There is some rain, but our route from Villars les Dombes is beautiful right away as we drive flat roads between lakes, poplars and maize fields.
From Amberiue en Bugey the hills begin, with alpine houses clinging to impossible ledges high among the trees. High terraced escarpments of ochre sandstone are partly hidden by low misty clouds. We reach the old alpine town of St Rambart en Bugey. A river runs right through the town in a canal or stone culvert, flanked with iron railings and flower baskets. The buildings are solid stone, and there is a tall, simply built church. We climb on out of town, past more rocks and trees before descending into Tenay and meandering to Cluse des Hopiteux. Shortly after, we see signs for a lake, lac de Virieu and decide to stop there for lunch.
Parked beneath tall maple trees, we look across an emerald green lake nestling in a rocky wooded bowl. The autumn colours are rich despite the mist around the hills. Rings and ripples on the lake’s surface suggest the presence of big fish. We joke that Nessie may appear at anytime!
Looking at the Aires book we find Annecy is small and sloping and 24 hour maximum stay so we decide to find something close but outside the town and go in early tomorrow morning. We chose La Balme de Sillingy 8 miles from Annecy.
The route continues along the wide road through little towns of white stone and fields of sunflowers. We cross the Rhone at Seyselle then Snoopy, accidentally programmed for ‘shortest distance’ takes us well off piste onto the D57 towards Droisy. It starts steeply but there is a 16 tonne weight limit sign so we should be fine. It’s never quite single track although the Hairy Bikers would ride line astern, but it’s very steep and very twisty with a couple of bends featuring nothing but sky beyond the tarmac. We climb and climb and climb and climb, Mary*Lou’s new clutch doing its work, to the high point at Clermont, last of the tiny farming towns only just wide enough to pass through. There are fabulous views but the lack of barriers focus the mind on closer horizons. The descent is much easier on a wider road with white lines, but that is 3rd gear and frequent braking for the twiddly bits.
We rejoin the D910 at Frangy and then after descending some more we follow the valley floor to la Balme de Salligny and find the aire.
Once the clutch, brakes and nerves have cooled down. Ali and Grete head to the tourist office to get info for Annecy, then go for a walk around the adjacent park and lake. There are flowers, sculptures and little model houses and a fountain in the lake spraying fine mist high into the air.
