Lake Annecy

The journey through the full length of France seems quite insignificant when done as we have. A five hour drive from Calais to Dijon yesterday, a four hour journey to Lake Annecy this morning and then three hours down to Savona in Italy tomorrow ready for our ferry to Corsica on Monday morning.

We stayed on an aire last night and will tomorrow but tonight we're on a campsite where we'll get at least one shower in three days!

We're on Camping Lanfonnet which charges a premium for being on the lake while offering no views of it. I booked it via Pitch Up where it's rated 8.6 out of 10. Reviewers on Google seem to like it less and it has 2.5 stars out of five. Criticism seems to be of an unfriendly welcome, which I experienced, and noise from the restaurant across the road which is open until 1am. I booked based on the Pitch Up rating, not having looked it up on Google. I think we may be far enough away from the restaurant that it might not bother us.

Lake Annecy is a beautiful azure blue and people are swimming from the municipal beaches. Wherever you go around the lake there's a charge to swim from the designated beaches. The campsite reception advised that if we wait until the local beach 'closes' at 5.30pm then we can swim for free. However we joined a fair few other folks swimming from the shore where it's forbidden to do so. The water was lovely - clear and not too cold at all.

We're not even going to scratch the surface of what Lake Annecy offers while using it as a one-night stopover but my initial impressions are of how similar in appearance and feel it is to the larger Italian lakes. If you feel the Italian lakes are a bit too far it'd be a great alternative - just do more thorough research than I did about your campsite choice.

It's still 29°C at just after 6pm. Dinner is on, beers have been consumed and I'm about to suggest we uncork the red wine (and by uncork I mean open the five litre box!)

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