We awoke to see mist
hanging over the lake in front of Mabel with a few swans and ducks dipping for
their breakfasts.
After trying out the very
cramped shower in Myrtle a few times early on during our last trip we made a
habit of avoiding it and used showers at camping grounds, or in Phil and
Kerry’s house when we were parked there. After breakfast today we found the
showers close by where we had parked were locked so we tried out Mabel’s shower
for the first time. It was excellent being much roomier than Myrtle’s with
plenty of hot water at a good pressure.
It was still quite early
in the day and we decided to take a short walk around the lake. By then the
mist had cleared, the sun was out and it had begun to warm up. On the way back
to Mabel I left our unused shower tokens at the closed reception and then
remembered something the receptionist had said last night when I pointed to the
amenities block and asked if that was where the showers were. She said ‘fermé,
mais ……and something I didn’t understand. Walking back from reception I spotted
another building hidden from our position in Mabel by trees. Presumably there
were showers there.
 |
| Jane By The Lake |
 |
| Jane Likes To Photograph Flowers |
 |
| Ready To Set Off From Clerey |
We were on the road at
09:20 with satnav advising there was 505km to travel to our overnight stop in
Chamonix Mont Blanc. Jane was driver in command (she prefers the first leg
unless it is something new like driving on the right for the first time). We
had programmed autoroutes again and were soon heading south on the E17 towards
Dijon through rolling farming country. We stopped at Aire de Chateauvillain Sur
Orge briefly to refuel. That operation was completed successfully with me able
to carry out the transaction smoothly with the cashier in French.
 |
| On The Autoroute |
Jane was initially
undecided whether she wanted to do half of her share of the driving in one
stint, but after an hour or so elected to knock off the first 250km or so. At
12:20 we pulled into the Aire du Jura for our lunch stop. The combined length
of Mabel and Smarty are such that we can’t use car parks, instead we share the
areas set aside for trucks and usually find ourselves sandwiched between large
artics. Today was no exception.
 |
| Lunch Stop |
Following a similar lunch
to yesterday we walked over the autoroute on an impressive cable-stayed bridge
to the services to find an ATM – the toll charges were gobbling up our Euro. By
now the temperature was in the low 20s and it felt good to be able to walk in
just one layer. The place was in the throes of being rebuilt and, while there
was a sign indicating there was an ATM, the machine was almost certainly a
microwave oven. Not only did it look like one, the fact there wasn’t a slot for
a bank card seemed to confirm it.
 |
Aire Bridge
|
It was my turn to drive
the second leg and all was going well until approaching 15:00 overhead gantries
indicated there were roadworks in a tunnel ahead, then that the outside lane
was closed and subsequently both lanes were closed. We had no choice but to
leave the autoroute. The screen at the toll booth at the end of the off ramp
indicated a charge of €43 for our day’s drive so far. Mabel being right hand
drive means it’s the passenger’s job to deal with the toll payments. I usually
use the high level slots in the automatic booths aimed at trucks by standing up
with my head out of the window to conduct the transaction. Jane tried to do the
same, but there wasn’t a slot for cash and the machine rejected all the credit
and debit cards Jane tried. There was quite a delay during which the large
queue behind us was very patient with not a single toot although a Gallic voice
was coming from the machine saying something about ‘carte’. Jane spotted there
was a low level slot for cash. Jane kneeled on her seat and reached down to the
lower slots for car drivers. In so doing she overbalanced and very nearly went
out the window. In fact, she says it was her low centre of gravity that saved
her (something to do with mass below the waistline, I think). Her exclamation
of Oh s*** generated a comment of ‘It’s not easy’ (In English) from a Frenchman
standing nearby.
 |
| Road Closed |
 |
| Queue At Peage |
 |
A Low Centre Of Gravity Is Beneficial When Paying Tolls
|
Having paid we pulled
over to decide on our next course of action. Satnav told us where we were but
the place wasn’t in our road atlas, the tunnels were on the map however – we
were just east of Ceignes. At this point there was disagreement between pilot
and navigator as to what to do next. Jane wanted to re-programme satnav to take
us to Chamonix avoiding toll roads (to avoid it trying to take us back onto the
road that was closed) I was concerned that her approach could mean we could
face a long trip on minor roads. I decided we should leave satnav as it was but
ignore its directions for a while, follow local roads signed to Geneva until
satnav settled down and found us a route back to the autoroute. It worked,
after some interesting driving through the narrow streets of two towns we found
the next interchange east of where we had come off.
 |
| One Of The Towns On The Detour |
We passed an almighty jam
of traffic in a contraflow on our carriageway that had been heading west. It
seemed the contraflow had extended through the tunnel and there must have
been an accident, or something. Anyway, we soon back to our normal cruising
speed and ahead we could see the foothills of the Alps.
We were very close to
Switzerland as we skirted around Geneva. Mabel’s outside temperature gauge
showed 22 degrees, the sun was shining and we talked of putting the awning out
when we set up camp.
 |
| Seen Near Geneva |
Passing Geneva we started
to climb into the mountains crossing impressive viaducts. Ahead of us the
mountains had snow on their flanks, but Mont Blanc was shrouded in cloud. It
started raining and the temperature dropped – down to 12 degrees at one point.
 |
| Mont Blanc In The Clouds |
After the road to Italy
through the Mont Blanc tunnel diverged we were soon in Chamonix Mont Blanc.
It’s a large town and was bustling with tourists. We had remarked a few times
what a good investment it had been to update the satnav such that it can be
programmed with Mabel’s statistics and select routes capable of accommodating
her. Our opinion changed just east of Chamonix. Fortunately, we missed a left
turn and looking down the road we should have taken there was a bridge with 2.4
metre headroom!
 |
| Chamonix Mont Blanc |
Aided by some sparse and
confusing signage involving ignoring a No Entry sign we eventually found
Camping La Mer du Glace where a sign tells us we are at an altitude of 1061
metres. Jane bottled out of the check in, so I did it again. It was easy, the
man had very good English, he walked us around the site pointing out all the
facilities and told us to choose where we wanted to park. In heavy rain we
firstly dumped our grey waste and filled with fresh water before disagreeing on
which pitch to take. We ended up on one which Jane considered too narrow after
generating smoke from the clutch as we cleared a ramp in front of the pitch. We
were both tired after a long day’s drive.
Dinner was the remainder of
the linguine carbonara I cooked on Tuesday evening.
 |
| Today's Trip (513km) |
No comments:
Post a Comment