Family Hike Lake Annecy – Final Part, Part Three
The day of the final hike loomed. It had to be done. We could not delay it any more. We’d seen reports that bad weather (thunderstorms) was on the way and we didn’t want to get caught in that…
Our friends still uttered disbelief that we were considering going back for yet more hiking. Why not just sit at the lake edge or better still, hop on that bus or boat and take the tour around the lake if you must.
They would ask the simple question: WHY? What on earth is driving you to hike this lake?
This maybe… the amazing view
We’d done two sections already, each of 14km. In case you missed them, click the links to read Part One and Part Two . We’d achieved so much already. There was no way we would back out now.
How hard could it be to complete the final frontier? Just another 14km. In my opinion, we’d kept the best to last. The smoothest, flattest stretch you could imagine walking on, perfect for roller-blading, perfect for scootering or even cycling. It is called the Voie Verte, the green route that stretches from Annecy all the way to Albertville.
However this time it was more the logistics that were proving to be a bit of a nightmare and not the actual physical exertion. I mean, how do you walk the final section of the lake without repeating any previously walked section? Yes, ok we could have double walked parts, but we were trying to do it exactly: one complete tour of Lake Annecy, split over 3 days. We also didn’t want to spend a fortune on getting to and from that section.
So in the end, we plumped for driving into Central Annecy, (top of map) parked the car up where it could safely be left all day for FREE and embarked on our 14km hike from top left hand corner down left-hand side to the entrance to the tunnel in Duingt. (To the point where the lake narrows). Upon completion, we would then catch the bus back into Annecy, pick up the car, maybe venture out for a celebratory meal and head back to the apartment back over the other side in Talloires!
It was incredibly humid and sticky that day. We set off in good time, and started hiking at around 1045am, so a little later than we’d planned really. Every time we planned to avoid the midday sun but failed miserably.
The older two, insistent on wearing complete padding and roller blades, wanted to rollerblade this section as it is so so flat and smooth. The perfect terrain for roller blades.
That left hubbie, King Julien and me to the hike in hiking boots.
Now I have to stress that this was truly a crash course in roller blading for the older two as previously they had only dabbled at the sport. But to roller blade for 14km, well you can imagine, they’d be pretty whizzy at the end of that!
We headed off, having this time ensured every person carried their own water bottle and snack for easy snacking.
The older two whizzed away, managing one glide for our every 3 steps hiked and soon disappeared from sight.
We on the other hand happily hiked on, around the marina and on to the Voie Verte, heading for Sevrier, then on to St Jorioz, and beyond to Duingt with the castle as the landmark to look out for in the distance and the entrance to the tunnel…
This time it was tough on the youngest. The older two would whizz ahead, then wait in the next village for us to catch up, then glide away in the distance as we hiked on. The humidity got more and more oppressive. I just knew a storm was brewing, even though the sun was still shining brightly in the sky.
King Julien was close to giving up at one point but a quick stop for an ice lolly seemed to re-energize him, give him a sugar rush maybe, so on we went.
We had just finished hiking and found the bus stop when the rain came down in torrents.
So how’s that for 41km!
We are just so proud of ourselves. It seems a dream we did it. But we have to just look at all the photos and check the boots to see we did it!
So what’ll we do next?
More lunch box posts to follow and more family adventures too!
The Lunch Box Lady xxx
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