Au bord du lac

So you have some day visitors, and after a hearty helping of Merguez sausages and tarte aux pommes (not together) at home, where can you take them for a couple of hours to walk off the customary excess of French cuisine?

With it already being mid afternoon, the skies not as clear as we would like (in fact it hammered down all morning) and thunderstorms forecast (again!!!), the Alps were out of the question. Instead, Vero and I took Philippe and Peggy to Yvoire, a small medieval village on the French side of the lake (Leman).



The sun was out and tourists were sparse so we took a really nice stroll around the village, taking in the shops and galleries, along with a walk around the small harbour watching all the winged critters (including a possible golden eagle?).




Yvoire looks out over the wider part of lake, looking towards Lausanne, and it really does have a slight feel of being by the sea, with the waves lapping the shore and the odd gull flying by.

There were plenty of old buildings to see, all starting to look very floral. There is of course the chateau as well, sitting on the point overlooking the lake.




We finished off the tour with obligatory refreshments where I had a hot chocolate with quite possibly the nicest chantilly cream I have ever tasted. See what I mean below...



As we finished off our drinks (and Vero her crepe...she was hungry) we heard a distant rumble of thunder. Aaah no worries that should stay up in the mountains we thought. Wrong. As the skies darkened once again we dashed back to the car just in time and witnessed some simply phenomenal weather. The clouds literally looked like they were falling out of the sky, lightning was flashing and I am sure if we were in the American mid-west we may well have been taking on a tornado..sounds dramatic huh? Judge for yourself - here's the video (complete with Philippe's inevitable commentary):

Heat has consequences

So this afternoon as planned we drove from Ruy to Lac Aiguebelette, near Chambery, for some relaxing time by the lake. Here folks would either chill out and picnic in the sunshine or the lucky ones would take a boat out.



Others would stroll out to the shore and take in the landscape and the wildlife. All in all a sublime Sunday afternoon..



Until somethings dark and nasty started to creep their way over from the mountains, not many but knowing Alpine weather in the summer we decided to move on.



This proved right as the views from the Col de la Crusille show on the way back.



A full scale Alpine thunderstorm was now raging in the location we were sunbathing in less than an hour ago. We managed to get home in time and within 5 minutes Ruy was being hit by a very nasty storm which went on for some time. Looks like I spoke too soo about summer then....

Springing into Summer?

So the British fascination with weather continues and once again I will launch into a blog post with my weatherman hat on. Winter seemed quite long this year, so I was told. With it being my first year here I have no point of reference however I can declare that April was neither the warmest nor the driest April I have experienced. A friend said that forget spring, this year we are going to skip it and jump straight into summer – and so far this prophesy is playing itself out.

I am currently writing this on a quiet Sunday morning in early May, sat in Vero’s parents’ kitchen with the sun beaming down and the mercury already rising outside. Yesterday the thermometer on the car read 28 degrees and I expect it will be somewhere near that again today. We are off to Lac Aiglebelette (if that’s how it is spelt) later for a picnic and I am hoping it will be marvellous.

So effectively, the trees and flowers have gone from nothing 2-3 weeks ago to an explosion of vegetation and colour (mainly green). Bugs are everywhere, bees are very, very busy making up for lost time and suddenly the whole place is alive again, awoken from its prolonged hibernal slumber.

In terms of photo opportunities, we are back in Ruy again (as mentioned) and were here two weeks ago at the end of April. Again blessed with some sunny weather (if not too hot), I was able to capture the contents for the second annual spring photography showcase of the garden (see last years here). I have also sneaked a few in this weekend which are worth including too.

This year, not as much because of the prolonged colder weather – in fact the fruit harvest on some of the fruit trees in the garden will not be as good this year as some the earlier blossoming varieties (cherry and plum trees) were attacked by the frost and the cold. We will see! I quite fancy the idea of coming down one weekend to help pick the fruit and then do all the tings afterwards (make some jam etc).

One other side effect of the warmer weather is Geneva seems to have doubled in population – tourist season is definitely well underway and you cannot walk 5 meters in town without seeing people with cameras or dodging tourist road trains. I cannot imagine what the place will be like when the European Football championships get underway at the beginning of June…it may be fun to see it but to try and commute across town when it’s like this is going to be a veritable nightmare.

As much as I like football and all the regalia that goes with being in a host city, we have decided to get out of dodge for a week during the championships (and not because there’s no England – if there was it would be even worse!!). Now if we were better prepared we could have rented out our flat for about 5000 Euros but it’s too late to ‘cash in’ now. Anyway a UK mini-tour then a few days in Spain is on the cards – flights and car are all booked and full details will follow.. a nice break before the second half of the year and all the fun it is going to bring. Watch this space!!!!

Salèvation

One thing we both love when we get the chance is to escape from the hustle and bustle of urban life to open countryside and if possible somewhere with a view. Now one of the main reasons for choosing to relocate to Haute-Savoie was just that. I think there are one or two elevated views in the region that could be worth checking out. Being spoilt for choice as we are it is never easy trying to pick where to go. So we started with a trip up the nearest ‘mountain’, the Salève. Now the Salève dominates Geneva and the surrounding French towns (including ours) on the Haute-Savoie side of the border.

It rises gently from the south-east before abruptly falling away to near 800m sheer drop at some points overlooking Geneva (ice-age glacial formation at its most obvious). It’s not high, its highest point being around 1300m but it is long. On top it is effectively a plateau with views of the whole region (The Genevois basin, the Jura mountains, Switzerland and Lac Leman, Lake Annecy and the Alps).

There are a few ways of climbing the Salève, one is on foot which takes a few hours, two is by cable car which takes a few minutes, and three is by horseless carriage which was the option we chose. Once up on top, there are several trails high and low taking in a variety of landscapes.

Open alpage on top, deciduous woodlands below and rocky outcrops with precarious drops in between. We took a circular trail which we did not quite complete which took in everything the Salève has to offer, both in terms of landscape and in terms of views. It was a tiring, if not too undulating, walk which was really worth it.

There was not too much wildlife around; however very often a huge apocalyptic shadow would swoop over head – what is it? Dragons? Pterodactyls? Nope – parapente. The Salève is like many alpine ridges and mountain ranges in that there is an abundance of thermals and today was no exception. It was quite impressive to be rounding a rocky outcrop and see a huge parapente swoop by out of nowhere at some speed only a few meters away. If I had the guts I would like to try it as it must be heck of sensation as you are literally flying like a bird.

The rocks were quite impressive too, the most being the Trou de la Tine, a big hole effectively.

Looking across to the south you can see the much bigger stuff. Bring on the next mountain I say….