An Adamo Alpine Adventure Part II: The Lake

Lake Annecy has been a destination for over a century. People have flocked to the shores of this beautiful lake, and there are some fantastic campsites around the entirety of the lake. Despite being at the foot of the French Alps and fed by rivers and streams from the nearby mountains, Lake Annecy maintain high temperatures in summer and was a shockingly civilised 24 Celsius when we visited in July. What’s more is that due to strict environmental regulations dating back to the 1960s, it is known as Europe’s cleanest lake. This made it the perfect place to take young children.

We were late booking as my work can be busy and unpredictable at best, so we could not find a spot on a lake-side campsite. However, a short distance away was a perfect spot. Getting to the lake each day was easy as the surrounding area is a network of interconnecting cycle paths. In fact, a well-maintained and serviced cycle path circumnavigates the lake, and a tributary of this began across the road from our campsite.

So, every morning, after breakfast in the shade of our Bailey Adamo 75-4DL, we took the pleasant 20-minute cycle down to the lake’s edge. The paths are in good condition and pass by some peaceful forested areas, open fields, and streams. As the temperature was still in the mid-30s, the boys would often stop by a shallow brook to cool their feet and splash under the shade of the overhanging trees. Due to the lack of traffic, it was a perfect route to take young children, and our youngest, who wasn’t quite able to cycle at the beginning of day one, was confident and capable by the end of the second day.

As I mentioned, the lake is surprisingly warm so we could swim and play in the waters all day without getting cold. That said, the best beaches were becoming, if not over-crowded, at least busier than we would prefer. So, we decided to take refuge in the middle of the lake. To plant our picnic spot out in the middle of the lake, we hired a pedalo for only €20 per hour. Despite what you may think, and certainly what I assumed, the boat moved relatively easy through the water, made ample progress, and was easy to steer. We quickly made out way out of the harbour and out into the middle of the lake.

Since the air temperature had reached almost 35 Celsius, we were all keen to jump in. The boys, adorned with life jackets; the masks and snorkels were straight off the boat, and whilst the adults took it in turns to man the helm to keep the vessel on station in the face of a gentle breeze blowing us back to shore. Below the surface, the water took on a greenish hue, and the visibility was around six metres, presumably because of an algal bloom created by the warmth and vast amounts of solar energy occurring at this time. By all accounts, there were pike, lake trout, carp, bream, char, perch and roach in the lake, but I must concede to seeing absolutely none of them. We were, however, visited by numerous large troops of ducks during our cruise.

Despite the lack of spotting sub-aquatic wildlife, this is still a fantastic place to snorkel. The cheap, simple means of transport, the indulgently warm waters and the cleanliness of the location would all hit the spot. But it’s the surrounding scenery, the fringing cliffs and the lower Alpine mountains that set the scene.

Back at camp, it was a BBQ dinner on our Cadac, due to the good weather we found ourselves cooking every meal on our Cadac over the two weeks, followed by a quick, pre-bed splash in the pool (my boys love water).

We were fortunate on our travels to have experienced such good weather. But the temperature, holding at around 35 Celsius, could have been oppressive. Both locations lent themselves well to escape the intensity of the mid-day heat. Either by freeing up the mountains to higher and cooler altitudes or simply jumping into the refreshing waters of the lake.

In all, and despite an initial and final long drive of around 12 hours, I cannot recommend the Alps enough. It has plenty to offer campers of all ages and abilities, and it has a stunning landscape to camp within from peaks to lakes.