We set off for Dover at 7am since there was now a 45mins limit on check-in as well as the hour and a half journey there. Despite it being a working day the congestion was not too great and we arrived on time for our alloted check-in. I thought that with an hour to go there was plenty of time to get the UK sticker on the back and “do” the lights, but hardly had Sue gone to the loo and I had started on the lights when we were called forward. I had to wait at the beginning of the queue for Sue to reappear then we loaded... there can only have been around 10 cars/ vans the rest were lorries. The ferries were running an hour late, however this just meant we hopped on the one before ours leaving at our time.
We loaded quickly then headed for second breakfast - not particularly
special, but filled a gap. The crossing had some swell but generally not too
rough, and on time we pulled into Calais, however as it appeared into a
holding berth since the real one still had a boat in it and we had to wait for
it to go before crabbing over to the correct berth.
The usual traipse down the autoroute (helped by the bip and go) until we reached Reims, where I took a wrong turn end ended up missing the turn to Carrefour and we had to turn back at the next junction which involved free ranging the back streets to try and turn back. A full tank and we returned to the Autoroute down past Dijon, where we paused for dinner - unfortunately not a steak and chips as this was too small - and on to Bourg-en-Bresse without further incident. The Ibis was the same we had used on our last ski trip however we had a quiet room near the end of the corridor.
Saturday we were up around 7:30am and continued after a breakfast, following the autoroutes through the Jura and out above Geneva, leaving to cut across country to Annecy as we had plenty of time. We stopped at the supermarket just past Annecy, only to find it under maintenance, and diverted to Lidl - very busy and not really a substitute. Then on the N roads down to Albertville, where we climbed up towards Beaufort, pausing at the Intermarche for all the things Lidl did not have (like fresh milk).
We were due to collect the keys from the Immobilier in Areches rather than Beaufort, so we ended up in the ski area car park there looking at a very verdant valley with snow only higher up. As it was lunchtime we had to wait for the office to open up so after wandering around we stopped in a café for hot drinks to pass some time, then over to the sports shop for some retail therapy.
Picking up the keys was very simple and we were soon heading back down the valley to Beaufort to find the apartment. This was described as "take the back street behind the bakery and where this turns sharply go up the stairs to the first floor and you are there". Getting the van close would prove to be a challenge and we ended up driving it steeply up the next narrow road and reversing it down the back entry track to the stairs - something we would not repeat.
The apartment was an old building and nicely shabby inside - totally suitable for us, with 4 bedrooms and 2 living rooms.
Katie and Lloyd had spent the night in Dover and drove down in one go arriving at 8:30pm in time for a late dinner (the usual spaghetti Bolognese). We did not repeat the exercise getting their car near the stairs, resorting to portage for their bags.
Tomorrow we would go and see the sate of the snow.