Campervan Adventures: Chamonix, Gorges de la Diosaz & Lac Vert

Rainy days in the mountains are not the grey miserable drizzly affairs they are in the UK. Dramatic low hanging clouds sweep up valleys like tidal waves, rivers turn into swirling gushing torrents and the green forests look almost fluorescent. Instead of going high, it’s best to go low and to make the most of the weather we visited the Gorges de la Diosaz.

 

Campervan Adventures: Hiking In Chamonix, Barberine To Emosson Dam

Starting a hike of 1km vertical ascent up a mountain at 3pm when a storm is forecast might not have seemed like the best idea to some people. But when we saw the Emosson dam looming above us we just had to get up there to check it out – and I’m so glad we did! We’d driven to Chamonix in the camper van, had some work meetings in the morning and taken the advice of a local client to take a short waterfall hike from the little hamlet of Barberine. We reached the waterfall in 20 minutes and the signs directing us to the 2hr trail to the dam were too much to resist, so on we marched with one eye on the gathering clouds.

First Campervan Adventure: Champagne & Langres

Life in the mountains is all about exploring and getting out into the great outdoors – which is why we bought a camper van last week! From our home in Morzine we can reach some stunning places within an hour or few’s drive – Annecy, Switzerland, Lake Geneva, Italy’s lakes or coast. We could even just pop up the road to beautiful Lake Montriond with the BBQ and a bag of wine for sunset any day of the week! With just a moment’s notice Steve, the dog and I can hop in the van and be on holiday. We can’t wait! The van has a pop-up roof, a couple of hobs and a sink, electrics and we’ve got plenty of outdoor furniture to play with. So here begins the Downs’ Camper Adventures (nothing to do with Steve’s limp wrists – or my currently broken one).