WE DRIVE TO BUGEY

Autumn is here with a morning temperature of only 5c but it’s clear and sunny.  Ali goes to the Boulangerie, very conveniently behind us and gets pains aux chocolat for breakfast.
We leave the quiet little aire and start our journey on a straight, level, smooth road, a real contrast to yesterday.  Then it’s a short section of motorway around Chambery and we are on our way to Aix les Bains.  The road runs right alongside the lake, lac du Bourget, but Aix les  Bains clearly doesn’t want motorhomes as every car park has a 2.1m height barrier.  The lake is dark blue with rocks on the far side and little marinas nearside. We round the small promontory and head north along the east bank having to stop twice at level crossings where the road and railway swap sides.  It’s quite narrow with a sinuous road following the natural contours beside the cliff face.  We find a lay by and Ali gets out and finds the water is absolutely crystal clear.  We stay lakeside all the way to Ruffieux then turn west towards Amberieu le Bugey.  Part of this route is what we covered on the way to Annecy 26th September.  In those two weeks the trees have turned more golden and we notice lots of tiny vineyards, some not much bigger than a tennis court.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savoy_wine

The road runs through the Cluse de l’Albarine, a gorge with some similarity to Cheddar Gorge, but much higher sides and 30 kms long
We stop in St Rambert en Bugey, which we couldn’t do on the way out, and look at the lovely late flowers on the bridge.  Near the town we also see clumps of sunflowers, very late to be in full bloom.  Trees of Heaven and Virginia Creeper add even more colour to the Bugey, a region defined by bends in the Rhone.
Continuing through woodland we arrive at the outskirts of Amberieu le Bugey then go a few miles north to the camperstop at Pont d’Ain.  We cross the bridge [pont] and drive along the Ain to parking under avenues of sycamore trees.  The river is flowing smoothly but with what looks like a strong undercurrent.  The ducks don’t swim against it, they fly upstream and drift down.
Another van joins us and once the sun has set over the bridge and the kids on mopeds have gone home to bed all is peaceful.