Thones – Cheese, Cows and Triathlons

45°52′59″N 6°19′33″E

Thones, in the Haute Savoie considers itself the ″capital″ of local cheeses Reblochon, made from cows milk and Chevrotin, made from goats milk. Since it was in easy driving distance from our accommodation, we could not miss the chance to indulge one of Dominique’s favourite passions – anything to do with cheese.

It seemed like an easy drive of about 30 minutes to the town of Thones, but around half way we were met at a roundabout by traffic controllers ensuring that we gave priority to a few bike riders in a triathlon passing through the intersection. We complied and then for the next ten or so kilometers drove at around 20 kph stuck behind groups of twenty or thirty riders. No way past as they were heading to some far away place where they were going to turn around and ride back on the other side of the road. So there were bike riders spread across the road in both directions and cars stuck behind them for the whole way. Not all were athletes. In the middle of one group was a couple riding home from the markets with their groceries. But most of them looked like this…..

We eventually arrived at Thones and the first thing we found was a cheese shop. The second thing we found was another cheese shop. And they sold cheese

The hard part was to choose which one. The calculus was how much we could or should eat before we moved to our next accommodation. We ended up with a Reblochon and a Chevrotin and put them in the car boot to mature. It was the only place warm enough, given it was only 32 celsus outside.

La Clusaz

45°54′18″N 6°25′26″E

That was not the end of the quest. We moved on up the mountain, thankfully off the triathlon route but with little relief as we now moved into the hairpin bends and narrow roads of the mountain country. We were lucky, because the Tour de France has passed through this town several times, but not this year. Fortunately, we were driving a Fiat 600 but it still seemed too wide for the gaps I was asked to slip through. We arrived at La Clusaz at around lunchtime.

La Clusaz embraced the skiing industry in the early twentieth century when it was linked to Thones by a regional road allowing winter access to tourists. Now they are taking advantage of the ski facilities in the off season. It is a pretty little town, with some nice features such as the church tower and of course, some drainage structures. Lunch was at a small restaurant which served local style crepes. It is owned by a dual French Australian citizen who spent quite a while chatting to two French Australian citizens. The waitress concentrated on providing us instructions on how to find the best cows with local bells. We, of course, were looking for the source of all that cheese.

Manigod

45° 51′ 42″ N, 6° 22′ 14″ E

We carried on up the hills on ever narrower and steeper roads until we reached Manigod. As you can see from the pictures below there is not a lot to see. In the photo of dirt roads you can see Dominique’s enthusiasm carrying her forward to find the elusive cow with a bell. I was falling off the pace. We knocked on a door and met some locals, photographed their cows and bells and then moved on.

A little further up the road, and I don’t know were it was, we stopped to find a drink, but instead found two closed cafes and cows with bells coming in to be milked. Success!

Arriving home to our hotel on a Sunday night with the supermarkets closed and no food available we had to make do with the quirky carpet design to entertain us and whatever we could salvage from the day. We did ok. It turned out that the cheese was perfectly matured after six hours in the boot. The bread, salvaged from breakfast, was a little drier than ideal, but it all worked somehow.