Got all packed up and ready yesterday so I wouldn’t be rushed to go this morning. We managed to get on the road by 8:45 under a grey, but not raining sky.

The drive was long, but much easier (for Colin) in the BMW instead of the campervan. We headed east (north of Limoges), skirted around Bellac, then past Gueret before stopping for a coffee at Montlucon.

Next we went to Bourge en Bresse where we stopped mid-afternoon for another coffee. We passed beautiful fields and farms and went thru many lovely villages.

At one point Colin had mentioned that we might see some deer around the area, and literally just around the next bend we looked to our left and saw a whole field of them! Not kidding – dozens of deer munching grass right there – didn’t see them anywhere else but only in that one field.

The ‘tunnel de chat’ that goes through the mountains to the Lac de Bourget was closed for maintenance so all traffic was diverted over the very steep, narrow and twisting old road over the Col de Chat. Traffic was very heavy and there were several asshole-drivers coming toward us that tried to cut the corners and thus crept into our lane – there wasn’t room for that kind of crap and I was very impressed by the restraint Colin showed – I would have been blaring the horn full blast at some of them.

The drive down the other side afforded some beautiful vistas of the lake and the valley below with the Alps in the distance, but I didn’t get any good photos as there were always trees in the way or we were manoeuvring around another hairpin turn.

We found the town of Chambery alright but the GPS didn’t have the address of the motel in her database so we drove around a bit – almost thru the centre of the town, which looked ok but it was rush hour and the traffic was pretty heavy. We stopped at a Dominos Pizza (yes – they have them here too – it isn’t just McDonald’s everywhere) to ask for directions. The guy gave Colin very good directions (in French) and we had no problem finding our way to the motel.

I must say – it was pretty small, but clean enough. There was a double bed for Colin and the two doggies, and a single bunk-bed for me above them. The bathroom was so small one person could barely turn around in it, but it had everything you need, and there was a tv in the ‘main’ room but it didn’t work. It’s getting chillier as we approach the Alps.

 

 

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