Chamonix Activity Report: 2nd July 2012

This Saturday was one of the hottest days we've had this year, making the Cross and the 10km even harder than they need be. The 10km winds its way through the Bois du Bouchet via Le Lavancher and is mostly in the shade of the trees, the heat was still have been stifling but at least there was shelter. The Cross on the other hand finishes on the same exposed unforgiving stretch as the marathon, on the long path from Flegere to Brevent, making the last 6km an absolute killer. Absolute respect to all those who took part, especially anyone who was doing it for the first time - hope it hasn't put you off!

Saturday is also market day in Chamonix when stalls of tasty treats and locally grown produce fill the Place du Mont Blanc, if you want to try some genuine Savoyard cheese or meat then this is the place to come. You can taste before you buy at most of the stalls and many of the sellers are happy to chat and tell you about their produce (especially the exuberant singing sausage man). There is also the stall that helpfully has photos of the animals from whom the goods are made next to each different type, I always think that the snapshot of the cute donkey next to the basket of sausages must deter more people than it encourages...

The roast chicken stand is always very popular, there is sometimes such a queue that you have to leave your name and come back later to claim your chook. We had already been all round the market by this point so we killed time by going for lunch at the nearby La Petite Kitchen. We couldn't decide what to have so I ordered the roasted vegetables on homemade flatbread with mint yoghurt and my friend had a summer tart with pesto, white beans and roasted cherry tomatoes and we shared half-and-half of each. This place is great for vegetarians and many of the dishes on the menu are offered as a meaty or non-meaty option, even the full cooked breakfast. Every effort is made to source organically grown local produce and everything, even the brown sauce, is made on site. An oft-heard criticism of La Petite Kitchen is that sometimes their portions are a bit on the teeny side; this was not the case with our meals though and there was even enough to go round when my friend's boyfriend decided to join us. The service can also be hit-and-miss; it is sometimes a bit slow and they often seem to forget to tell you when they've run out of something until long after you've ordered exactly that thing. This time though everything was fine and the 2 girls who served our table looked after us perfectly, even bringing over a bowl of water for the dog! The two lunches and two coffees came to 25€, not the cheapest lunch ever but worth it for very good food and a nice table on the pretty tree-shaded terrace.

Sunday morning dawned cooler than Saturday, which was a blessed relief for the marathon runners. Even when I'm not taking part I still go along to watch the start of the race and at 7am the atmosphere in the centre of town was buzzing with 2000 people jigging around in nervous excitement. I had a few friends taking part and the marathon website has a handy page where you can enter someone's name or race number and follow their progress online; we used this to track our friends so that we could plan where to cheer for them en route. First of all we headed to Vallorcine and had a nice coffee at the Café de Comptoir while we waited for them to arrive; this is the start of the first major climb and you could tell which of the runners had done this section before by the expressions of either grim resignation or horrified disbelief as they looked up at the steep ascent from Plan l'Envers to the Domaine du Balme.

We deduced from the marathon website that most of our friends would be over the evil Aiguillette des Possettes climb and back down in Montroc between 11:30am and midday, so we got there slightly ahead of them and bagged a good spot on the bridge along with the other supporters. Everyone was thankfully still going strong at this point and looking surprisingly fresh, the cool damp weather may not have been great for spectators but it was perfect for running. Once we'd seen everyone go past we had enough time to grab a sandwich in Chamonix (I love the bakery St Hubert opposite the Tourist Office, great homemade quiches) and head up to the finishing line at Brevent Planpraz by 2pm. Unfortunately the black clouds that had been gathering ominously all day chose this moment to drop their load and quiet rumbles of thunder started to threaten us with a storm; the gondola stopped running in case there was lightening on the way and we were stuck at the bottom with no other option than to kill time with a quick beer at the little bar opposite the lift station. Luckily the weather eased up and the lift was soon open again; we arrived at the finish line with moments to spare due to all our friends making up more time on the final stretch than expected, PB's being smashed by as much as a whopping 45 minutes!

After stretches, showers and power naps had all been dealt with (cheering can be very hard work, you know) we celebrated with dinner out. The runners had raging appetites by this point and burgers were the food craving of choice. We tried to do the cheap and cheerful option of Poco Loco, you can either get takeaway from the serving hatch or sit-in upstairs, but they had been overrun by hungry hoards and were all out of bread so we opted for a tried-and-tested favourite and went to Le Moustache instead. I've already written about Le Moustache a couple of times during the winter and each time I've had the croute, as it was the only non-meat option on the menu. Although it is undoubtedly a very good croute I was a bit bored at the prospect of having the same thing again, so it was a nice surprise to find a couple of additions to the menu - they now offer a veggie burger and a salmon dish! So, it was burgers and steaks all round; the burgers came with delicious homemade chips and green salad, the steaks with a calorifically creamy potato gratin. The veggie burger (Burger des Filles/Ladies Burger!) was not so much a typical burger patty as a stack of sliced Mediterranean vegetables such as peppers and aubergines, which had a lovely smoky flavor as if they had been chargrilled. None of us had ever made it as far as dessert before so we planned ahead and didn't order starters; even so, there were still only 3 out of the 5 of us who still had room to put away 2 portions of rich chocolatey profiteroles and a fruity sorbet. The bill for 5 main courses, 2 desserts, a few glasses of wine and a couple of coffees came to just over 30€ per person.

The weather looks set to carry on being a bit grim until midweek, so whiling away the days with long lunches seems to be the way forward until the sun comes back out again. Hotel Les Aiglons does a lunch/spa package for just 22.50€ which I'm hoping to try out this week, so I'll tell you more about that on Friday! In the meantime you can find details of all upcoming events on our calendar.