Our First European Road Trip - Day 7

The Drive From Interlaken to Annecy

Day 7 dawned and the sun was shining on us. It had rained for most of the day before and intermittently during the night so our day shelter that we use for cooking, eating and keeping dry if necessary was wet. Fortunately things warmed up quite quickly and we were able to pack up quickly to get on the road by 8.30am.

Our journey to the next site was 160 miles through some stunning scenery. Briefly, the route took us from Interlaken to Bern, the capital of Switzerland. From here we continued south-west to Lausanne and then followed the edge of Lake Geneva and the Jura National Park for most of the way into Geneva. At Geneva we turned due south and continued over the Swiss border into France and down to Annecy. We took the journey slowly, stopped a couple of times for a break and arrived at our campsite early afternoon.

We had chosen to stay at the Solitaire du Lac Campsite just outside St Jorioz. St Jorioz is about 6 miles from the town of Annecy and is located on the lake shore. I had chosen this site after doing a lot of research on the internet. It was one of a very few sites that provided direct access to the lake for swimming and boat launching which was something we wanted. It also had direct access to the traffic-free cycle path that goes all of the way around the lake.

The Entrance to Solitaire du Lac

The site was full during our stay and initial impressions were that everything was a bit squashed in. Having said that, our pitch was more than adequate (the pitch was allocated to us with no option to choose one when we booked). It had good shade from mature trees and was clearly marked out. We also had an electric hook-up. The whole site is on level ground which makes pitching very simple.

Pitches arranged between trees for shade

The Reception also serves as a little shop which was open until 9pm each night and sold soft drinks, wine and beer, ice creams, sweets and, in the morning, bread and pastries. There was a supermarket about 5 minutes drive away too.

Takeaway food is also offered every evening by a lovely man who cooks homemade pizzas from a converted Citroen van. They were made to order and were very good.

Solitaire du Lac offered free WiFi in the vicinity of the Reception if required.

The pitches are located about 100m from the lake edge. The site owners have kept the area immediately adjacent to the lake as a grassy area for ball games, sun-bathing and so on. There was a small children's play area here but it looked as though it could do with some repair.

Play area with the lake just visible through the trees

Lake Annecy itself is beautiful. The campsite has a couple of 'beach' areas providing easy access to the water for swimming or boating. The lake bottom is sandy and it is shallow for quite a long way out, making it ideal for children.

The temperature was in the early 30's by the time we had pitched up so we went off for a dip - very nice it was too!

One of the 'beach' areas

We liked this site because of it's location (and pizzas!) but we did find it to be a bit cramped and we were not too keen on the toilet/shower arrangements which were completely uni-sex. Also, and it is a small point, the toilet cubicles did not have their own supply of toilet paper. Instead there were dispensers located at the entrances so you had to estimate the quantity of paper you required in advance! Towards the end of the day the dispensers often ran out and were not re-filled until the morning, meaning you also needed to take your own supply with you just in case. Maybe I am just being picky.

The toilet/shower block was large and also provided several clothes washing sinks, a covered area for washing dishes, a laundry room and disabled facilities. Adjacent to the block was a motorhome service point for water and taps for drinking water too.

Aerial view of the campsite

After a BBQ, some wine and a few rounds of Bananagrams we were ready to retire for the night with plans to head off into Annecy the next day.