Blogs from Rhône-Alpes, France, Europe

Bonjour à tous, Heureux de vous retrouver pour ce nouveau trip à Oman dans le golf persique. Beaucoup d'entre vous seront surpris par ce choix de destination, qui ne correspond franchement pas à mes idées de base. Quand en 1985, j'avais fait la traversée d'une partie de l'Afrique d'Alger à Abidjan en traversant l'Algérie, le Niger, le Burkina Fasso et la Côte d'Ivoire, (ce qui ne serait plus possible aujourd'hui), il y avait dans le groupe de 8 un gars qui avait visité le Yémen. A cet époque il avait mis l'eau à la bouche de tout le groupe en nous parlant ce pays. Aujourd'hui le Yémen est un pays totalement fermé, pour cause de guerre. Depuis plus de 30 ans, j'ai toujours gardé quelque part en tête de me rendre dans ce pays. Oman, étant ... read more

For the grand finale of my Alpine summer, there could only be one choice: the Tour du Mont Blanc. Stretching for around 170km (depending on which variants are followed) through three countries while circumnavigating the highest mountain in Western Europe, the route is one of the most famous multi-day walks in the world. Most people start and finish in the small town of Les Houches (7km down-valley from Chamonix) and take around 11 days, following the circuit anti-clockwise so as to finish along the Grand Balcon Sud - a high belvedere path following the northern flank of the Arve (Chamonix) Valley (through the mountains of the Aiguilles Rouge) offering endless views of needle-sharp peaks separated by the icy tongues of numerous glaciers, while heading straight towards the highest peak of them all. A wide array of ... read more

We had a slow morning, but got on the road about 11am expecting 2.5 hour drive, however what we didn't know is that this was the first Saturday of the holidays and every Belgium and the Netherlands car was going down the Toll Road at the same time and we ended up arriving at our AirBNB at 7pm. The highlight was stopping in a road side park and having a fresh baguette filled with salad, salami and Brie. We are back in our happy place. Given the lengthy commute, we grabbed a Rotisserie Chicken from a local store and had dinner in the Cottage and crashed early.... read more

9/6//23 A stroll round Lac de Montriond Headed for the mountains today again as we enjoy them so much. Had spoken to someone on the campsite who recommended Lake Montriond so we chose that for our day out. Took the same road as we came back on last time (there are only 3 main routes through the mountains and the 3rd has no connecting road through to the other 2). The road goes through a massively towering rocky gorge with some very windy bits for the first few miles. Montriond is just before Morzine which we suspect is a bit of a favourite spot with the British as there were several UK plated cars when we got to the lake and later also at the supermarket we stopped at. Stopped for a nice lunch at a ... read more

When we planned this trip I had hoped to stay in Villeneuve just over the border into Switzerland as we stayed there last September and I just loved the super location of the campsite, right by the peaceful water’s edge. When Bob tried to book he was told it was full and when I enquired they said we would need to book in February for a pitch now in June. It is, though, only a small site with limited number of touring pitches. I think, since seeing how very busy it was in Thonon-les-Bains yesterday, we were beginning to realise that the summer season is already in full swing here on Lake Geneva / Leman. Today we compensated for not being able to stay at Villeneuve by driving along the lake, over the border into Switzerland ... read more