Monday 10 August - Down the Vallee de la Romanche to St Martin d'Uriage near Grenoble

Breakfast was taken in Du Pas de l'Ane with the family Fons still in good form. Their inter-family relationships are strong and all the body language and cheerful dialogue shows how comfortably they share the jobs and make their business work.

It was time for the boys to move on after arriving at Camping d'Arsine for just one night a week ago so the van was packed, Chris made ready to go up the valley and farewells were said late morning after a thoroughly entertaining interlude which both sides had enjoyed. As we left, the delightful French couple (she Indo-Chinese, he not) who had been site residents for as long as we had came over to say their goodbyes. They had been friendly to us and very sweet with each other throughout to the extent that, if the wet weather had allowed, we would have had them over to share a drink or two. That wasn't to be but the mutual liking showed as they departed too. As we drove through la Grave, there they were, waving furiously at us and the wife jumping up and down in joy. Such was the affection seemingly created and pretty genuine on both sides.

The drive down the valley was a tricky one due to one or two narrow and dark tunnels. The further we went, so the scenery seemed to become ever more dramatic despite the loss of height. Le Gorge de l'Infernet in particular was breathtaking but best seen from the passenger seat. Chris had steered us towards Uriage les Bains, a few miles east of Grenoble where he thought there was a golf course. We followed this advice and found this whole, softer contoured valley to be absolutely delightful. The town was neat, en fleuri and with some impressive, sometimes grand buildings set pleasingly on generously proportioned roads with parks, open spaces and cafe/restaurants ten a penny. There was a 9 hole, parkland course there and we pressed on to find a campsite for the night. Camping du Buisson was signposted and we climbed for far longer than anticipated before finding this set high up in a lovely setting and with wonderful but partially cloud obscured views to the south down the valley. We received an extraordinarily warm welcome from the proprietors, Jean-Luc (broad grin, bad teeth and what might be called a beard) and Dominique (mounds of curly auburn hair, freckles, slim as a rake and full of fun) who seemed pleased to see us. Nothing was too much trouble and we shared a couple of beers in their company before setting up shop. We had fallen on our feet yet again at a time when we didn't really have a clear idea of where we were going.

With our hosts help, we made a golf booking, not at Uriage, but at Golf International de Grenoble at Bressons a full 18 hole course for the following morning, then relaxed with pen and computer and dined, happily, on board.