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Day 8
Well another very good days skiing today, great conditions and some decent sunshine.
We managed to ski to the other side of the mountain today, it has an older resort feel with more rope and button lifts but the skiing is still good and varies between wide open pistes and this beautiful run through the Forest dressed as an art gallery with photos of wildlife from all over the world.
We stopped for coffee . Yes that is what they call a white coffee, and also for lunch. I had a burger "local vogesion style" the burger made with VERY course ground local beef is served with local ham and cheese melted on top squeezed between two grated onion and grated potato hash brown type patties instead of a bun. Gordon Ramsay eat your heart out.
After putting all the gear away I decided to put a few miles under the wheels so we set off in the vague direction of the Alps.
Day 9
Well yesterday evening we stopped for bread before the shops shut and found ourselves in Vesoul, I consulted the Aires book to find a free 5 van stop near a lake only 1.8 miles away.
What a find, we got up had breakfast and then decided to get the Bromptons out for a ride around the lake. I was expecting a pond but in fact it was a 3 mile perimeter wildlife haven.
We found this fellow. But as soon as I got the camera out he made off pretty quick
These guys were on an island just off shore. And there were lots of these tables crammed with these guys. Every 40 or 50 yards you would catch one of these guys diving and sometimes coming up with fish.
I know my mate Steve will come along and enlighten me as to who all these guys are, all I can say is they made my morning. In the afternoon we decided to check out Vesoul and the monument that sits on the hill overlooking it. The town itself, although dominated by a huge Citroen Peugeot car factory turned out to be typically French chic with lots of beautiful public spaces and ancient buildings mixed with thriving small shops....no Mc Ds here
We found the route up to the monument. The 700 meters turned into a steady 1 in 3 which was quite a pull, I was thankful we hadn't brought the big bikes.
The top had a castle on it from the 9th Century but in 1854 they built the current monument and viewing area....sorry about the following "we were here shots" but this blog is primarily to keep the kids up to date with what we are up to. (Hope you are reading Emma đ)
The monument itself is beautiful. Not much improved by having me sat in front. The viewing platform however was fantastic with its wrap around key listing every European capital and the whole view.
Did spot this little guy living under the monument. Few more miles going under the wheels tonight ..... I wonder where we will get to?
Day 10
Well we got to a beautiful little camping spot just outside the village of Mesnay at N46,89834 E5,80036. After a little walk around in a snow shower I decided to push on to find a Lidl to stock up on food, water and other essentials đˇđˇ before heading back to the mountains. After driving through some spectacular scenery we found one at Morez. Supplied and fed we headed on to Les Rousses which is a beautiful alpine town to pick up info from the tourist information then on up to the ski area at Massif Des Tuffes 1420 meters. This looks a great place to stay and is seriously close to the ski lift.
The area has 50 km of piste and the option to ski over into Switzerland.
The sun came out after lunch so we decided to go for a walk along the "Ski Fond" cross country ski tracks. Don't know if you can make it out in the background but there were a group using ski wheelchairs today and it looked great fun.
The area continued to open out away from the ski lift with a fantastic view around every corner.
We even managed to stop a skier to take a photo of us. Lynn sunk in the snow, assaulted a snowman and then returned to OWT for a typical camper van tea
Had to put these on as I know the kids will be worrying that I am not eating properly whilst I am away đđˇđˇ
What a place to spend the night
Can't wait to ski again tomorrow.