A scenic journey

Today we travelled through the most amazing countryside, from Grenoble to Gap, through the Hautes-Alpes.   The scenery was spectacular, and every corner there was a new breathtaking view of the alps.  There was never a boring moment, for sure.

The day started at 4 am, when I woke to the sound of French voices above our bed.  Now I love the sound of the French language but not at 4 am.  Walter of course sleeps on his good ear, so did not near anything.  I scrambled out of bed, trying to bypass Walter's feet.  I sleep against the wall. I turned the radio off.  And for the next hour it kept turning itself on again, so I poked Walter in the ribs each time, so that he had to get out of bed to turn the radio off. In the end he kept the radio on, but turned the sound down.  This worked.  By this time the birds were chirping in the trees outside and it was beginning to get light.  Everytime one of us got up, it meant a visit to our little toilet room.  What a pickle.

We decided that there was not a supernatural power following us, but that the radio had a glitch in it, possibly due to the extreme cold.  

Consequently we slept in again, and when we woke the caravan was extremely cold inside, the grass was frozen outside and our front windows were iced over.  And whats more our caravan would not heat up.  It took a while to realise our roof vent was open.  

But once we thawed out, and the sun rose over the mountain peaks, the day went extremely well.  We hitched up the caravan in one go, I drove out of the front entrance easily, we found the right motorway, and navigated Grenoble without the slightest problem.

The view of the mountains above our campsite, once the sun rose over the mountains in the east.  Such a beautiful sight.

A view of the alps as we drove towards Grenoble.

A photograph for South Australians.  We stopped at an On The Run service station.  The big, and spreading business, has arrived in France.

Once we left Grenoble, on the N85, the road climbed up steeply until we reached a plateau high up in the mountains.  It was also a very twisty road, as well as a busy road. Our car did not miss a beat, and I rarely had to change down to second gear.  We were so thankful that we driving a powerful car, which pulled our caravan so easily, and managed the steep incline as well.

And high up on the plateau we passed village after village.

A very picturesque view of a well kept village.

A stop at an aire, the temperature registered at 4 degrees on instrument panel on the car, so we did not linger long in this spot.

We once drove along the N85 in the early evening, in the dark, in the middle of winter. We had no idea how high up we were, or anything really.  We were on our way to Orcieres, a small town and ski resort which was along a valley and up a steep mountain.  A side road off the N85, just before the town of Gap.

On that occasion we were caught in a traffic jam in Grenoble which delayed us somewhat.  We rented a lovely apartment in Orcieres, facing south.  The skiing was abysmal, due to lack of real snow. I spent a week risking life and limb skiing on the ice on the artificial snow.  We also ate the worst take away pizza ever at the resort, worse than the one we ate in Milan.  Memories.

More mountains.

A lone building on the side of the road.

Our lunch stop, high up a steep road and overlooking the valley below.  Such a perfect setting.  Unfortunately someone had dumped their rubbish over the edge of the bank beside the caravan.  Extreme fly tipping for sure.  One wonders about some people.

Our view of the valley and mountains.  After our lunch we would have liked to linger over coffee and enjoy the sunshine and the view.  Sadly we had no electricity for our coffee machine.  So coffee was out.

 We continued on our way, with more spectacular views of mountains, valleys, woodland and villages.

Finally we descended down into a wide valley and made our way to the camping ground, where we finally had a cup of coffee.  We also washed clothes, in the washing machine, and at a considerable cost, and found a large supermarket, in order to stock up on food.

Tonight we are hoping for a night without French voices talking above our heads. Walter will leave the radio on, but with the sound turned off.  We will also close the roof vent.

And hopefully not too many visits to the little room next to our bed.