Nicks blog

Tuesday 7th October 2025: Day 8

Today was big hill climb day. We’d decided to climb to the top of Semnoz who’s route started on the road past our camp site. The top is at 1699 meters and hosts a ski resort as well as mountain biking, hiking and paragliding.

Its a recognised cycle climb with markers every kilometer giving distance to the top and average gradient for that kilometer. The climb is 18km long.

The route winds through beautiful forest before finally clearing the tree line for the last few kilometers. I’ll not bore you with the details but it is a hard 18km with gradients up to 9%. Near the top I bonked, felt faint and was very slow. luckily at the top the cafe was open where we consumed several chocolat chaud & a fromage baguette. After a short lie down I regained enough strength to cycle down. The descent was the best ever – pity I wasn’t on top form for it.

When I got back to the van we decided another camp site was needed rather than driving up the mountain for the night. Sadly the site we’d been at was full so we found one round the corner. I went to bed & Sarah looked after me for the rest of the day.

Monday 6th October 2025: Day 7

Awoke to another sunny day. Todays plan was to cycle around Lake Annecy. There is a cycle path all way round & its mostly flat. We decided to go round the lake clockwise.

From our site we dropped down to the lake and easily found a beautiful quality cycle path. We followed it the short distance into Annecy where it got busy. The cycle lane even had its own set of traffic lights !

After Annecy centre the traffic thinned & the scenery became stunning…

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Sunday 5th October 2025: Day 6

We woke to a cold but sunny day. The site is a really pretty setting right on the river. This slightly blurry photo doesn’t do it justice really.

After a trip to the local Boulangers we set off for Annecy. We drove avoiding toll roads – it was a slow but pretty drive.

We arrived at our chosen site (Camping Le Belvedere #2493) to see a Car-camping Complait sign. I went in and asked anyway & was told there was one pitch left ! This was a surprise as we thought it wouldn’t be busy this time of year.

The guy told me to look at the pitch before deciding. I looked & it wasn’t the best for €27. I got talking to another brit who told us every site in the area was full & I’d better take it – we did !

We got set up & then walked into Annecy which is a post card beautiful town on a lake surrounded by mountains.

We had a walk around the town & then did what Brits do – we had chips & an ice cream !

Saturday 4th October 2025: Day 5

Today was a day of two halves – the first being a visit to Troyes and the second travel further south.

We’d been told Troyes was a beautiful city & worth a visit so we used the trusty Park4Night app to find motorhome parking near the center. Again it didn’t let us down & we were navigated to a carpark with large spaces within 5 minutes walk of the old town.

Despite the rain Troyes was worth a visit with many old and knackered buildings that would get Philip really excited.

Our walk round Troyes ended with a visit to a fine Boulangerie where tasty treats were purchased.

We then had some lunch in the van & set off south. We drove for several hours before stopping at a free site near a river in Lamarche-sur-Saone (#1474). The rain stopped & we had a walk round the small village which had a very large church for its size.

Salmon & red wine for tea before an early night