2geonomads

Tuesday 20th October 2015

Woken up before 6am by a phone call from Australia ( which went unanswered ). This is the second consecutive day that this has happened so I have asked Brooke, who looks after Handeze  when we are away, to call the numbers to identify human alarm clocks.

Use the laverie at the apartment to put through a load of washing which has been building up and once that’s out of the way we set off to change some more money. Both in Spain and France we have encountered problems when trying to use our Visa and Mastercard although Amex which is far less acceptable in Australia has come to the rescue on a number of occasions. in any event we try to keep a good supply of ready cash as a safety measure.

We next find a local service station and we are initially delighted to actually find a person at the payment desk rather than a machine. I make a comment to this effect to the guy in question and his response confirms that he is another charisma by-pass recipient. I am tempted to make return visit tomorrow and comment that it makes a pleasant change to have a machine there rather than a person!

On an overcast day we drive south and quickly climb up into the mountains, first to the small village of Lans en Vercor and then on to Villard de Lans, a popular ski resort in a glorious setting. Lunch in a small cafe where we enjoy some great galettes ( crepes ). Continue on to Correncon en Vercors with its picturesque 18 hole golf course costing 60 Euros for a round.

Gail has mapped out a route  back to Grenoble which takes us on a detour via the south west part of the magnificent Parc National Regional du Vercors. This turns out to be even more adventurous than expected as when we arrive at the junction of the C103 and the D531( which is supposed to get us back to Grenoble fairly quickly ) the road is blocked off in both directions. However, as this delay occurs at the spectacular Pont de Goule Noire, a well-known potholing and caving area.Some useless info for you. Apparently the correct term for a cave-explorer is a spelunker and the science of studying caves is speleology. Don’t you all feel much better knowing that!

The amazing autumn colours

Given the road blockage we are forced to take a much longer detour via the superb town of Pont en Royans. The scenery along the way is breathtaking as the D531 ( post-blockage) follows the Bourne River hugging the cliff face high above the valley floor.

We don’t have time to visit the Grotte de la Choranche, one of the most visited sights in the Isere region but we mark it down for future reference.

Whilst we may have cursed the road works at the time they gave us an opportunity to experience probably the most impressive of our trip so far.

Dinner at the apartment and then turn in after a memorable day.