We had a bit of an interrupted night’s sleep with people coming and going around us and music playing. First time we have had issues with music playing locals in park ups, though it seems to be a common problem. They were not too loud and I suppose they have as much right to do that as we have to sleep there.
We were up early and decided to hit the road. We have decided to get to Bourg-Saint-Maurice early to suss it out and have a few days off driving before Kevin’s daughter Alex and nephew Sean arrives next week for a Penney family ski trip 😁😎⛷
We had a wonderful drive along Lake Annecy and through Albertville, Moutier then onto Bourg-Saint-Maurice. It was made all the more pleasant by being able to get LPG, not once but twice!! We stopped off at one petrol station on route that had it on self-service, filled up one of our empty cylinders. However, we needed to know we could also get LPG at the service station in Bourg-Saint-Maurice opposite the campsite as we will be camped up for three weeks and will likely need a top-up due to the temperatures there.
When we got to Bourg-Saint-Maurice we navigated through the very nice looking town to the supermarket and petrol station where we stocked up on supplies to save us having to decamp and also managed to top up our second LPG bottle! Phew.
We pulled into the campsite though and our run of luck ran out as it was 11:30 and the reception had just closed at 11am until 3pm! We imagine it is to stop people arriving too early to camp as the French lunch break is not normally that long. Luckily they had a small car park at the front so we could pull in there, though we had to park longways across most of the spaces so we did not want to leave it unattended. So in for the duration, we got out our lovely fresh French baguette to make lunch, as they really don’t taste as good anywhere else. I called my Dad to wish him a Happy Birthday, walked the dogs etc and it was soon time to go for reception.
We had booked in for camping next Monday some weeks ago, as it is the school holidays next week and we thought it could be full with skiers. We’d had an email for that booking to say arrive after 2pm. It does not mention reception will be closed until 3pm. At 3pm I was still stood outside the locked door for 5mins as they did not bother to open up. Luckily I found another way in through the residents lounge and got us checked in. They then sent us to a specific pitch which was already occupied 🙄Anyway, finally sorted and parked up in amongst more British vans than we have seen since we set off from the UK.
In the evening we went to explore the town, sussed out the funicular railway that will wizz us up to the slopes of Arc 1600 in only 7 minutes. We also had a very hearty Savoie meal at a lovely local restaurant. Obviously they are used to serving ravenous skiers as the portions were enormous which is unusual in France. Usually you can eat three courses comfortably and that is usually how the menus are structured. However, as she left the waitress said you must be hungry as we ordered a starter and a main. The girls were happy to help too, but in the end it beat us all.
In for a Penney 