The Maurienne Valley - beautiful

Weds 11^th

bar with a view 

Grand Motte - 3456m

After some lovely days skiing in Tignes we were collected at 9.00am by Sue to drive up to La Rosiere for a day’s skiing. This meant we had to set the alarm to make sure we were up, breakfasted and had all our skis and kit ready.  It was another lovely sunny day as we drove up to La Rosiere at 1850m. we were soon on our skis and taking the mega long draglift over into La Thuile in Italy. We really like skiing over there as the snow is usually better and there is less folk on the pistes.

Petit St Bernard pass & lovely Italian snow

We were not disappointed and had a great days skiing with Sue. The Italian style hot chocolate we had mid morning was like hot chocolate custard! Lovely.

The snow in La Rosiere was very soft as we approached the last lift of the day. As I slowly approached the lift I spotted a skier coming down towards the lift at a fair rate of knots – he didn’t see me and crashed into to me – ouch!  I heard a loud cracking noise and thought my jaw was broken. I had a cut on the chin and a very sore jaw, especially the “hinges” right up by my ears. Thankfully no broken teeth or bones. The piste paramedics were soon on the scene as the guy had also knocked over a lady standing by. I didn’t swear, or try to kill him – honest!

As soon as I saw the “blood wagon”  (stretcher on skis) I had to sit down. I felt a bit pale as shock set in but after 5 mins was ok. The very efficient lady medic cleaned me up and stuck a huge plaster on my chin – but only after tearing off the loose bit of skin. Double ouch.

I exchanged details with the very apologetic guy and told him that he must learn from this and not ski so inconsiderately when there are lots of people about at lifts. End of sermon. 

My face was puffed up and my ears sore but thankfully nothing was broken, plus I now had a good story to tell!

ouch - but my inner ear hurts the most

Thurs 12^th

We left Tignes Les Brevieres after saying farewell to all our fellow Brit camping caristes, with promises that we might see them next year. Next stop was Bourg for laundry, LPG and shopping. It was so warm down the valley that we were soon walking about in tee shirts. Next stop was Valloire in the Maurienne Valley a less well known ski resort to us Brits so we had to go and investigate.

As we were driving up the very tight hairpins to Valloire the engine management warning light came on  “check engine” flashing up. Oh no!  I decided to keep driving as the power was ok and all the gauges read normal. We eventually found the camping car aire after the sat nav sorted itself out. The aire was a mud bath and full. So plan B – the free parking next door along with 3 other vans. Over tea I found the nearest Fiat professional garage by using the internet , it was actually only 18 miles away. Our good friend and fluent French speaker Sue called them and arranged an appointment with them tomorrow at 10am. Result.   Thanks again Sue.

Fri 13^th

Unlucky for some – but not for us!  After an early start we said aurevoir to Valloire and drove back down the mountain to nearby Modane for our garage appointment. It was a very new and impressive setup, we were met by the owners son who soon had the van inside after a brief test drive. We had free wifi to occupy us while the van was interrogated via a laptop as is the way with modern vehicles. Soon Romain appeared to tell us that it was the EGR valve – a well known (expensive) problem. He gave me a sheet complete with error codes. The van was ok to drive home safely. I decided to contact our warranty company who were very positive and said that yes, it was covered and they would rather we had it replaced before we tackled our long drive home as it could fail permanently without warning. I immediately went back in and booked the van in for Tues 17^th am. Romain said we could park overnight Monday behind the garage to save us a very early start.  What a great result as we would have been dreading the warning light reappearing, and the warranty expires  at end of May! Double result.

We left the garage much happier and with no warning light to give us the jitters. We drove right up to the end of the valley to Bonneval Sur L’Arc, this is as far as you can drive in winter. What a stunning setting surrounded by snow covered mountains. After lunch we headed back down to Lanlesvillard a very pretty part of the Val Cenis ski area. We were soon pitched up in the campsite which is very close to the lifts.

Bonneval Sur l'Arc

A walk around the nearby village revealed a real gem of a place with an old centre that had lots of character. It is set in a wide valley with great views in both directions.

Lanlesvillard - Val Cenis ski area

tourist office - specs supplied!