Le Bourget-du-Lac

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As I said in the previous blog I arrived at Bourget-du-lac with Andy on Saturday afternoon (6th May), and he left on Sunday morning to get his flight back to the UK - I later found out that this will likely be his last climbing trip as when he got back home he proposed to Kate and she said yes! Big congratulations to you two.

I've written down below what I did each day, but generally I went to bed with the sun (about 9/10 and read for an hour or so) and then slept through until 8ish, before getting up about 9 in the morning. I'd then grab a shower and cook myself breakfast (generally a tasty 3 egg omelette with ham, cheese and tomato), and by the time I was ready it was about 11 before I got around to doing anything - was pretty relaxing. The only problem was that during the first half of the week it rained quite a lot (as my parents happily told me it was so sunny they were sitting outside sunbathing at 8pm at home...) so I spent a lot of time trying and failing not to get everything I had soaked. Still, character building stuff I'm sure. This is a great little area, and for a week in the summer it'd be great as there are so many walks, water sports and cycle rides you can do, as well as relax by visiting the other bigger towns of Aix-les-bains and Chambery which are both really picturesque and have quite a bit going on in the summer (and both only 10km away and easily cyclable on the cycle lanes). Biggest lesson I probably learned was that you can spend a lot of money when you are living in a tent and its raining - you'll pay anything to just get inside and be dry for a while. The other thing worth noting was that I had to speak French the entire week as it was such a small town they didn't really speak English which was a pretty pleasant alternative to Chamonix.

Sunday - In the morning I went into town to buy stuff - fresh bread, meat and normal food - pretty easy since it had 3 boulangeries, a boucherie, a small shop and a presse (sells newspapers etc). I cooked up my lunch and checked out map to see what I'd do for the day. I also found out that the 3 start campsite I was staying at, had free internet access which was a bit of a result! I went for walk to Bordeau (tiny little place with a chateau a restaurant and a bar) and had great views across the lake. I came back to Bourget-du-Lac with a walk through the forest - I found my first set of silk worms here - dozens of them hanging from trees in front of you tangling from threads of silk - really cool when you first see them (eventually though I wanted to kill them as they get all over you when you are walking through the forest). The walk was nice, but as I was getting to the top a thunderstorm started - by the time I got onto to the road again for the final 45 minutes of walking, people were stopping to offer me lifts down the road at the end, even though I wasn't trying to thumb a lift - I was perfectly happy strolling along. Anyway, I said no - like I would ever wuss out of a walk just because of a bit of rain!

Monday - I went for walk up the nearest mountain (there's a list of walks published outside the tourist info and so I thought I'd do one the harders ones) - got to 1400m (the campsite is about 230m altitude), and although it had been raining since 800m, the thunder and lightening was so strong and close to me and the rain so hard I thought I'd best get down ASAP - started walking down the road I found which crossed the forest trail, and after 20mins a car going my way finally came past - I practically jumped in front of it and got him to offer me a lift back down the hill (call me a wuss if you will) in 30 mins with some scary rally-driver boy racer - I wasn't complaining though - first time I've hitch-hiked but definitely felt like it had to be done. When I got back to town I went into to nearest pub to get a coffee to warm up - turns out its a betting shop which is a pub as well - definitely wouldn't be allowed at home.

Tuesday - The weather was pretty bad and given the beating I'd got the day before I tought I'd take it easy and went into Chambery for day. I walked around the town getting lost and seeing the sites - even managed to have a really good kebab for €4.50 which was a result as I'd run out of gas for my stove so couldn't cook. I managed to pick up some more gas later on in Chambery (nothing was open to see, because it was a Tuesday...) before heading back to cook at the campsite. I also 'lost' my washbag, which was extremely annoying, and the reason I now haven't shaved for 10 days. I did, you'll be pleased to know buy myself some deodorant, showergel, toothbrush and toothpaste so I wasn't stinking everyone out I met.

