Aug 2012 - France

21st - 31st August 2012. Camping in Clairvaux-les-Lacs, in the Jura region of France, near the Swiss border.

21st: An early start from Matt & Ruth's house in Wye to catch the ferry, with a full English breakfast on board.  The hottest day of the holiday was spent in our car, with no air conditioning, and the temperature pushing 34 centigrade.

22nd: The weather was set to deteriorate over the next few days, so we got straight down to the lake, where Emily & Katie amused themselves throwing and catching sticks.

In the evening, we checked out the campsite entertainment, called "crazy dance", but it wasn't really that crazy.

24th: Le Pic de l'Aigle (993m) - Higher than anything in the Lake District, but not as much of a mountain as it sounds, as the whole region is on a high plateau, so the walk starts at 775m.

25th: Pete's birthday breakfast.

We drove to Baume les Messieurs to see some impressive cliffs, caves and waterfalls....

...and some friendly goats.

The way in to the caves was via a nerve-wracking suspended walkway, under then over the waterfall. Unsurprisingly, Megan was slightly reluctant!

Sunset in Clairvaux, on the way to Pete's birthday meal.

27th: La Dole (1677m).  This was more of a climb, starting at 1240m.  The hill is actually in Switzerland, so the girls enjoyed having lunch on the border, with each leg in a different country!

The girls were amused by my "cool dude" look when taking photos (the cap was interfering with the pop-up flash).

When we reached the top of the ridge, we were greeted with a breathtaking view of the Alps across Lake Geneva. 

Looking down to Geneva, you can just make out the fountain at the end of the lake.

Spot the grasshopper!

On the way back down, we got a little bit chased by one of the locals (the ones with bells round their necks). Made it down safely though, and back across the border.

28th: Les Cascades du Herisson.

Pete struggling to hold the camera steady with Megan on his back.

Bonlieu, a village we passed through a few times.

29th: French breakfast

followed by a rainy-day trip to La Maison de la Vache Qui Rit (the cheese spread factory museum). 

30th: The departure of our campsite neighbours, the wonderful Teuten family from Swindon, who had greeted us with a much-needed cup of tea when we arrived. 

After a few days at the pool, Megan was getting very confident in the water, and Katie was finally swimming without armbands.

Megan working on her climbing skills at the park.

Who'd have thought they would be so keen to do the washing up?

31st: Homeward bound - thankfully not such a hot day for the journey this time.  But we arrived at the ferry port to find the ferry was cancelled, so we had a bit of a late night drama, which fortunately turned out not to be as late as expected.

Some non-photographic memories of the holiday:
Impressive electrical storms (but not-so-impressive water-resistance of our 9-year-old tent).
Megan leading her older sisters onto the dance floor at the kiddies' disco and showing them how it's done.
The biggest moth I've ever seen - probably a Hummingbird Hawk-moth