We woke late this morning, grateful not to have any pressing trip-related administration that needed to get done before we started our day – no childcare to arrange, no managers to harangue. We seem to have hit our stride.
We sat in one of the further corners of the restaurant, apparently less popular among the kindercrowd.
Eggs, sausages, and homefries for me this morning:
The kids went off to their respective kids clubs, while my wife and I enjoyed a bit of time up in the Lounge. The kids will be at the pool this morning and don’t particularly want to see us, but I also want to get in some steamroom time so they’ll just have to live with it.
Off to the pool, where I continued my usual cycle of steamroom – swim – rest until it was time for lunch. Our kids went to lunch with their G.Os, and the adults enjoyed a child-free lunch.
My wife had the beef skewers and couscous:
We collected the kids after lunch, and went off for our hike. We took the gondola to the top of Le Massif – a bit warm with the intense June sun, but they do open the windows as much as possible. Lovely view, too, though difficult to photograph due to the gondola’s scuffed-up glass.
We had intended to do an AllTrails hike entitled “Abbatis Refuge”, but as we walked along the road we noticed some trails branching out into the woods instead.
We checked the trail map…
… And decided to hike the Lugeron trail instead – this route does not appear on AllTrails, but it is well signed.
Well, mostly well signed
While I enjoyed the flowing river of yesterday’s L’Ancesteral hike, Lugeron offered its own form of stunning scenery.
The higher-altitude forest had a greater number of pines.
We also noticed some “wildlife” too:
The kids enjoyed the rolling hillside, as opposed to yesterday’s steep climb.
Very scenic.
We returned to the Gondola shortly after 3 pm, and were back at Club Med shortly after 3:30 pm. There was a Mario Kart tournament scheduled for today, so they dashed back down to their clubs.
Back to the Lounge, where we sampled some of the afternoon tea – particularly the cream-covered meringues:
But it wasn’t long before they set up for evening charcuterie.
The specialty drink today is a maple margarita with spicy seasoning along the rim.
I quite enjoyed the added spice, but my wife would ask for the drink without it next time around.
We chatted with another guest who regularly vacations with Club Med, who was also frustrated by the lack of mountain biking. He went to La Malbaie to rent bikes from another company – which brought them to Club Med Charlevoix. Not sure why they couldn’t have done everything here, but apparently that’s how they do business.
His family has mostly visited Club Meds in various parts of the Carribbean and in Mexico, and he noted that Club Med Charlevoix is significantly smaller than most of those other properties. They only have one restaurant here, for example, as opposed to four to five at the other resorts. He enjoys having a car here, and has gone golfing in the area but it seemed the beach resorts were more his family’s speed.
We hung out until around 6:45 pm, and then took the kids off for dinner. I had swordfish, Arctic char and calamari:
My wife had roast beef:
Then a very difficult decision between a chocolate ganache and praline cookie:
Maple sugar pie:
And pouding chômeur (also known as “unemployed-man cake”):
I ultimately went with the pouding chômeur.
The kids returned to kids / teens club to finish the Mario Kart tournament – which had been postponed due to an epic game of Risk – while we went out for a drink at the Chalet. Unfortunately, that venue was closed for a private party so back up to the Lounge for one of the Fraises (strawberry and gin drink) that I mentioned yesterday:
The kids got back to the room around 9 pm. I popped out briefly to grab one last beverage, and saw the start of the Cabaret show in which of two of the acrobats spun on hoops suspended from the ceiling.
It looked like it was going to be a good show, but perhaps more adult-oriented than yesterday’s Chromatica.
The kids might be staying up tomorrow night’s dance party, so we elected to make this an early night. A welcome change from the go-go-go of our last trip!