Trip to the French Alps - 20 June - 3 July 2024

One area of France we haven't visited to-date is the French Alps, so we booked a chalet in Aillon-le-Jeune in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region of France. For us, part of the holiday is the journey and we like to avoid the peages and motorways, so we had two overnight stops and enjoyed the D roads and villages en route. We took our usual DFDS ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe and drove to our first overnight stop at Au Nid des Champs a B&B in Dammarie. The next day we drove to our second stop at Beausejour, a chambre d'hote in Montaiguet-en-Forez, Bourbonnais run by a delightful couple, Marc and Michele, who were the perfect hosts, making us feel very welcome and serving up a wonderful meal that evening. On the third day, we drove the final leg to our chalet in Aillon-le-Jeune, arriving there Saturday afternoon after a journey of 570 miles.

A group of around 50 'Outlaw' bikers on tour boarded the ferry at Newhaven	Our chalet in Aillon-le-Jeune	The view from the balcony of our chalet
Our MX5 in front of the chalet	The French love decorating their roundabouts!	An Olympic-themed roundabout in Aillon-le-Jeune
The weather is very changeable in the Alps!	We saw many clusters of beautiful red poppies on our travels around France	Lovely view en route to Lake Annecy
Snow-capped mountains in the distance	Chateau de Miolans, Saint-Pierre-d'Albigny - circa 12th Century	Low cloud in the mountains towards Gresy-sur-Isere
Colourful flags on a bridge in Faverges	Beautiful Lake Annecy	The view from 'Le Pecheur' restaurant where we had lunch at the water's edge
Beautiful clear waters for ducks on Lake Annecy!	We took a short boat trip on the lake	Disembarkation point for the boat trip

The Gorges du Fier were created over a period of thousands of years, when the glacier that would become Lake Annecy, melted and its waters emptied into the surrounding area. The softer rocks in the area gradually eroded and slowly carved out the gorge. As can be seen from our photos below, there are 252 metres of walkways through the gorge, secured into the rock between 20-30 metres above the fast-running water below. These walkways were first constructed in 1868, an amazing feat in those days. Whilst on the walkways we met a lovely couple from Hayling Island in the UK, Les and Daz. We ended up walking through the remainder of the gorge with them and continuing our chat with them afterwards in the gorge cafe.

Victorian-era ladies in the gorge, with the walkways above them	The River Fier before it enters the gorge	One of the walkways meandering round the side of the gorge
The fast-flowing river below	The walkways get busy!	Fallen trees and branches settle on ledges in the gorge
A chart in the gorge depicts raised water levels over the years - on 30 September 1960, the water rose 27m, which would have been nearly 7m above the walkway!	One of the walkways meanders through a bridge over the gorge	The view of the walkways from the top of the gorge

We saw these lovely donkeys grazing in a field on our travels	Chateau de Montrottier in Lovagny - circa 13th Century	The view en route to Alpe d'Huez
Alpe d'Huez	A small stream running down the mountain	The town of Huez with flags for 'La Course', the women's Tour de France which ends at Alpe d'Huez this year
A house in Clavans-en-haut-Oisans built in the shadow of a massive boulder!	Roads squeeze through between mountains, this one in Mizoen	The 670-metre long Tunnel du Grand Clot en route to Col du Galibier
View from the top of Col du Galibier	Our MX5 parked on top of the Col	Us on top of the Col

Panoramic view from one side of the Col overlooking the Hautes Alpes Region...	...and from the other side overlooking the Savoie Region

Directional signs at the top of the Col	Some snow still remains at the top of the Col!	Winding roads through Valloire, one of the stages on this year's Tour de France
There are artworks welcoming the Tour de France everywhere!	Driving along the road, we saw a cloud formation resembling a map of Great Britain!	You can just make out our chalet, almost top middle with the white-edged gabled roof
Paragliders over Aillon-le-Jeune	There are many tree-lined roads...	...like these in France, so beautiful
Breakfast on our chalet balcony	Another view from our chalet	Us on the chalet balcony

Panoramic view from our chalet	Panoramic view from the top of Mont Revard in the Bauges Massif at an elevation of 1,562m

Chris on the viewing point jutting out from the top of Mont Revard	Views from Mont Revard...	...on a rather hazy day

We had one overnight stop en route from our chalet in the French Alps back to Normandy and the B&B we stayed in was Domaine les Grands Perons, with a lovely Dutch couple, Tanja & Rob. On arrival, we found this lovely welcome sign on the table in our room. Tanja & Rob made us feel very welcome and provided us with a wonderful dinner that evening and breakfast the following morning.

Whilst staying with our friends Tim & Laura in Normandy for three nights on the way home, we visited 'The America & Gold Beach Museum' in Ver-sur-Mer.

The 'America' Museum - covers the first airmail flight between USA and France on 1 July 1927	The remains of the 'America' after crash-landing in the sea 200m off Ver-sur-Mer beach

Gold Beach Museum with dioramas of British...	...landings on Gold Beach on D-Day - 6 June 1944	Model of an amphibious Sherman Tank used on D-Day

We also revisited the British Normandy Memorial at Ver-sur-Mer, having been there in November 2021. On this occasion, we wanted to see the newly-installed 'Standing with Giants' display.Standing with Giants, a UK charity, have installed 1,475 silhouettes across the wild meadow fields of the British Normandy Memorial. These silhouettes, named 'For Your Tomorrow', reflect the number of servicemen who died serving under British Command on D-Day, 6 June 1944, together with silhouettes of two nurses, Sisters Evershed and Shield, who died while saving 75 men from a sinking hospital ship. The installation remains in place until 31 August 2024.

What an amazing trip! We drove 1,770 miles in all, saw some spectacular scenery and met some lovely people. We can highly recommend visiting the French Alps!