Monday 26th May 2014
Hotel last night was lovely and we slept well. After a good breakfast (French) we headed off towards Thonon le Bains on the shore of Lac Leman (aka Lake Geneva) where the Route des Grandes Alpes starts.
As soon as we left Bourg en Breasse, the terrain changed entering high rolling hills. We chose to use the autoroute as this was just getting to the start and it is quite a feat of engineering with carriageways perched on steep hillsides and tunnels and viaducts.
As far as we can tell, there is no definite start point for the Route des Grandes Alpe but we chose a roundabout on the D902 next to the Quay which seemed very appropriate. As we. left the town we passed a brown sign indicating the existence of the Route but there is no signage to follow.
The early part of the D902 winds through deep gorges and woodland with tumbling rapids of ice blue waters. Cloudy and drizzling, we could tell higher hills were there in the distance but no see them. Many switchbacks on the route eventually dropping to the major town of La Cluses.
Leaving La Cluses behind we wound up steep inclines and with the sky breaking up with occasional blue patches, the intense greens of the mountain sides were populated by chalet farmsteads with the clunking of cow bells drifting across. Valley bottom covered with rich long meadow grass full of wild flowers.
Over our first pass, Col de Colombiére which has been open for a while. At the top it was clear that this is a between season time with gift shop locked up and what looked likely to be the owners fixing rails around the entrance.
We dropped down to Le Chinaillon, a small conglomeration of hotels and restaurants short of La Grand Bonand and found our lodging for tonight, Hotel L'Alpage. We think we may be the only people here and they phoned us when we were on the way to say that all the restaurants are closed this evening so would we like them to prepare something for us? Also, what time were we expected because they needed to go out?! It's a lovely place, all wood and smells of sauna. Compact but nice room with a balcony and view of the slopes.
STATS
Depart: Bourg en Bresse 10:00
Arrive: Thonon 12:05
Depart: Thonon 13:00
Arrive: Le Chinaillon, Grand St. Bornand 16:50
Distance driven: 149 miles (including from lodging to start of Route des Grandes Alpes)
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