Annecy, France
45° 54' N 6° 7' E
Jun 23, 2008 07:03
Distance 773km

Choose another map, showing:


earlier Entry 13 of 15 later
You need to upgrade your Flash Player Click here to start downloading FlashPlayer!
Text written in: English

Annecy, France

Hi everyone, this update comes to you from Annecy, France, about one hours drive from Geneva; it can be about four hours from Geneva if you catch a few trains, a tram etc as I did. Anyway, I won’t go there - I’ve been here a few days and it’s a beautiful place.

I’ve come here to join the ride in the French Alps being run by Saddle Skedaddle, the same company that ran the tour I took in the Pyrenees. I arrived on Thursday and stayed a couple of nights in the centre of Annecy before moving to a hotel in an area about 6kms from the town on Saturday in joining the Skedaddle group. As a result I had a couple of days to have a look around and do a few chores before joining the tour. It was a pleasant couple of days.

Annecy has a historical centre of town and a beautiful lake - the lake is pretty large with a ride around it being in the order of 45-50 kms (the busier western side is served by a great bike path). The lake feeds various canals which run through the town - they are quite fast-flowing little waterways. Whilst the waterways don’t seem to have any functional purposes, the town does make the most of this by having some very beautiful walkways along the side of the canal (things), they have placed planter boxes with flowers at regular intervals long many of the railings and this adds to the character and beauty. Naturally there are many restaurants and cafes (as well as shops) on the sides of these waterways and, as I guess was intended, this attracts lots of tourists and seems to be the place to be for anyone and just about everyone going out for a drink or a meal. One of the girls on the tour said she had heard that Annecy is referred to as the Venice of France because of its waterways.

After having a pretty chilly ride in the Pyrenees the week before last, my world has turned around weather wise: it was 34 degrees here at 6:15pm yesterday and I think was just as hot today. One thing this has made me recognise is how much the French love the sun (probably the same as most other Europeans). All around the lake the parks - and indeed any spare space (even on the side of the road) - you will see people sunbaking. Today is Sunday and there were lots of sailing craft as well as power boats out on the water. The people really pack in closely in these parks to get a piece of grass where they can get some sun. I rode around the lake yesterday and with the Skedaddle group we went on the bike path again today and there’s lots of cyclists and rollerblades out too.

I might leave it at that for the moment. We did have day 1 of the Alps tour today and did a bit of what I guess is ‘a taster’ climb. I think it was about 24kms in total and had a few steepish sections in it - around 10-12%. It went OK- certainly was a change to be riding in the heat. I’ll cover the ride later.

I hope you enjoy the photos - I don’t think I have ever taken so many of a single place.

Photos / videos of "Annecy, France":

There is quite a large park at the town end of the lake. This was taken on Fridy and was far more crowded on the weekend. Photo mainly included to show the lake with surrounding mountains. One of the waterways. This one is nearer to the lake and is wider and was not flowing as quickly as others. This photo looks away from the centre of the town toward the lake. Another of the waterways - this one was probably the most picturesque and did not have cafes and restaurants alongside. One of about five old style boats that were available for lake cruises. They seemed classical and appeared to be very well maintined - they attracted a bit of attention from passersby. Another of the waterways in the town. Apologies if there's too many of these. A building in one of the waterways in which the ends were shaped like the bow of a ship. A shot from the ede of the lake - people and watercraft (plus mountains). You may not be able to discern it but there is a little snow still sitting on the higher peaks. This photo was taken late today (Sunday). You can see that the people pack in pretty tightly in the areas beside the waters edge. A communal doggie 'litter' area near one of the canals. Pretty good idea - there was not much open space within the old town area. A French 'texan' - he seemed to be all dressed up in the gear. I could not see his horse nearby. Castle/chateau on the edge of the lake. I understand that it is privately owned. Dog about to hit the water in the canal in the park - his owner would throw the ball in for him to retrieve (he was very keen on tis idea). They threw it in a few extra times to enable me to get a shot of the dog (not the resulting splash). Doggo on the job.
earlier Entry 13 of 15 later
You need to upgrade your Flash Player Click here to start downloading FlashPlayer!