The top of the Col de Joux Plane. It was pretty foggy at the top.

The last 2-3 miles of the Col de la Columbiere are really steep and hard on tired legs.

The kids in a little cave in the gorge we went to.

On the suspended bridge in the gorge.

The castle/chateau we came across near the gorge.

The church in Sevrier near where we were staying.

The views of the mountains around the lake are great.
7-15-10 Thursday
Grandma had to fly home today, so I got up at 4:30 in the morning to run her to the airport. As she is flying business class, she was told that she could check in 2 bags weighing up to 70 pounds each. As we had quite a bit of extra stuff we had bought over here, we packed up a smaller bag for her to check in and take home for us. When we got to the airport there was no one at the Air France counter. It took us a little investigating to finally figure out where we had to go. As she was flying to Paris, you have to walk over to the French side of the airport to check in. After she had waited through a little line, they put her bags up and said that her large bag was too large. They told her each back could only weight 23 Kilo’s or about 50 pounds. I asked what the surcharge would be to check the bags in like they were, and the lady said about 150 euros or about $220. We got out of line and decided to repack some things, so we took a few heavier items out of the larger bag and were able to squeeze them into the smaller bag and her carry on and we were able to check her in OK. I think she was glad I stuck around to help her and make sure she got on the plane OK. After dropping her off, I had come dressed for my bike ride, so I drove over to the start of the Joux Plane and did that climb. The climb of the Joux Plane was pretty steep and took just under an hour to climb to the top. The last 20 minutes or so were a pretty constant speed and averaged 7.1 mph. After the Joux Plane, I drove over to the start of the Col de la Columbiere and did that climb as well. It starts out with the first 15 minutes or so avg. a steady 8.5 mph, then flattens a little for about 5 minutes before kicking back up. I averaged about 7.6 mph for the next 25 minutes, but then the last 10-15 minutes it gets even steeper. I know part of it was my legs starting to get tired after 2 hours of climbing, but it was also probably 10-12%+ grades and I only avg. 6.5 mph for the last 12 minutes. When I got back, Kindra wanted to go see this gorge that was nearby, so we got in the car and drove over to it. It’s kind of like the Zions Narrows, but not quite so deep, but more water in the bottom. You walk on these suspended walkways about 100 feet above the water and about 50 feet below the top of the gorge. They had a measuring stick that showed how deep the gorge was and had dates showing at what level the water had reached during the last 100 years or so during high water periods. The amazing thing was seeing how high up the gorge the water could rise. The water would rise as much as 100’ or so during high water. Talk about a real flash flood. That’s some serious water rising. After the gorge we saw a really cool chateau/castle right nearby. After dinner Kindra and I went on a nice walk along the bike path on Lake Annecy. Having all the kids with us, we don’t get to spend much time with just the 2 of us.