Le Bourg-d'Oisans to Annecy: We Found the Tourists

June 13, 2017

Our climbs in the high alps are 'toutes finis' and today we will be moving on to explore some lower terrain as we migrate towards Lyon. The bus is very handy throughout France and so we will take it to Grenoble then transfer to the TER train to Annecy. Altogether it will amount to 4h of travel including the transfer time in Grenoble. Finding accommodation in Annecy has been difficult so we decided we would have the tourist info centre advise us when we reach Annecy.

We had a leisurely start at Le Petit Catelan and said our good-byes to Anita and Jean-Louis and the other guests (and the dogs, cats, chickens and lovebird) at 9:30am.

Alcan was a very old dog who loved being petted.

It was a short ride to the bus station and after loading our bikes in the luggage compartment we were off. The transfer to the train went smoothly, quite unlike the good old days, and we got a senior's discount to boot!

Grenoble runs Bombardier light rail in the center of their main corridors. Only the tracks are visible here. They keep the grass well groomed (yes, it's real!)

Transferring to the train from the bus at the gare routiere in Grenoble.

Yay...we got a 25% seniors discount on the train from Grenoble to Annecy. Bikes are free.

By 2:16 we were in Annecy and headed for the Tourist Information Centre.

Infront of the very modern building that housed the SI were a number of security guards, the kind carrying large weapons. Eeek! We learned that there was an International Animation Conference taking place and this building is the main hub. Hence, the reason there was no accommodation. I inquired anyway and was told the only availability was a camping bungalow about 15 minutes by bike from Annecy. OK...a camping bungalow it is.

We set off along the lakeside bike path and realized after several km that we were not going to see any signs for the campground. All we had was a street address and the name of the town. I inquired at a beautiful lakeside campground (which was packed to the gills) of the whereabouts of our campground, to little avail. They hadn't heard of it and didn't know where it was. Uh oh. This was becoming moremof a challenge than we expected. Eventually, I clued in and did a google maps search to locate it. We had sailed past that area, clueless to its whereabouts. Backtracking, we eventually located it and the 'campground' turned out to be an old orchard with an old house. It was sort of a 'Frank's field' for camping.

Our bungalow didn't exist but we were booked into an upstairs room in the house. There were 3 beds in the room but if we didn't disturb 2 of them we could have it for 40€. Done! Shower and bath were down the hall. It was like a throwback to travels in France back in the 80's and 90's.

Camping a la ferme, the last room avaiable in Annecy, and it wasn't in Annecy!

We cleaned up and headed to Annecy for dinner and an evening stroll. The town has done a very good job of handling all the tourists and it is a beautiful old town situated on a jewel of a lake.

Annecy is called Venice of the North, for good reason.

In Annecy, the "gelato hour" starts at 4pm and goes until 10pm,

We have not been in any touristed areas on this trip so we found it far too busy to spend very much time there. Our sunset ride back to the campground on their fantastic bike path was a highlight. We tried to capture the scene in our photos. Tomorrow, we will head to Thones and have booked a hotel.

Sunset over Lake Annecy from the piste cyclable.

Today's ride: 28 km (17 miles)
Total: 1,166 km (724 miles)

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