Day 2 - Seyssel to Aix-les-Bains

We arose the next day and breakfasted at the hotel.  After packing and bringing our saddlebags down, we unlocked and brought our bikes out of storage.  David installed his battery, and everything seemed to work!

Right before leaving Lyon, David had discovered an itinerary out of Seyssel to Lac de Bourget the took in an old 5km canal, the Canal de Savieres, from the Rhone to the lake.  Gérard, our principal navigator and bike-trip expert, pronounced it a good idea, so off we went down the Rhone to the small town of Chanaz at the Rhone end of the canal.  This town turned out to be quite the tourist draw, both for boaters and walkers.  We stopped outside of town for a water-break, and to orient ourselves to our next direction.  David was instructed to lead the way, and off we went, past the pleasure-boat moorage and along the canal.  After crossing over the canal, we found ourselves on a scenic country road that paralleled the canal most of the way to Lac de Bourget.  After arriving at the junction where we intersected the road that went in both directions along the lake shore, we stopped for a quick conference. As it was noon, and there was an interesting restaurant across the street, we decide to stop and eat.

Tour Boat on the Canal

Lunch by the Canal de Savieres

After a fun meal, we headed off along the right bank of the lake, with the idea of visiting a famous former abbey, Hautecombe Abbey monastery.  It is the burial place of the former rulers of Savoie, and a religious community has been located there for a thousand years.  

Photo of the Abbey from the Web

After riding along the lake for a while we headed up the hill towards the road to the monastery.  After climbing for a while, David came to a road headed down to the monastery, about 5km distant. Just after reaching signpost, Roger got a phone call from Gérard, stating that the monastery was now not open for visitors.  Roger yelled to David to stop and return.  David did, but climbing half a kilometer is not nearly as much fun as zooming downhill for the same distance. 

After Gérard and Tom arrived, Gérard said that if we continued up, we would reach a great viewpoint over the lake, after which we could resume our tour.  After climbing for a few kilometers, Gérard re-calculated and determined that the climb would be long and that we could not just continue on around the lake but would have to return the way we came.  We decided turn around and go back around the lake on the other side.

Although none of us liked back-tracking, the scenery was still wonderful, so we had an enjoyable ride to Aix-les-Bains, on Lac de Bourget, the largest and deepest natural lake in France.  Aix is an old spa resort town where royalty and many of the rich would go to ‘take the cure’, so there are many fabulous old hotels and houses.  We got see a number of these as our hotel was on the other side of town.  What we neglected to do was take pictures - so, we are reduced to finding photos on the web.

Web photo Showing Aix and its Setting on the Lake

Aix Casino from the Web

After finding our hotel, we parked our bikes in an unused conference room.  Tom had the idea of using tape as a temporary fix for David’s cracked battery mount, so Gérard talked to the hotel staff and obtained a role of box tape.  He and David then wrapped tape around the cracked case after David removed the battery for charging. 

We ate dinner that night on the terrasse – it had been a pretty hot day, but evening and the proximity to the lake produced an evening that was reasonably comfortable.

Distance for the day - 62 kilometers.