Aix-les-Bains to Annecy

We seem to be getting into our old cycling routine now. It takes a few days to remember how to best pack the panniers and set up the bikes, particularly as you have to carry everything between the two of you from the hotel each day. We usually wake at around 7:30am, have breakfast at 8am and aim to get on the road by 9am. We try and buy sandwiches and fruit for lunch in the town before we leave, especially on Mondays as most of the shops close. 

This morning was overcast and perfect for cycling. The route we took was not direct to Annecy but via Cusy and Gruffy and entailed cycling uphill for an hour and a half after leaving Aix. it was not too steep though and we took it easy. After a long downhill stretch we came to an old bridge built in the style of Eiffel which was suspended over a deep gorge.

 It was a perfect spot to take lunch before heading down to Annecy. As it was a relatively short ride we arrived at our hotel in the early afternoon and walked into town by the lake. The hotel was a little way out of town and up a steep road, probably the steepest climb of the day!

 It was as busy as ever with thousands of tourists on the foreshore and by the canal. They call one area little Venice and it is certainly as busy as the real one.

Having been here in 2007 it does not seem to have changed much. It is a very picturesque place with lots of flowers everywhere and plenty of parkland for children to play.

There are dedicated cycle paths  everywhere and areas of the lake reserved for swimming and boating. There is a music festival on this week and so there were groups of musicians playing in front of the church and on the bridges over the canals. We have been lucky so far with these summer special events; usually we just miss them.

Tomorrow it is going to rain all morning and into the afternoon so we are going to start out later than normal and hope to miss the worst of it. We are cycling from Annecy to Albertville via Ugine on a voie verte that goes around the lake and then follows an old railway line. The last stage is hilly so I hope the weather is reasonable by then.