Bikes and Hikes - June in Europe

Michael, Brad and I were the lucky guests of our lovely friends Inge and Euan on a small European adventure this June. The journey began with a bike pub crawl through Inge's home town on the outskirts of Amsterdam; our fearless leader and local tour guide René (Inge's dad) showed us around the windmills and clog factory in between pubs. 

Michelle & Marty, continuing their world tour in style!

Belfie! 

I was teamed up with Brad and then Michael on the tandem bike and after a while I felt being the passenger was really only possible with a significant amount of "dutch courage" under my belt, as I had absolutely no control of where we went and the boys grew bolder and bolder as the day went on.

The white knuckle express!

Highlights included: Brad getting stuck on the other side of an open bridge from us - I think we all sobered up in the time we had to wait for him to get across, a tandem bike drag race (do NOT try this at home), feeling really self sufficient and smart by getting the train "home" before realising that none of our party actually knew where "home" was and, of course, the delicious meal that was waiting for the bunch of tipsy Australian bike riders that fell through Inge's parent's doors at the end of the day.

Tandem bike drag race

The next morning, we got up at 6 am, packed up the Renault and keyed southern France into the GPS. 11 hours of driving was ahead of us with Michael, Brad and I in the back to annoy Euan and Inge as they drove (we were mainly just fighting over the Settlers of Catan app). 

From Modane in southern France, we set off on a 5 day hike through the Vanoise National Park. With baguettes sticking out of our hiking packs, we set off with great anticipation.

Breakfast of Champions - croissants and coffee!

First day, first Pass! Col d'Assois - affectionately renamed Col d'Aussies - 2916masl

The first day became a little more exciting when, accidentally, I went sliding down the face of a snow covered mountain on my bum (in shorts) with my bag tumbling out of control head over heals before me. My hands, having been used as my breaks, were a bit on the burnt side and my pride was most definitely dented. On a positive note, it definitely got me down the mountain much quicker than walking and you can't ask for more than that, can you? 

From my new vantage point, I was able to watch everyone else gracefully toboggan down the mountain on their packs as I had intended on doing before completely losing control. The others even waited 5 minutes or so before laughing openly at me, which was very considerate of them. One thing is for sure: the Nikon has certainly passed the "tumble down the side of the French Alps" test, so that's good.

The correct technique for backpack tobogganing

Michael and Brad tabboggan down.... Some more gracefully than others....

The hike was STUNNING. Rolling green hills, beautiful crystal clear glacier water, spring flowers, marmots, mountain goats, snow, rain, snow and more snow. 

On the first night, we set up camp just in time for an almighty thunder storm to roll through; thunder, lighting, torrential rain, the lot! 

Perched on top of a mountain somewhere in the French Alps, Michael's EU9.99 tent soon had a glacial river of its very own flowing straight through it and Brad and I heard a knock at the door not long after. Our hiking tent is designed for a maximum 1.5 people. So with 3 people squished in, it wasn't the most comfortable night we have ever experienced - all of us trying not to touch the edges of the tents as the rain poured on through the night. We kept ourselves entertained as Michael read his Game of Thrones book out loud and we provided the sound effects (ie. "SCHWING!", "CLIP CLOP!", "I AM SER!" etc, etc...). 

We also conveniently had the entire stash of m&m's in our backpacks, so our tent dinner was quite enjoyable indeed. I am sure Inge and Euan enjoyed their tins of tuna and muesli bars....

Fun times in the snow...

Day 2 saw us take a massive detour, after an hairy ice ledge crossing at around 2500masl freaked us all out. As we edged along the aforementioned icy ledge (Michael and Brad in runners with no grip), we were able to peer over and see the gigantic fall that awaited us should anything go awry. We decided to descend to the lovely looking snow-less town we would see in the distance instead of continuing.

The ladies in the information centre looked at us like we were crazy and shook their heads when we told them where we had hiked that day. Our bad. A night in a cabin with some French cheese and wine and we were ready to hike our way out the next day (following a safer, information-centre-lady-approved route).

Deserted Mountain Refuges (now we understand why)

Pralognan-la-Vanoise

View from our campsite in Pralognan-la-Vanoise

The hike on the last day was beautiful; we began by following a crystal clear river and later found ourselves trudging through snow again at the pass. This was exhausting, but totally worth it as we had the place entirely to ourselves. I also discovered that sprinting down a snowy mountain is a lot more fun than an out of control tumble - who knew?!

Finally,we made it to a beautiful mountain refugio for a hot shower and a night in a bed (thank goodness we lugged our tents that whole way, huh?). Brad and Euan kindly ran the last few km's of the trail, in the pouring rain, to get the car and we then drove to Lyon.

Hiking food and a beer at the refugio

Sending the boys off in the rain to retrieve the car while we played Catan in front of the open fire.

Mandatory Crocs at the refugio (the footy short & thermal look was totally optional)

Our route through the Vanoise National Park, France

There, we spent a few days at the same caravan park that Brad and I had stayed in a year and a half ago and enjoyed a bit of Lyonnaise cuisine. Ie. pig's brain, tripe sausage, lots of liver, cheese and croissants.

Fun times in Lyon

Bellies full with beer and Lyonnaise food = happy campers (or non-campers, as the case may be)

Lyon take 2

What a fantastic jam packed, aussie-filled, snowy week away!