The skies had mostly cleared the following morning. Wrapped up in sweatshirts we set off for a stroll through the Lac de Tueda reserve. A pleasant amble up through the forest above the lake, following a botanical trail, preceded some traditional Savoyard winter fare - tartiflette, eaten indoors to shelter from the biting breeze. After lunch, a highlight of the day - a trio of marmottes sunning and grazing on the grassy slope just above the lake. Another gentle walk up and along what is the Ours piste in winter took us back to the car park. Back at the apartment the opportunity for a swim was shunned in favour of a lazy evening, despite the sunshine and a heated pool. Wall to wall sunshine and somewhat warmer temperatures accompanied us on our walk on Saturday. This time we set out from Meribel, heading up through the woods towards Altiport. The path took us across the Petit Lapin piste and through the golf course for a picnic lunch in the forest, accompanied by the sound of aircraft taking off and landing a short distance away. Refreshed we carried on upwards, under the lift towards Col de la Loze and then across towards the top of the Rhodos lift. From there it was back down into Meribel for a drink in one of the pubs before tidying and packing up to head home. A pleasant weekend in the mountains which confirmed that Meribel in the summer is much like Meribel in the winter - an English enclave (witness Marmite on sale in the Petit Casino and inefficient teenage English waitresses in the pub) which is twice as expensive as anywhere else. Lucky the accommodation was free.
Yesterday the sun shone, the thermometer climbed, and we restricted exercise to a short fruit shopping expedition to the market on the banks of the Saône in the morning. Delicious apple pie was the result, and la bienheureuse has today left me the enviable task of eating it all on my own as she jets off for a couple of days acting as bodyguard and babysitter to a colleague giving a presentation in the UK.
