Trying
not to look guilty, acting as dumb as we felt, we noticed the French
border guard's grimace when he discovered we didn't speak French. He
asked where we were going – 'France' , where have we come from –
'Switzerland' . No doubt he was expecting much more succinct answers
than these but as stupid as we sounded the truth was the truth, we
had no answer than to say we were visiting each country not one
particular town. We could hear his mind loudly thinking – 'Are all
zeez eengleesh stupeed?' We tried to explain we were just driving
anywhere and everywhere. He looked in the back at our tidy car (we
pack up each day) back seat full with a box of food and our personal
small bags. 'Ave you aneezing to deeclair?' - 'No'. He waved us on –
'Bon journee' – Whew
We
continued along the southern shore of Lac Leman,which even at 1pm was
still shrouded in mist, to Thonon-les-Bains about the middle, and
headed south down a road called the 'Route des Grande Alps'. It
followed a rafting river with constant signs about how dangerous it
was into a valley then out and over some hills with great views. At
Sallanches we discovered we were fairly near Mt Blanc at 4808 mtrs
the tallest mountain in Europe so headed over to take a look at it.
It was the end of a day and we swung up a road in St
Gervais that was heading upwards and
ended up in the small village of St-Nicolas-de-Vércoe.
No views of Mt Blanc which was in cloud but we could see the range in
front of it. We treated ourselves to dinner at a small restaurant
there and ate pizza and crepes then parked up higher where in the
morning we had beautiful clear views of Mt Joly and Mt Blanc but
because of our angle it didn't look that grand so we decided to head
on up to Chamonix where the views would definitely be much better.
After
only one hiccup on getting the right road (we get to see so much more
when we are lost...) we got to Chamonix and voila! some beautiful
pictures of Mt Blanc. Well since we are here we might as well head
through Switzerland and into Italy again and have a go at seeing the
Matterhorn from the Italian side. So... through the Gorges
de Tête-noire and over
the Col
de la Forclaz to Martigny. Wow what a ride and the views and we found
one of those holes that the Alps are riddled with here with a gun
emplacement in it. While stopping to takes pics of yet another
wonderful view a woman rushed up to us and said hello, she is a Kiwi
living here with her Swiss husband for 30 years. We filled up in
Martigny as petrol is cheapest in Switzerland then headed over the
Grand St Bernard Mont Joux pass and into Italy. This pass curled up
into the mountains and clouds, we picked up a hitchhiker, Ange, who
was on her way to stay at the Hospice at the top. In 1050
Bernard,Archdeacon of Aosta, arranged with the local authorities on
either side of this pass for there to be safe passage for any
travellers or pilgrims using it. He and a community of monks would go
out searching for travellers in distress and bring them to the
protection of the Hospice. The Hospice is still there and still in
operation although no longer for free. We visited it and the chapel
that it houses, there is usually a museum of St Bernard dogs there
too but at the end of September they take them down to Martigny so we
missed out.
The
border entering and leaving Switzerland on this journey was evident
but uneventful. The one at the top of the pass was cold and in cloud
and totally shut up, we don't blame them, it was really cold up
there...
To
see our photos http://cjb.pascoe.net.nz/
(click on or copy and paste into browser)