Wednesday - Today I hired a bicycle from the tourist office and although it was still raining a bit it wasn't that bad today so I cycled to Aix-les-bains for the day. Now the bike wasn't up to much it had two baskets, only 1 gear and was probably the heaviest bikes I've ever used. After walking around the town for a bit (which again is nice, but smaller than Chambery) it was raining again so I went to a nice place for lunch - I had a galette complete (basically a savoury crepe with ham, egg and cheese), followed by chocolate crepe and coffee - tasty, but expensive. It was still raining so I went to the thermal spas and spent half a day in the indoor and outdoor heated pools, saunas a steam rooms feeling warm (although still wet) for a change. Expensive day for me but well worth it I reckon.

Thursday - Today I did a cycle tour of the lake as the weather was really good again - 50-60 km with 700m ascent in all (with one 450m climb at start) - so I was a little worried about how the bike would cope. Anyway I started at 11, and had left the bike back at the shop by 4, having spent 30 mins for lunch, 30 mins in Aix-les bains port and another hour sunbathing on a beach I had found on the way round. Really great day out, and after the initial brutal climb up the hill was far easier than expected. I think the other proper cyclists were amused at seeing me struggling up the hill - them in their full lycra and proper racing bikes, and me in my shorts and t-shirt with by ruck-sack in the basket of my one-speed 30 year old bike! When I got back I went for a run along one of the other cycles paths feeling good with myself - amazing the difference a day can make if the weather becomes nice! I then had a tasty dinner (plenty of really good fresh tomatoes), followed with pear and strawberries covered in melted chocolate - good but wasn't too sure about the pears...

Friday - It was another good day again, so I took another long walk to top of the mountain to make sure I got to the top - I went to a viewing spot called Croix Du Signal (rubbish cross, but good view) and went to highest point where a TV relay point is hosted - unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries which was a shame as I could see Mont Blanc from there, and according to the viewing table at the top it was 83km away - pretty awesome site! The sign said the walk should have taken 8.5 hours, but I did it in 5.5 and felt chuffed with myself as it meant I could go to shops and buy food (although to be fair, all signs overexaggerate the length of time needed for any walk). I went to the butchers and asked for 150g of lamb for a curry, which the butcher went out the back to chop up into pieces for me - unfortunately he thought I had said 850g and looked a bit distraught when he'd found he'd butchered a lamb for no good reason... Still, I had a really good curry (the lamb was truly magnificent!) before finishing with strawberries and banana covered by (you've guessed it) melted chocloate - banana is definitely a winner. Think the perfect one would be strawberry, banana, mango with possibly raspberries, blueberries and some oranges. Oh, (for those of you who will undoubtedly feel like they need to do this for themselves...) the chocloate needs to have a very high cocoa content (very least 70% better) and then you need two pans - one with water in it, the other you put the chocolate in and float in the pan with with the hot water - according to Andy you need to be careful to stir regularly or it goes very wrong but I'm not entirely convinced its true - anyway, only takes about 1m for the chocloate to melt and you are done. Everyone should make it!

Saturday (13th May) - Today I went for a long run first thing in the morning, and then went back to camp, did some washing and had lunch - I went into Chambery again int he afternoon to sort out travel back home, and seen an exhibition of alpine art - very good - then had a couple of Leffes (my new favourite beer) in local pubs and did some sudoko before heading back for burgers at the campsite.

Sunday - It was predicted to be a stormy day - turned out to be very sunny - went for run, sunbathed by camp, went to festival on beach where I sunbathed and soaked up the atmosphere - I even seen a guy trying to parapente by being pulled into the air by a group of 10 rowers which was pretty funny - they went about 50 metres before he sank in the water and had to swim for survival. I then went for a last walk to Bordeau and had a Chocolate Ligeois - v. tasty chocolate and vanilla ice cream with chocolate bits and chocolate sauce - tasty!

Monday - I was heading back home today so I got up, packed my stuff and did the trip back via Chambery (local bus), Lyon (airport bus), Dublin (plane), Belfast (airport bus), Ballymoney (parents car). And the reason I'm home? Well, originally I was going to go climbing with Mark in Chamonix this week, but the conditions just aren't good enough, so we decided to delay it for a month or so and come back raring to go with an opportunity at getting some really exciting(!) routes ticked off. So, I'm now back at home again, living cheaply and trying to figure out what I'm going to do next...

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