William's Birthday

We drove to Lake Vouglans which looks like a big zig-zag on the map. We stayed in a little bay with a floating marina and club house that had hot showers and water. The level of the lake was extremely low so the fishing platform and part of the marina were high and dry. On the second day at the lake we had a massive spring clean of our little camper and did washing with the hot water. After lunch we played in the creek and made a dam. We got really muddy and found little crayfish under the rocks on the banks. It was fun and Mum gave us some lollies that we bought in Germany which pop in your mouth.


We spent the next day doing more cleaning up and then went to a Mc Donald’s for internet but the connection was weak so we didn’t get much done. We drove to another France Passion. It was another goat’s cheese farm, we missed the afternoon milking and parked in their paddock. Our hosts were Olivier and Annie Brochet and they had 4 children. We met them and they were happy to show us their operation in the morning at 6:30 when they milk and make their cheese.

On William’s 16th birthday Mum and Dad got up early to milk the goats and watch Annie make some natural goat’s cheese. When us kids woke up we gave William our cards made out of magazines, some body wash and a bag of lollies We had Bacon, Eggs, Pancakes and Honey (there wasn’t any Maple syrup.) and watched a mountain bike rally go by. William taught us how to play a new card game and we all went to the goat shed after lunch. Some of the goats were half black/half white and had shaggy coats. Thomas and Anneke followed the youngest boy (also a William) around and helped remake their chicken hutch and catch all the chickens, ducks and geese and clip their wings so they couldn’t fly. We spoke a little French, some English and a lot of sign language. Maddy was very interested in and liked to cuddle the little Bunny rabbits and Guinea Pigs, she wasn’t happy that they were sold for their meat. Dad, William and Johanna milked the goats and Mum ran around translating for everyone. In the evening some of us walked and rode donkeys up the farm to a stone barn where the Billy Goats were kept.

For William’s Birthday dinner we had Chicken (a substitute for lamb) peas, potatoes and homemade mint sauce. Anneke and Thomas decorated a cake with nutella and lollies shaped like fried eggs. Annie invited us to stay another night in the paddock so we did.

The next day we gave Annie a jar of the Blackberry jam we made in Normandy and we said goodbye. We really liked the set up and simplicity of the way they make their cheese and their close relationship to the land.

We moved on through the foothills of the alps. The trees were all Autumn colours. We stopped for lunch at the top of a small pass with a view of the alps and what we thought was Mount Blanc. We drove on a rickety bridge over the Rhone river. We were going to stay the night at a Aire on lake Annecy but it was quite hot and we were grumpy and tired so we went shopping in Annecy. When we came out of the supermarket it was raining and we had trouble getting under the canopy at the petrol station but we didn’t damage anything. We got oil and an oil filter at a Auto Dealer and drove back along lake Annecy to another Aire that was bigger and less cramped.

In the morning we played on the slippery skate ramps and walked on the jetty of the very clear and light blue lake. A police officer asked us (in French) if we witnessed the robbery of the nearby tennis club that we were unaware of. We drove to a service point south of Geneva and had hot showers and Mum cut the boys hair.