Saturday 1 August,
After enjoying a rest day yesterday with beautiful weather, today is the opposite with thick fog, cold and rain. Not a day to bike over one of the highest passes in the Alps. However according to the weather map it is a small front expected to move through today with a chance of thunder this afternoon, but it should be all clear again tomorrow. I explored the immediate surroundings of the village yesterday which is situated in a National Park, de la Vanoise. The hotel is well occupied with trampers of quite mature age, predominantly French, enjoying the many trails and tracks around. The river Arc which flows through the village comes from the glacier up ahead. The village is at 1800m altitude and is surrounded by peaks of around 3,600m. The visitors come here all year round with some great ski slopes around. The park's wildlife, such as marmots and mountain goats with huge sculptured horns. Summer sports apart from the Tour de France passing through occasionally, are mountaineering, rock climbing, abseiling, canyoning, para gliding, mountain biking and just walking. In winter, climbing, skiing, skating on the high altitude lakes, dog sledging and snow shoeing, a great place to be. It hasn't got the high density tourist developments here, and limited accommodation, so it will always be a small friendly quiet place to visit.
The village with it's low stone houses with stone slabbed roofs and little narrow streets is quaint and peaceful, and one can imagine how beautiful it would be in winter.
So I spent my enforced day of rest, giving the bike a service and writing this for you, because after watching the fog for a while, there is only so much beer one can drink.
The view from my room
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