Geneva to Annecy

May 6, 2019

That was a Bit of a Self Inflicted Slog

Well, today was an interesting day. Another totally unexpected day. Perhaps we should name this the totally unexpected tour. The plan was to follow the valley from Geneva to Annecy because the snow line is so low and it seemed the prudent thing to do. Imagine our mutual surprise when we started the day by climbing and ended the day having done over 1000 m, with more than a few surprises enroute.

We had brilliant weather today. Sun, no rain in the forecast, and lots of wind, but in the right direction. I read in the weather app that the gusts were up to 57 kph and I am inclined to believe that. Negotiating our way out of Geneva was a bit more complicated than many of the big cities we have been in, but there were bike routes everywhere and no one seemed concerned when we bailed to the sidewalk or rode the wrong way up a one way street. Eventually we were on our way.

This reminded Keith of one of his hockey buddies. He is much too polite to say which one.

Then the climbing began. It was gradual at first, and it was fun to see where we had skirted Geneva on our way to Thonon Les Bains two years ago. We turned left and headed up. We gained elevation quickly and were rewarded with the views. We both kept thinking that any moment would be the beginning of a big downhill swoop but instead we kept going up.

We had our first hiccup here. We had started on the down hill train when Keith realized we weren’t on the planned track. We had to go back up but he was ahead of me and turned right while I turned left. Thank goodness he has a good baritone and I still have my hearing. Crisis averted we carried on up and up. Then we were routed through the forest. Most unexpected. Where was the easy ride to Annecy we were anticipating? Bike touring is always such a surprise.

The Chief Navigator saw a very appealing looking route below us, and I cannot tell a lie, it looked pretty good to me too. Down we went, only to discover, after losing a great deal of elevation, that it didn’t go through. This meant heading up again or a km or so of highway riding. We took the highway. Then it was back up again anyway and we decided to stop for lunch.

Lunch time. There was a patch of snow about 50 m below us here.

Eventually we found ourselves back on the D roads and headed for Annecy. I did my best to lose Keith...he missed the impressive bike bridge while checking his navigation. I took the bike bridge and was briefly held up by a handsome group of cyclists taking pictures. By the time I was on the other side Keith had started back to look for me. We have a rule, lose each other and you have to go to the last place you saw each other, in this case the top of a long hill. I hoofed it back across that bridge, standing on my pedals and going for broke. As I approached my handsome friends I gave a heartfelt “Oh no” as I saw Keith heading up the big hill and I realized I had to follow. One of the carbon fibre road bike set, who spoke excellent English asked if that was my friend. Yup, and he is looking for me. He took off like a rocket and caught Keith in no time. Crisis averted. In the meantime I was basking in the attention of a great group of guys, no effort on my part required. They wished les Canadiens well and off we went in opposite directions.

The bridge Keith took is to the left. How he missed this bike bridge is a mystery. It is fairly imposing.

Then we were headed back up again. We took the mountain goat route to Annecy. We managed not to lose each other again, although I had a few anxious moments on a big descent as I am a much slower descender than Keith, but there he was at the bottom, thank goodness. We checked into our hotel and have had a first good wander around the old town, in addition to a huge, well earned dinner.

https://www.relive.cc/view/2346628008

Today's ride: 59 km (37 miles)
Total: 417 km (259 miles)

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Rachael AndersonSounds like you had great fun,hehe! We should have told you that there aren’t any flat routes in Switzerland, especially the bike routes. Glad you ran into the other cyclists to chase Keith down!
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4 years ago

Kathleen ClassenThis bike route was quite something. About 20 km up, right at the beginning, unplanned hehe. Now that we are in this part of France we plan more climbing. Yesterday was unplanned! We have Annecy to explore first. Isn’t it a beautiful spot? We have read about your time here again. We are not sure we will be quite as ambitious. Today will be cappuccino sipping and old town wandering I think.
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4 years ago