Vaison la Romaine- Annecy-La Clusaz

Apologies dear readers for missing a day - laptop was in van en route to Geneva with the rest of the luggage to pick up the other campers. I'll keep this one short and concise, peppered with photos to tell the story and of course ensure it doesn't turn into a tedious monologue of wattage and other metrics.....yawn.

Pizza dinner post Ventoux and sampling the local fermented beverages...

Vaison la Romaine and the Roman bit. Day after Ventoux dawned bright and early at 3.30 am, hurrah for jet lag !! Made it out for a run at 6.01am, a minute too late to join JN's 6am run group but hey, who wants to run at 4.45/km that early anyway?!! I used the run to actually be a tourist and take a few photos as am a bit slack in that department and rely on everyone else to take photos...... After brekky and bikes, multitudes of day bags which had to suffice for overnight stay we were off to Annecy.... 3 hrs or so later and lots of busy traffic, we were dropped at our hotel then JN and Dave sped off to Geneva so we appointed Gordo in charge til we were reunited with the others in La Clusaz. Quick change and we headed off on the Semnoz loop - 51 km around 2100m asc. Once out of town its a 16km climb, I found it a pretty nice climb and had expected it to be steeper; had a few pitches but a pretty pleasant 7% average for the 16km. Altho its all relative, after the abject misery inflicted by Mont Ventoux the day before. It was a bit cloudy uo top but oh the sweet, sweet sound of cowbells. Yes, am finally on hols, in the Alps.

Top of Semnoz- winners are grinners A long descent followed by another long descent ( thank GOD we hadn't done the loop in that direction!) and once on the outskirts of Annecy it was designated bike path all the way back to the hotel- these were terifying actually - e-bikes whizzing past at top speed, kids, scooter... felt more hazardous than the road and I could feel a bit of rage building internallyu but then remembered I'm on holidays and its time to be zen and grateful and #blessed so just CTFO

Me CTFO . And getting some of my 5 a day. Dinner in Annecy was a pleasant affair... we found a restaurant that wasn't serving pizza ... much to the waiter's amusement the order was for 7 burger with fries. Bien cuit. ( well done- didn't want to risk burger tartare....)

Thirsty work this triathlon stuff :-) Today ( Wednesday) after thankfully a long and quality sleep, we started off with a swim in the lake. How beautiful, clear 21 degrees, flat and glassy. Had a struggle to start with as felt my wetsuit was strangling me and stiff back abd shoulders from all the long descents but that eased off although I stil felt as if it was really hard work- but of course, tired from all the riding etc. Until I got out and realised my float bag hadnt been fastened properly and had been slowly catching water as I swam.........so I emptedout about 10 litres or more... haha. #resistance training

Will swim for views. After a hearty repast at the hotel, where I had to exercise (some). restraint on the baked goods and a pleasnt wander by the lake it was time to leave for La Clusaz( 37.5 km 900m asc). Gordo had stated it was a no drop ride so after another fraught expedition along the bike paths, we were out into some beautiful wee villages and rolling climbs albeit toasty in parts we arrived at the hotel in La Clusaz to the chaos of bike assemblyu, bags etc etc as the others had all arrived from Geneva. Its very ski town? Sound of Music here..... but thats what we come for, right?!!

Will also ride for views...as long as its sunny. Right its almost dinner time - then John gives us a brief on whats on tap tomorrow ( bike/ swim/ run/bike I think ) which fills me with trepidation although I have to remind myself this isn't quite so intense as a tradiitional Epic camp so its OK - just CTFO Chrissie and #wine o clock. Living the dream.....