St Jean de Maurienne and Ugine.

Had a couple of lazy days catching up with admin and laundry etc. This whole area seems to be the cycling centre of France. Everywhere is getting ready for the Tour de France which passes through on Friday 13th July. We have seen cyclists every day since we have been in the Alps, going up and down the most extreme hills, sometimes faster than us. St Jean de Maurienne is another typical French alpine town.

Set off to visit the grottto of St Thecle: we could see a cross at the top of the hill, which sits just above the cave, but we didn't realise at that stage how steep the path was going to be. Luckily we had water with us: the path was VERY steep, and mostly in full sun, but the effort was worth it in the end. The views were breathtaking, and the town below us looked like a model railway layout. It took a lot less time getting down than going up.

We later followed some of the town trail, but some of the places (museums etc) seem to be shut. We are finding this quite often, as we seem to be between seasons here and a lot of the summer things don't start until July.

Spent a night at Ugine: the Aire is at the Tourist Office in an old railway ticket office. Took another walk, this time through a very pretty hamlet, in the rain. We could hear cow bells ringing out across the hill, and these turned out to be goats.

As we left this area we went to a lovely cave and waterfall at Seythenex. The guide, a girl of about 18, coped very well with a party of 6: 2 French, 2 German, and us. She gave a great long spiel in French, a precis account in very good English, then the poor Germans had to manage! We were amazed at how the limestone was worn as smooth as marble by the sand carried along in the water. There was a working model of how waterfalls were utilised to power local industry, including sawmills, blacksmith forge, and walnut pressing to obtain oil. A very informative film was also shown. There was still evidence of the sluices and some buildings in the gorge we visited, and the water was lovely and clear.