I stayed another night at the cool little free camping river site and then decided to head north to a place called Les Gets (said with a soft “g”). It was another paragliding site in the guide I got from Annelies and yet another ski town. When I arrived it was fairly windy although I did see one or two wings in the sky. They turned out to be tandems and that’s not always a good gauge as to whether one should fly as: a) they are really good pilots b) they know the place c) they want to earn their money. It didn’t looked like they launched from very high up and I have to admit I wasn’t as impressed as La Clusaz or La Grand Bornand.
I walked around town that was filled with ski and mountain bike rental shops, restaurants and bars. There were quite a few mountain bikers cruising through town as I searched for a grocery store to buy some lunch. I found one, but it was closed. After a futile search and with the skies now overdeveloping and starting to look dark, I asked a shop owner and she said the “Shopi” would open at 3pm. Somehow I missed that sign on the store but who closes for 3 hours in the middle of Saturday afternoon? Shopi does. I sat ouside the store with about 10 other impatient customers, expecting that I would get drenched by the time I got my food and walked back to Betty who was once again strategically parked on a slope at the edge of town. The skies became incredibly dark to the north and somewhat menacing to the south but thankfully the downpour had yet to start when I walked back to my campervan. I decided to let Miss Satnav take me to nearest campsite which was only 5-6 kms away. Unfortunately it was full, and most campsites nearby were likely to be as well as the Tour de France was coming through this area tomorrow. I decided to head towards Chamonix, away from this area (sorry Jordon – my former manager, who would have loved to have been in my shoes and would have definitely stayed to watch). The GPS unit took me a different way out of this valley and I drove up a narrow tarmac road that snaked up a ski hill (the road must definitely be closed in the winter). I contemplated staying in a tucked away meadow but it was pouring down rain and only 4pm, might as well press on a bit. I descended in to the next valley and tried another, and quire big, campsite but it too was full. I reset my sights on St. Gervais Les Bains which was one town shy of Chamoniz, my goal for tomorrow. Chamonix is primarily a morning site so it wouldn’t hurt to be closer to it. The campsite had a lovely view of Mt. Blanc and I had a pleasant evening there. Skyped with my nephew Matthew and caught up on a few housekeeping items.
The ominous skies:
The ski hill:
Betty with Mt. Blanc:
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