This is the story of a somewhat impromptu 2 week trip to southern Germany, prompted by there being some customers in the region. We did our usual thing of combining this with taking in the sights and campsites along the way. This time we just took Horatio and popped our bicycles in his garage for greater range from the campsites – turned out it was a perfect plan.
First stop was at the overnight Aire at Annecy, just across the road from the lake. Nice spot, we turned up at about 4pm on a steaming hot day and went for a paddle to cool our feet. Back at the van we cracked a beer and wondered why vans were leaving as opposed to arriving as is the norm at that time of day. Then we spotted a sign which was not there when we arrived – the parking area was being closed at 8pm, though it was not clear why.
We hurriedly threw the chairs and other stuff back into Horatio and left, first having to navigate back through Annecy during rush hour – it was a Monday – onto the autoroute to move on further. I consulted the map and my knowledge of the Geneva area which was next along the route and we plumped for a quick overnight in the municipal campsite at Gex. A small site, we have been there before, with a bar/cafe on site – finding restaurants open on Mondays in France is notoriously difficult and we were well past cooking! We got to the cafe at 7pm and they were closing – sacre bleu! Well, it turned out the daughter was trying to, but Mum, with her eye on the cash, sensibly said we could order something quick, which we duly did – steak hache and chips. Not exactly gourmet but did the job.
The next day we drove across Switzerland to lake number 2 – Lac Bienne. To get there we drove along the banks of Lac Neuchatel, but that doesn’t count as we didn’t stop or stay there. I found a lovely site right next to Lac Bienne on the edge of a town called Le Landeron. Very beautiful hilly views around us and a very serene feel to the lake and the old town. Out came the bikes and we cycled through the town and along the canal which links the 2 lakes.
Le Landeron
On the second day we cycled along the banks of Lac Bienne. That day we got as far as the language changing from French to Schweizer Deutsch which became evident when we stopped for a (very expensive) coffee. After that excursion we swam in the lake. First swim. The last photo below is of a weather station.
As ever the insertion of photos is not going well and I can no longer type after these photos, so I will separate this post into parts….. Part 2 coming shortly!
Lac Bienne
