May 18, 2025
An Aimless Walk in Annecy
It was another beautiful day in Annecy and I was excited for the planned hike today with Rachael. Scott had mapped out an ~8 mile out and back on the west side of the lake, one which could offer views over the lake similar to what Scott and I saw yesterday on our ride up to Col de Leschaux. Before getting started, I needed to relocate Vivien George from the spacious bike room at Suzanne’s hotel to the baggage closet at my hotel. Thinking the latter might be full of suitcases, I planned on borrowing Scott’s krypton lock so that I could chain her to my hotel staircase.
After extracting Vivien George from the crowded bike room, I swung by to pick up Rachael and the lock and we all made our way to my hotel. It turned out the hotel proprietor preferred VG to lodge in the baggage room, so after last minute chores at my place Rachael and I set off. She was having trouble finding the route on her Garmin, but I had downloaded Scott’s route onto my phone and assured Rachael that we would be fine. We circled around the north side of the lake gabbing away and admiring happy dogs and young children on tiny bikes.
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Our route took us up through residential areas and at one point I wondered why the track showed a 30 mile-marker arrow. I interpreted this as a marker for the return journey, and we carried on - not giving a second thought as to why I was following a 30 mile track. However, we had passed several roadside sights that seemed familiar to Rachael from previous hikes, and that added to my confidence that we were on the right track.
After another mile I began to wonder why we were still on pavement as I distinctly recalled the route included a large gravel portion. It was then I realized we were following the wrong route - a track completely different than what Scott had planned. Instead, were traveling northeast of the lake and heading to the Fier River. No wonder Rachael couldn’t find the route on her Garmin!
There was quite a bit of puzzling over how that happened, the first reaction was to think Scott had somehow over-written the RWGPS route but that didn’t make sense. In all likelihood, I probably inadvertently opened a “you might also like” route selection from RWGPS and mindlessly followed the blue line.
We decided to continue on the mystery route to see where it took us. Once we left the residential areas, we turned onto a narrow, curving road with no shoulder -not exactly great for walking but the traffic was fairly low. At the Fier River, we found a small parking lot and some picnic tables where we had a bite to eat and consider our options.
We decided to cross the bridge over the Fier River and leave the mystery track, following signs that we hoped would take us to a forest track with crosses, something Rachael remembered from a previous hike. But we were far off that track and instead found ourselves at a dead end - the road gave way to private drives and there were no forest tracks to be found. We turned back, content with finding a shy cat that slowly warmed up to Rachael and allowed a few caresses.
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The way back to town went fairly fast, though by the time we arrived at the lake my feet and knees were ready for some relief. Two scoops of pistachio did the trick for Rachael while I enjoyed a mix of pistachio and coconut. I left Rachael still savoring her cone while I made my way back to the hotel for a much needed rest before dinner.
Considering the setting, the hike turned out to be uninspiring. Nonetheless, it was wonderful spending time with Rachael, and any hike that ends with ice cream is always a success.
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