Holidays - part 1

Since the last post I have been 'en vacances' in France and what a great time it was.  My younger son, M, and his wife, A, and grand-children, B and E, invited me to join them in Rochetaillée where they had rented a caravan and I leapt at the chance.  How to get there?  This is a winter sports area, but in the summer there are no flights in that were suitable so I went by train!

Eurostar run a service from London to Marseille and this is what I booked, leaving the train at Lyon and catching a local train on to Grenoble, where the family picked me up and so started a great break. 

The first night we had a violent storm and the rain lashed down but the next day cleared up and was glorious for the rest of my stay.

The first day was quite gentle and we went to Venosc which is a craft village in the mountains.  We climbed a steep path up the mountain though I did not make it far as I had left my walking poles in the car but the others went up a long way.  On the way back we decided to look at the river and then discovered a path to the Cascade de la Pisse de Lanchatra -

River La Veneon

The river was a grey colour because it is melt water from a glacier and is a tributary of the Romanche river which was flowing near our campsite. 

On the bridge over the river

We carried on over the bridge and there it was.  What is the excitement of getting close up to a waterfall?

The family having fun

The following morning was glorious and we went to Bourg-d'Oisins where there was wonderful market.  We tried sausage, cheese, paste made from wild garlic and I had to refrain from buying too much and taking it back for lunch.

On the Sunday we were back at Venosc, but this time we were going up to Les Deux Alpes at 1,650metres;  I would take my 6 year old grand-daughter up by cable car and the others would walk up the mountainside and this what we did and we decided to come back the next day to go up to the Glacier.

Monday was another hot day and by the time we had driven up to Les Deux Alpes the temperature was 25^oC, but we had jumpers, coats and sunglasses with us.  Up we went for 20 minutes in the cable car -

we arrived near the top, but there was still the Funicular to go on, but it was going down, not up?

We went down and if you look closely there is a mound on the left from the white building and this was the tunnel through the mountain!!

Little ones in their ski gear

The funicular was full of skiers and tourists and we came out on this view -

and then I saw this

and realised that I was looking at Mont Blanc, the highest mountain peak in the French Alps.  It was an awe inspiring sight and we were about 3,600metres up.  The temperature was 1^oC caused by the freezing wind that was blowing hard.

The skiers

We decided that we just had time to visit the Ice Cave sculptures under the glacier -

An elephant baby and it's Mum

and there were some lovely carvings, very well back lit and once carved nothing needed to be done because it is always cold there.  The children, though well wrapped up, were beginning to get cold and so joining the crowds of skiers heading down the mountain we queued for the funicular and were squashed into a cable car.  Back down in Les Deux Alpes it was still hot, hot, hot and we were able to take off the layers of clothes back to summer wear!!

On the way back to the camp site we stopped to view this hydro electric lake with it's gushing waterfall and delightful village behind it.

We had had a brilliant day out.