Sunday July 21st - Cool sunny and warm 18ºC to 28ºC - clear blue skies
Good bye Puget
Hello Annecy - coffee time
Good bye empty gas can
Good bye Annecy
Too nice to leave
Hello Geneva - Triathlon time
Lac Le Man and Geneva fountain
On our way home
Our last day. A short 17k bike ride into Annecy down hill and along the Lake Annecy, with fantastic views of the Lake for most of the way. 2hr train trip to Geneva, then a 12k bike ride along a small section of Lac Le Man and through the back roads to Geneva Airport where we celebrate the end of a 2000k+ bike ride with two large very expensive beers.
Time to sleep in, then pack and breakfast is at 8.30am. I'm cheesed out but the cheese is so nice I can't help myself. I've been pretty good at avoiding the bread, so cheese and jam is better than nothing. We're off down the hill by 9.30am on clean bikes. At St Jorioz, there's a Super U where we stop for ONE tomato, bread and a check to see if they have any tape for our bike boxes that we'll buy at the airport. No tape. So on to Annecy - it's holiday season on a Sunday morning on a beautiful day and the bike path is chaotic.
By 10.30. we're at Annecy by the canals which drain from the end, find a park and have our last coffee of the trip. Good timing as our gas bottle just ran out. The water is so crystal clear with people swimming - my guess is about 20ºC - wetsuit cold. Then up to the station. There's two English guys with bikes too, and we help each other load on to the train that's quite high off the platform - 4 steps up. The bike rack is full but it's not as crowded as the Grenoble train. At 11.57 the train leaves for Aix-Les-Baines - a backward step to get a connection into Geneva. We've only 21 minutes to change trains - not a lot of time when there's lifts, steps, escalators and bridges to negotiate. We frantically look for a way to get down under and over, when we realise that the Geneva train leaves from the same platform. TG.
The Geneva train is low to the platform so it's an easy stage. At 2pm we roll off the train and follow the downhill streets towards the lake - it's bedlum lakeside as there's an International Triathlon Union (ITU) event with roads closed and the cycle path along the lake blocked. There's a few Australians in it but it hasn't started yet and we need to get to the airport soon - no time to wait and watch. Pushing our way through we find a crowded seat overlooking Lake Le Man with people swimming. Brrr. And there we finish off every scrap of food we own - cheese, tomatoes, ham, jam and chocolate.
Following the bike path along the lake is easy, until we need to make a left hand turn towards the airport. We can see and hear the planes are close so we know we're not far away but every turn is blocked by a freeway. Eventually there's a path under and a few more hit and misses and we're there. The baggage service has plenty of bike boxes, as teh web site indicated and 40 Swiss France later and we're dismantling the bikes and sorting the luggage into packable, clean, dirty and a change for the plane after a shower. It takes only 30 minutes but we then find out it's another 1hr 30 until the Etihad checking opens so we find a bar to celebrate the end of our trip with 2 very large beers.
Time to check in and that's easy. We're at the head of the line and we're given assistance to tag our bike boxes which we've left at the large luggage counter 50 metres away. A priority security pass is great and we're through in 2 minutes and headed for the lounge BUT no showers. Can't be. There's none in any of the lounges in Geneva, but there is one at the nursery area for kids where you'll have to pay. So we take it in turns to wash away the dust of the day and sit and enjoy another celebratory drink in the lounge.
The flight leaves at 9.50pm and we're immediately fed 6 courses with wine. Then in 3hrs there's breakfast as the flight from Geneva to Abu Dhabi is less than 7 hours. We try to limit how much we eat, but the mildly spiced lamb is very nice. Leaving instructions for "no breakfast please, just a cup of tea in the morning", it's time to get some sleep on the perfectly horizontal flat beds.