click to the pics

On holiday with the Land Rover…..
advantage: flexibility – disadvantage: flexibility this represents exactly our late spring trip to France .
We initially planned to drive through the northern part of Sardinia. But were heading towards the western Pyrenees, then finally landed at the French Atlantic Coast, close to Bordeaux resp. at Dordogne – just call it flexibility……
Had a 10 day frame of time and wanted to drive over the French Alps towards south/west into the Pyrenees. Although not driving on dirt tracks this time, we had to realize after only 2 days that time was simply to short. Furthermore a heat wave brought us tempreatures close to 100°F and our good old doggie girl Jade was not happy about this. So we adapted our stages to the circumstances.

On tour: 7 Days Distance: 2’770 km

Alpine passes:

• Col du Pillon, CH
• Col de la Forclaz, CH-F
• Col du Glandon und Col de la Croix de Fer (Rhône-Alpes) Alpentour
• Col d’Ornon (Rhône-Alpes) ! popular with cyclists….
• Col du Festre und Valle du Buech ( Hautes-Alpes). D994 and D94 S/W is very nice for bikes
• Col de la Forclaz bei Annecy ! narrow and popular with cyclists
• Col du Marais (Haute-Savoie)
• Col de la Colombières (Haute-Savoie) ,nice for bikes ! popular with cyclists
• Morzine (F) – Monthey (CH), nice for bikes, partially narrow
• Grimselpass (CH)

Nice to see and good Campsites:

• Camping Ile des Barrats atChamonix-Mont Blanc. A small family business, in walking distance from the center, dog friendly
• Dune du Pyla (Bassin d’Arcachon, French Atlantik Coast), better not during high season
• Pyla Camping, just a minute walk from the dune, surrounded from pine woods. Dogfriendly .
• Issigeac (Perigord). A lovely medieval village and its sunday market.
• Beynac et Cazenac (Dordogne). Camping Le Capeyrou is situated next to the village right on the banks of the Dordogne river.
• Parc nat. régional des Volcans, Auvergne. N 122 from Aurillac, nice road for bikes

Conclusion:
Juni is a good time to travel in this region. In general, pass roads are open and most of the attractive places are not yet flooded by tourists. Including the Pyrenees would need at least two weeks of time. The „ big heat“ was rather unusual for this time of the year and has turned some of our plans upside down. A walk during the day over the dune down to the shore was impossible. Poor Jade didn’t know on which paw she should walk…..no go! We also had to drop our canoe tour on the Dordogne River. Can you imagine Jade with a little sun hat…..? I felt a bit sorry because the Dordonge River and its side arms is very beautiful to explore with canoes or kajaks.