pollution anywhere.  It is swiftly flowing.

This was the metropol Hotel at one time but is now the council building. "Liberté, égalité and fraternité" - the French motto - is written on the windows. Beautiful.

Then did some washing. had some ice cream. 

Meeting our walking group this afternoon.

We are a little daunted by the crazy, phenomenally high cliffs and mountains surrounding Annecy and all the speciality rock climbing and clothing stores. There is a Vans store so we know we are in a trendy village.

Day 4 - Geneva - May 31

Superb weather yet again 8 - 24* C not a cloud in the sky.
Breakfast at Chez Sofie. There is nothing gluten free in Geneva that I’ve found so I’m surviving healthily on salads which are pretty good. Ronnie is loving the Jamon and cheese panini - available everywhere toasted for 5 CHF.
Used the fabulous transport system - tram, bus and train - free through the hoe to see broken chair at the United Nations with a lovely active fountain out the front.
We saw the Jet d’eau in action - huge fountain of water in the lake going up 140m close to the old town that can be seen for many vantage points and had lunch at the Jardin Botanique.

Caught the flixbus to Annecy bus station.  My planning actually worked out as we couldn’t get the internet to work but found the number 6 bus which took us (thanks to the bus drivers great English) to the Splendid hotel.

The hotel is really wonderful but the photos stretch the truth a little because there is a fairly busy (at least during the day) road between the hotel and the canal. It is in a lovely part of town, though, with a huge selection of restaurants nearby.

Dinner at L’Abbeye with live music. Goats cheese pizza for Ronnie’s goats cheese pizza was great (only vegetarian pizzas on the menu) and risotto for me.

Unbelievable number of people smoke here and you can smoke in restaurants.

Our final hotel in Castellammare del Golfo emailed us today to say it “was not possible” to get our Seaview room with a balcony. After discussions we cancelled our booking and were lucky enough to get a hotel with a pool in Scopello close to the Zingaro nature reserve.

Day 3 - Chamonix - May 30

Checked the weather yesterday and booked a GVA transfer/tours to Chamonix. There were only 6 of us in the van.  We chose just the transfer option and we had an audio commentary and music along the way. We were picked up at our hotel at 8am and got to Chamonix at 9:15.
We bought our own multi lift pass and went the Aiguille du Midi cable car first.
3842 metres high and -7*C it was incredible to be so far above the close by mountains.  Perfect clear blue sky.  There is one higher cable car that can take you into Italy but it wasn't open for the season yet.

Lunch at Les 2 Gares which was really nice.  Great ice cream too.
The we rode the Montenvers cog Railway to the Mer de Glace (sea of ice) glacier that has seen better days.  We took another cable car down to the start of 420 steps down to the ice cave.  It was a bit of a let down to walk through about 100m of ice cave but at least we got a photo of Ronnie on his throne. Walking back up was good training for the rest of the week!

Then we went into Chamonix and had a drink at one of the many bars to watch the paragliders and a few stray clouds come over Aiguille Midi.
Dimitri met us and dropped us back at our hotel in Geneva.

We had dinner at the hotel where Ronnie had a salad, traditional fondue and apple strudel.  I had Lake Leman fish and a local Rose. They had a live band playing traditional swiss music including yodelling, cow bells and and alpen horn.  Really great atmosphere a wonderful experience.

Day 2 - Geneva - May 29

We arrived at Geneva Airport at 7am. Despite having a swiss pass we had to find information to work out which train to catch to Geneva. It turns out that they all go to Geneva even if they say Brig or Zurich or Lucerne.
Edelweiss hotel is a 10 min walk from the station and a 2 minute walk to the lake.

We checked in then caught a train to Montreux.  The weather forecast said 7-16*C.  So we set off without umbrellas or jackets or raincoats.  It didn't get above 9* and it rained a bit while we were there.  We will be prepared next time.  It was too cloudy to go up Rocher-de-Naye (we checked the webcam) so we walked around the lake to Chillon Chateau.  Just so you know if you turn right out of the Montreux station and walk along the lake is fine for the first 2 km but then it rejoins the road to continue towards Vevey (nothing like the advertised “beautiful lake walk”). However, if you turn left you will be heading towards Villeneuve and Chillon Chateau! Slight mixup between village names but what is an extra 4km walk amongst friends?  We saw Chillon Chateau eventually and caught the boat (not a ferry) from Montreux to Lausanne then the metro up the very steep hill to the train station and back to Geneva.

Rocher-de-Naye is covered in cloud. Montreux is at the base. 

 Chillon Chateau on the lake

View of the lake towards Vevey. 

The gorgeous steam engine paddle boat. 

We had a five minute nap at 6pm and slept through until 10pm so missed dinner.

Day 1 - Sydney to Geneva - may 28

It would be possible, maybe, to travel with 10kg of checked luggage if we weren’t travelling to Switzerland before nice sunny, Sicily. Because, I have 4250g of cold and/or walking stuff.  My checked bag is 15 kg and my carry on is 3kg.  Ronnie's checked bag is 17 and his carry on is 10kg.  We will be posting some things home after we leave Switzerland.

I updated my credit card with booking.com ages ago but apparently you have to go into each booking and also update your card there. One hotel cancelled our apartment in Zermatt and I had to frantically navigate their German website as the apartment (the only one left on their site) reappeared there but not on booking.com and I rebooked it - accommodation is difficult to get last minute in Zermatt at reasonable prices.  The other apartment effected was in Varenna but thankfully they emailed to say the credit card didn’t work and we updated it. Thank goodness for the internet. 

Flying Qatar Airlines the first leg of the flight from Sydney to Doha was absolutely full.  Flight attendants had trouble meeting passenger needs.  The second flight from Doha to Geneva had a total of 50 passengers.  I got to lie down full length on three seats and had a good 4 hours sleep.

Our first sight of Mont Blanc from the plane!

Next trip: Switzerland

Getting fit for the French Alps, Switzerland and Sicily in May.
Despite walking these great tracks on our doorstep, I am not sure I have left enough time to be as fit as I’d like to be!