Wow, and we are already over half-way through!!
Thursday
Well, it was decided that today was an excellent chance to head back over to the Swiss side of the Portes Du Soleil whilst the weather was good. It was a quick drive around to Mozine, and straight back up the Super Morzine to drop down into Les Lindarets, but this time we jumped on the Mossettes chair to take us straight up to the Swiss border. This was were everyone found out exactly what I had planned as the first real ride of the day- the Swiss National Downhill trail!
This trail is awesome- it comprises initally of a number of fast switchback sections which have literally been dug into the side of a cliff. Whilst it looks pretty scary from the top, once you start to ride this section it actually isn’t that bad. But it did take a little convincing until the first few guinea pigs agreed to give it a go!
Pretty soon almost everyone had agreed to give it a go, with just a few taking the sceanic option down. In many ways riding the bike was the best option, as you could get vertigo just standing taking photos!
Once everyone had made it down safely, we then headed off over towards Champoussin, to catch the chairlift up so we could ride one of our favourite bits of the Passportes route again.
It was really great to ride this when it was less busy, and the views were even clearer than the last time we had ridden the route.
After that a few of us ducked off to do a quick DH descent, and then caught up with the overs halfway along the GR5. Then a quick run down the Panorama trail was followed by a spin down past Lake Montrion, and then a quick stop at Bar Robbo’s for a customary Mutzig, to finish an excellent day of riding.
Friday
Friday was time for another rest day, so we all jumped into the van and headed off to Annecy, a stunning old town about an hours drive away.
Luckily it was market day in the old town, so there was plenty to see. Then a very lazy lunch was partaked- with my favourite Moules Frites and a beer- HMM, yum, Mussels!!! John was the only crazy one, and decided to skip lunch and instead head off around the lake on his bike to check out the time trial course for the Tour de France.
Then, after a stroll along the lake, a few of us decided it was time for a swim. And then it was time to head back to Samoens, after a very pleasant and relaxing day.
Saturday
On Saturday we were back on the bikes, but it was time to explore a few more of the corners of the Samoens valley. First off we headed up towards Lac de Ger. The first section of the ride is a really tough firetrack climb, which then becomes much more pleaseant as you near the Lake.
Everyone was very glad when they realised the refuge was open and serving coffees and cakes!
After that we had a really nice technical descent back down to Samoens for Lunch. After that a few of us headed back up a valley at the back of Samoens through Les Allamands, which added 600m of climbing to the 440m we had already climbed in the morning. We then had another awesome technical descent on tricky singletrack down the face of the Les Suets mountain, before dropping all the way back into town for a final quick Edelwisse! Hmm, why is it every day’s ride ends with a beer!?!
The rest of the photos can be found here!