A bit of a groggy wake-up & Breakfast but who cares we had an easy day ahead. Early on we looked at the forecast & could see that rain was due on Monday night & early Tuesday making (today was Sunday) an easy decision, we would leave a day earlier than planned & head to a campsite we’d used before near Troyes, roughly halfway between here & Calais. So this would be our last full day in the l’Arve valley, the days plans were largely set the evening before.
The morning was spent reading & sorting kit (the Dutch were probably looking at all that kit & my beard & thinking what the heck have they been up to) that was no longer needed so that Monday’s getaway would be easy, during this period my beard also disappeared (I have a superstition not to shave whilst I’m higher up & so hadn’t shaved since we left the U.K. probably much to Dorina’s frustration). I also popped down to Les Houches to buy the evening meal & next days Breakfast. By early afternoon I got itchy feet & announced ‘Dorina, I’m going for a run, you stay here & relax’. I’d been thinking of this all morning & knew what I wanted, an estimated 10 miler, a slightly longer version of my run in the rain a week before. Soon I was out the flap & heading of towards Les Houches on the roads feeling very fit. This wouldn’t last as slowly the energy deficit of the last few days overtook any acclimatisation gains. I stuck at it though so as planned from Les Houches I ran back up the valley on the undulating forest track to Chamonix before a road/pavement return to the campsite, Garmin confirmed just over 10 miles Strava frustratingly (& as usual) said 9.98, why?
A shower & then the next part of the day’s plan, a walk to Les Houches to our favourite bar to watch the Wimbledon Men’s final, probably drinking non-alcoholic beer to save ourselves for a small footie match later that evening. I found a back street series of lanes & paths to shorten this walk with Dorina probably wondering if following me was at all sensible. Incredibly the bar was closed, Bastille Day, as was most everything else. Needing fluid & food after my earlier run we came across another bar/restaurant that was open only to discover they weren’t serving food but they did have Crisps so that would help at least. Drinks came but the slightly scatty middle aged British waitress forgot the Crisps, it was becoming one of those afternoons, by now the Wimbledon final was ticking by.
Beer & eventual crisps went down very well, ‘Dorina, lets move onto the Rocky Pop Hostel they are sure to have a TV’ they didn’t. ‘Dorina, lets get back to the Blue Sky Hotel at least we know they’ve got a TV’, I re-found the lanes & after 5 miles found the TV just 300 metres from our tent. We were in time for the second half of the third set with just enough time to see the ending & sink a couple of alcoholic half pints.
Back at the tent time to eat & read before heading back to the TV for the main event. Of course England lost but it was a fair result as I explained to the Dutch the next morning.
Monday dawned, no rush, an organised & relaxed de-camp saw us heading off just before 11:00am. Stopped for lunch & diesel at the favoured Bresse du Poissons service station before a further two & a half hours drive saw us pull into our planned campsite between the twin lakes d’Orient & Temple in the forest D’Orient. Tent erection was now sub 20 minutes, almost professional, quite important because the predicted Thunderstorm could be seen approaching from the West. Thankfully the storm skirted just to the South giving us only some heavy droplets so we could cook & eat our Chilli con Carne with rice outside before a relaxed evening of reading & talking followed. I would suffer for this for almost a week as, un-beknown to me at the time, the mosquito’s were having the feast of their lives. Apparently they have a fear of Angel’s so just focused on me.
The next morning again no rush so Dorina & I headed out for a run, initially through the forest before my nav took us out to & along a pancake flat path along the shores of lac Temple. I turned Dorina around after 5K with clear directional instructions to re-find the tent whilst I carried on with my pre-conceived plan. I rejoined her at the tent after completing a half marathon at a relaxed pace, things were feeling very good.
Showered & de-camped we left the site early PM & drove the 250 odd miles to Boulogne for our final night way. Usual hotel was full but we eventually found a handily placed Ibis Budget with free roadside parking, a result compared to our original plan. A short walk saw us in the main square finding a friendly restaurant which no doubt had good food if your French was good enough to interpret the menu, I tried to be adventurous & paid for it, Dorina being more cautious faired far better.
No English channels on French TV (no surprise there) saw an evening of reading.
Wednesday dawned, leaving Dorina in bed I went out for an early run to clear my head for the final drive home, a pleasant 6.5 miler. Back in the room, a quick shower before popping out again to buy a variety of Breads from a favoured Boulangerie together with Croissants for Breakfast & a much needed diet coke., aka Coke non-sucre.
Before 9am we were in the car heading for the tunnel where I think a speed camera flashed me, this felt annoying as I’m pretty sure I’d been flashed the day before as I approached Boulogne. This second one was on the motorway, didn’t know they did that in France. Wasn’t much over the limit on either occasion so living in hope as I type this.
We were lucky with an early train but again un-lucky as we approached the M25. The rest of the journey was un-eventful other than volumes of traffic you don’t see in much of France & we pulled up our driveway at 3:30pm to be greeted by Mike waiting for us. Mike had been looking after Dorina’s fruit & veg garden whilst we’d been away & clearly needed a detox from Blackcurrants & Lettuce.
So that was it, a really enjoyable first summer holiday together for 13 years, we’d packed in a lot & have memories to cherish, hopefully the Postman will continue to deliver nothing from France.