We were so excited to get out of the house for a proper outing last Thursday! For the public holiday, we decided to visit the Barrage de l’Hongrin situated at an altitude of 1,255 metres near Col des Mosses in the Lake Geneva Alps.
We set off early with Jean’s Aunt Vero who is also Elio’s Godmother, a picnic and some sun cream. It was about 1.5hours drive from us and we arrived around 10.30. The last part of the journey when we left the motorway was a bit slow going as we zigzagged uphill and there were roadworks and a reasonable amount of traffic. There are various options in terms of routes to take to see the barrage including a three hour circuit from a nearby village but we decided to get as close as we could so that the children weren’t too traumatised by a long walk after such a long break. To approach the dam, we drove down a long narrow road which is part of a military base. The road is closed during the week but open over the weekends and public holidays. There aren’t many passing places along the road so it was a bit nerve wracking in places especially as we are still getting used to our new bigger car.
The barrage was built at the end of the 60’s and houses a maximum of 52million cubic metres of water. It’s a really beautiful place with clear turquoise water fed down from the mountains and also pumped from Lake Geneva through underground pipes. A real feast for the eyes with forests and mountains flanking it’s borders, the dam is used to create electricity, and its also a great place for fishing enthusiasts and swimming.
There are lots of places to walk around the area on a number of trails but we decided to visit the dam only this time before finding a spot for lunch.
The whole area around the dam is beautiful so visitors are really spoilt for choice in terms of hikes and places to stop and admire the view.
We took a different route back down to the motorway and stumbled across a pretty hair-raising tunnel. This is the single-lane tunnel des Agites but please check the rules to take this tunnel here if you are planning to try it. Look at this video! If you can believe it, cars pass in both directions!
A really lovely day out which reminded us of the reasons we started the blog in the first place.
Information
Parking : Yes
Toilets : No
Baby Change Facilities : No
Accessibility : Suitable for pushchairs