I need somewhere in August that has trails and a beach, gelatto and pretty shit for the missus plus her friends.

Finale Ligure comes to mind, however;

1) Will the heat kill me?

2) Which shuttle services operate at the height of the summer?

La Thuile – got to be a lake shore there somewhere, or Lakes probably, Morzine has a beach

La Thuile – got to be a lake shore there somewhere, or Lakes probably, Morzine has a beach

Morzine has a beach now? Is this a fake beach inhabited by 20 year old coked and boozed up downhill bros? 😀

Finale looks great from the point of view that you can get some pretty, rustic villas/B&Bs for a decent price – that will please my missus – and it looks like I can just descend right back into town and link up with everyone and do some short early morning rides on some of the days.

I’ll have a look at La Thuile.

anywhere with a lake has a beach 🙂 Problem with the med in August is the heat, rule of thumb is 1c/100m when it’s 25 at 1000m it’s baking down low

God damnit, how do I sell Morzine to her? She will do some mtbing – but I don’t want to be dragged down blues and greens everyday, so there has to be something more to do.

I’m getting twitchy man, it’s been way, wayyy too long since I did some big descents.

I suggested Innsbruck – but apparently that looks too boring and Nazi-ish.

Both of you have a week with your mates then a weekend together after

Maybe.

It’s a shame Finale’s so hot when we finally have time off.

Morzine has Lac Montriond and good trails and will be easy for last minute weekend due to easy via Geneva. I don’t think La Thuile has an equivalent lake but trails are ding. Finale will be hot AND full of Italians on their annual month long summer holiday. How about San Sebastián?

Torbole, on Garda

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@45.8796462,10.8527669,3a,75y,282h,86.48t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPbSksjPkK39xRkDCns5mMAFuQL35UmFNqOZMV9!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPbSksjPkK39xRkDCns5mMAFuQL35UmFNqOZMV9%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-8.328125-ya139.96355-ro-0-fo100!7i10240!8i5120

loads of pretty shops in the towns around the lakes, where you can travel by boat. Activities too.

Also check out Sospel in south of France. Cool Bus do uplifts there – I don’t think the accommodation and village are epic tourist spots but I think you can get the train from Menton which is on the coast so there are bound to be nice beaches there, plus flights to Nice are frequent. The trails look awesome and are maybe 10 miles inland (ish).

If you are using uplift the heat wont be too bad in Finale and it’s fantastic swimming in the sea after a days riding, plenty of gelatto too!

God damnit, how do I sell Morzine to her? She will do some mtbing – but I don’t want to be dragged down blues and greens everyday, so there has to be something more to do.

Outside of riding there is quite a lot to do. Pool, spa, hiking, pony trek, tennis, ice skating, climbing, rafting. Also when riding its easy to mix trails there. We often split up,and do different graded trail then regroup at the lift. Or she sits one out, gets a coffee at the hut while I do an extra loop. Morzine works really well for thus sort of riding.

Or the Olympic park in Hadleigh and the beach at Leigh-on-Sea. Jellied eels with your gelato

do you need uplift ?

Finale or anywhere else in the Riviera is going to be warm in Italy.

I know quite a few locals and guides there and they consider July & August to be the off season.

Punta Ala would also be a good call if it wasn’t for the fact you want to get away in August. (saying that we’re off there next week, but more for the beaches and food).

La Thuile will be perfect for riding, but … there isn’t that much to do in the small valley. Yes  there is a spa place (that is shockingly expensive and a bit of a let down) at the bottom of the road. There isn’t a lake near by, other than the Little Saint Bernard Pass lake and I wouldn’t much fancy swimming in that any time of the year.

Same goes for Pila.

And Lago di Garda…

Come to Sweden!  27c at the mo, just had a swim in the lake after *shredding* bike park all day

Biking

do you need uplift ?

Preferably, because whilst my skill and upper body strength hasn’t deteriorated – my cardio fitness has. Also – I like lots of beer and eating too much when on holiday.

Cheers guys, will have a think about this – I might just do a week city hopping with the missus and then do week either in Morzine or touring the UK. Or maybe cancel a week of my holiday and go to Finale in September. I don’t have very much holiday this year due to changing jobs and stupidly taking my owed holiday as pay.