Is that Mont Blanc? It certainly is!
Zagan the motorhome have the most amazing view from his windscreen, he is perched at around 1250m on Mont Saleve looking out across the Plateau des Bornes to the Alps (N46.073282, E6.12595). This place is why we love motorhoming.
This morning I was woken by the birds in the trees around us chirping, everything else was silent. Not a car, voice or raindrop to be heard. Charlie was snoring gently in his basket and after breakfast I took him for a leg stretch while Jay had another go at fitting our snowchains. After the sprinkling of snow we drove through yesterday, he thought another practice was in order. This time, following the instructions, they went on first time – now we’re ready for anything!
We had planned a short run today, but as we got ready to go the rain started again. We’re both finding rainy days a bit tiresome as everyone stays at home and places are deserted, so it was an easy decision to make – lets do another long (for us) drive. Annecy was punched into the satnav, once again we told her to avoid tolls roads, so we had a three and a half hour run ahead of us.
We wound our way through the Jura region with vineyards climbing the hills either side of us, each ‘domaine’ trying to out-do its neighbour with metal wine related metal sculptures. Just over halfway through in the High Jura Mountains I spotted a belvedere (view point) and we pulled in for a rest. We sat and ate a chocolate bar each looking out over Lac de Vouglans, a nearby noticeboard telling of the people that used to live in the valley before it was dammed and flooded.
Looking at the map to see how much more we had to go, we flipped over to the page we were heading for. Just north of Annecy Jay had marked up a free parking place which was said to have a great view, so satnav was reprogrammed and we trimmed 10 minutes off our journey.
Leaving the town of Oyonnax, satnav decided to test our nerves by sending us on a short cut through Foret d’Echallon. A lovely winding road through pine trees, which climbed, and climbed and soon brought us into the snow. There wasn’t loads of snow, just enough to bring the UK to a standstill. The roads themselves were clear, but it still took all of Jay’s driving skill to get us over the twisty loops of tarmac that clung to the edge of the mountain.
Topping out we arrived at a village, Jay pulled over and indicated to let a van pass us. The van didn’t move, so he put on his hazard lights to tell him we weren’t going anywhere. The yellow van slowly pulled alongside us and two worried looking faces peered out as Jay explained we are slow. Realising that we were OK, they smiled and set off in front of us. It was nice to see that they look out for each other around here, even if they weren’t that much faster than us on the descent.
Berating satnav for taking us up hill and down dale, I set in a waypoint to keep us on the main roads, as an act of defiance she decided not to announce a turn which almost saw us heading into Switzerland. Fortunately ours can’t be the only pedantic device and about 5km from the Swiss border we picked up another main road to get us back on track.
Finally we started to climb up to our stop for the night, we knew it would be a climb as anywhere with views of Mont Blanc and Annecy has to be pretty high up. Once again Jay gritted his teeth, pain shooting though his shoulder as he coaxed Zagan up yet another winding road. Just wide enough for two cars to pass, we of course are wider than a car so extra care was needed, especially on the hairpin bends which the locals seem to see as some sort of speed challenge.
It was only 7km up the road, but it took us nearly 20 minutes to get here, and as we turned into the empty car park we knew it was worth it. We sat agog for a while at the view, then realising it was 3pm and we hadn’t had lunch yet, the kettle went on for a brew and food was foraged from the fridge. We’ve taken so many photos of the view, but none of them do it justice – so we’ve uploaded a video too.
The rest of the afternoon has been spend feeling like gods as we’ve looked out of the windscreen. Nipping out to take a photo as the light changed on the mountains, watching the sun set, seeing the plateau and Annecy light up at dusk and now the mountains are shrouded by the dark, gazing at the stars above and the street lights below twinkling to each other.
This is the sort of place that motorhomes were made for. Have a fantastic weekend, wherever you are.
Ju x
Ha, ha, ha! Sat Navs haven’t changed since 2009 then! As navigator, I didn’t notice though until we crossed the border with our 2 spaniels who just happened to wake up and sit up as I realised what was happening and doggie passports didn’t include Switzerland! We did a 6 point turn (very discreet) in a hospital cul de sac and made a most picturesque escape out of Switzerland along a route used by the Resistance. We did eventually make it safely to Annecy, which we loved. Have fun.
Amazing, I could sit and gaze at views like that all day.
Fabulous photos! I hope you made sure the handbrake was on tight…
Did I? Checked that puppy like I was Tim Peake.
Hi guys, great to read your posts as ever, I was just wondering what you thoughts were on the different layout you have in Zagan, the twin sofas and no dinette. We are looking to jump into a motorhome sometime soon, whilst we have been camping etc all our lives. We took a Tribute out for a week which had a dinette utilising the cab seats, it just seemed to us to be living in the cab. BTW stunning views, enjoy your tour, looking forward to Norway etc.
Graham
Cheers Graham. We loved that dinette man. It was very practical, a solid table and a good second bed when temperatures soared. The layout we have now is more open and spacious, but I would say the dinette edges it by a nose (the B544 didn’t use the cab seats for the dinette). Good luck, Jay
Looks fabulous,keep those pics coming!
Aahhh – takes me back to my walking the Tour de Mont Blanc days (a long time ago!!). Looks gorgeous – I just love the mountains – they give a sense of awe and put us humans in our place making us feel very small.
Well it’s been a while since I posted anything but I’ve been following along. Excitement is mounting in our household! We’ve been thinking, looking, threatening to buy a Hymer for about a year now. Finally everything is in place (mainly the money!!) and we have located one. We’ll be making the big decision next week – it is abroad so if we buy it our very first adventure will be getting it back to the UK – scary, scary. Any advice for our first trip – especially as we will not have a clue what we are doing?. The inspection of the vehicle is being taken care of – so all that is in hand. Eeek – a new chapter in our lives :-)
But I jump the gun – we have not bought it yet!!
Enjoy the Alps – hope Charlie likes chasing snowballs like our Raggs :-)
Sounds exciting Ian, go go go! Any advice? If you’ve not driven something similar before, it’ll feel stupidity wide. Have faith, it will fit almost everywhere, just take your time, go as slow as you need, and avoid town centres if you can. You’ll soon have the hang of it. Thinking about it, there is a post somewhere on here about the first outing, have a search and hopefully it’ll pop up. Cheers, Jay
Who needs a widescreen with a windscreen like that!
Oh, yeah! This morning the view was even better. TV, schmeevee.
About your previous dinette table and what you have now. If the surf board was and felt more rigid would that make a big difference?
Yep. The surf board works, it’s flexible in that we can rotate it out of the way easily. It’s only mounted at one point though, which makes it a bit too bendy when leaning on it. A floor-mounted table on two legs with sliders would IMHO make our layout perfect. Jay
Close to us! Enjoy Annecy. I hope you can outrun the rain, it’s a bit grim up here in Chamonix. Enjoy your trip! Mandy x
Mandy! How are you and Todd? Weather forecast looks pretty mad up there, tonnes of snow and minus 10! Had any adventures in your motorhome? Tell all (drop us an email at Julieandjason@ourtour.co.uk if you get time). We’re at Sixt-Fer-A-Cheval at the moment, getting our eye in for travelling in the snow. Right wimps we are! Cheers, Jay
We made it here the other day, the weather not quite as good for us but thanks for the tip guys
Phil
Sweet! Probably a bit warmer at the moment though, cheers, Jay