Bryon and Jenny arrived for dinner, and we loaded the car with most things
before Steph turned up (she had dropped off most of her stuff the week
before), then hung around waiting before leaving for the Channel Tunnel.
Our crossing left Folkestone just before 2am and with all the constrictions on
time we left home at 10:30pm - We had therefor still a wait in the terminal
before we could progress through all the security to get to the departure
apron.
Luckily the drive over was trouble free other than roadworks closing a lane on
the motorways. Then the wait began ... we were wasting time in the
terminal then the slow progress through the security (two sets of UK then
French then allocation to loading queue (we were in the full size carriages).
All achieved without panic.
Into Calais and a swift exit onto the autoroutes. we restricted ourselves
to 90 min stints to help with the fact that none of us had any sleep, although
this was alleviated by having four drivers. Along the A26 to Reims, then down to
Troyes (short stop for Coffee and Croissants). The sunrise was quite impressive
as we crossed central France.
The A4 to Dijon then the A39 around the back to Bourg-en-Bresse and A40 to
Geneva, before turning off to Annecy From here taking the back road to
Albertville and Beaufort. By now anyone not driving was sleeping! We stopped
off at the Intermarche on the way up at Villard-sur-Doron to pick up fresh
vitals then continued up to park in Beaufort so we could phone the landlady
from the car park before continuing.
The autoroute was very cold (the trees were white with haw frost) until we hit
the alps where it warmed up. The local roads were clear of snow although it was
only recent and we had no issues with grip up to Areches. There was fresh snow
all around like last year although it was sparse in places, but it looked OK for
all the routes leading from the village.
This year we could park right outside the apartment, on the main road into
Areches on a slight reserved lay-by but had to hump everything up four flights
of stairs. Soon discovering all the hidden nooks - like the under eves storage
area as well as bits left by the owners (also several partially locked
cupboards). We then settled into the rooms and had dinner on the go.
