Trevoux to Oh No!
Saturday 23rd September 2017
Things were a bit sluggish this morning after the bad night and trying to recover from the poor night’s sleep. A nice walk along the river helped and we ventured into Trevoux town to see what was occurring. It happens that Saturday is market day in Trevoux.
Bread and cakes were on the agenda again this morning, what else. There are several boulangeries and one excellent patisserie which if you get this way you must visit, if only to gaze through the window and marvel at the wondrous skill of the patissiere. We gazed and walked on, then we came back, gazed again, and then purchased a couple of cakes to savour later. We perused the market but refrained from any purchase but the view from the terrace of the market square over the river Soane is magnificent.
Time to head back to the site and wend our way onward. Today we were heading down past Grenoble and toward Briancon where along route we planned to find an aire at one of the many ski resorts en-route – or so we thought.
Coming out of Grenoble we saw the dreaded sign that the D1091 was closed. Well you can imagine that this threw not only us but our temperamental satnav into all sorts of confusion. Having a diversion for road works in your local town is one thing but across the Alps is quite another. Had we have known about this beforehand we would certainly not have come down to Grenoble, should we have known? I don’t know, and it was all water under the bridge, we were where we were.
We picked up a diversion sign for Briancon via Gap. A quick consult with the map book indicated that we had no option and so off in the direction of Gap and along the Route Napoleon we went. Of course this also meant that our planned stop along the D1091 was also not going to happen and necessitated a consult with the camp guides as well.
The Route Napoleon from Grenoble to Gap is the N85 and has a 2.6m height limit at Laffrey. I remember this from last year when we used this route coming back from South France. It was kind of worrying at the time as we’d driven miles from Gap only to get to Laffrey and be confronted with a 2.6m height restriction in our motorhome which is 3m. Coming from Gap and on your way out of Laffrey you are met with a series of height barriers/lanes which are a little confusing at first and we thought we were stuck. After a few moments of bemusement, we used the intercom provided to try and explain our predicament, at which point the barrier lifted and we were asked to proceed – Phew. This all came flooding back whilst driving up from Grenoble this year, however in this direction there is no barrier and you just carry on driving. We think the intention is to restrict heavy vehicles using the route which has long stretches of fairly steep incline.
We decided to stay this side of Gap and head for Camping Pre Du Lac. The campsite is directly off of the Route Napoleon but it is a difficult approach requiring you to pull off the road to the right, wait for a clear patch in the traffic and then take a wide left sweep across the road and into the campsite entrance. There is a further hairpin before you get to the campsite proper.
The site is situated in a beautiful location on the banks of Grand Lac du Laffrey and which is bordered by magnificent hills. The lake is popular with fishermen and windsurfers during the summer season.
Camping Pre Du Lac is a little basic on facilities. Don’t get me wrong, it has everything you’ll need for a short stay but it’s just a bit basic. We thought that there would be good walking from the campsite being in such a beautiful location but we were sadly mistaken. We could find our way around to an adjacent campsite and then on to the nautical centre but from then on it was marked as private. It’s just as well that we were only staying one night. Having said that, it is a beautiful location and we pitched overlooking the lake and shoreline where Lily was able to have a swim.
