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Stage 2 - Passy / Chamonix
Deciding to take the slightly longer non toll route from Annecy, I headed towards Albertville, where at Ugine the normal tunnel route was closed, so a vertiginous mountain top diversion it was…and eventually I passed a series of gorgeous Alpine ski resorts including Flumet, with the growingly impressive Mt Blanc range dominating the target skyline.
It’s been over 10 years since I was last in Chamonix. Two visits in the same year, firstly, to complete the circuit of Mt Blanc on mountain bikes; and shortly after returned with the family.
I’d forgot how stunning the location is…it’s clearly relative in an Alpine context, but Chamonix is at a different level to Annecy…the backdrop of Mt Blanc, and also equally as engaging the glacier which “flows” down towards the Chamonix valley. The town centre too, is very purdy.
After having the worst Cappuccino ever, I discovered an afternoon hike, the Petit Balcón paths…the walk made up for the coffee, never getting bored with that spectacular backdrop.
Heavy rain was forecast, so I bottled the camping…but had to drive 30 mins down the valley to get a reasonably priced AirBnB in a high mountain side location called Plateau de Passy (£47 per night for
ref), and a very nice studio it was too, with the room view facing directly across to Mt Blanc. And a lovely quiet (out of season) village it was too…one general store,one restaurant and the obligatory boulangerie !
It’s nice mixing the camping with Airbnb…not one is any better (weather permitting!), just different…but putting my feet up, with a few blondes (beers unfortunately) and watching the Champions League after consecutive canvas nights was a nice change!
It had rained heavily in the night, but wasn’t first thing in the morning, in fact the forecast was quite optimistic until late afto. I pinched and slightly edited a Komoot bike gravel route, to also include a visit to the recommended Lac Vert…and set off, with a target of Chamonix. Mt Blanc, unlike yesterday, was fully visible, as were all the surrounding mountain tops…a truly scintillating landscape.
First stop was a forested track climb to the lovely and atmospheric Lac Vert, before struggling with the Komoot navigation descending sharply through the forest…some of the tracks more than crossed that line to mountain biking….soon, though (and mainly on asphalt ) I completed some mega climbs, followed by a series of very quiet (it won’t be long) ski villages before reaching the outskirts of Chamonix.
Returning on a gravel track on the opposite side of the valley, it soon (officially ) terminated, forcing me to return over the lofty ascents I’d visited previously…but but but…looking at the map, there seemed to be an old road, then a very undistinguished track that could possibly keep me in the valley, and avoid all those climbs?!
It went ok until I hit an industrial operation, possibly quarrying, where there were security gates, and “interdit “ and danger signs all over….I perservered, threw the bike over a fence, kept my head down, and the road became the track on the map. Now, perhaps years ago, this was an access way, but now hugely overgrown but just distinguishable, most I “force rode” some I had to walk, and even lift the bike over obstacles…eventually I reached a road….all to avoid that return climbing!! Well, I still had the mega climb back to base!
Awaking to very low cloud, my hope was to complete the apparently the best hike (accessible 😘) in the area, Lac Blanc, but should I break my 2 night rule…as for the next several days it’s wall to wall sunshine? 🤷♂️
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