If driving from Winchester I’d look into an overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Le Havre or Caen, then you’ve got about a 9 hour drive from there.
But, given how close Chamonix is to Geneva, I’d probably fly… depending on the state of the world and flying and what-not.
an alternative would be Newhaven to Dieppe. but I’d say it would take more than 9hrs from a channel port to the west of Paris - given that you need to get around Paris which can be tortuous on the S side from Versailles to the A6 as there’s no real motorway to speak of.
when we had our place in Chamonix and going via the Tunnel to Calais from East Sussex the best door to door time was around 12hrs - and that was back in the days when you could happily cruise down the autoroutes at 90-100mph without the gendarmes batting an eyelid. all very different now with speed traps, cameras and between tolls timing.
a flight from Gatpit to Geneva would make more sense for a few days trip
Yeah this is my thinking as well. Gonna make a decision tonight/tomorrow (as I have a long awaited day off).
Mrs FP is suggesting I go on my own but we’ll think on it. It’s a good opportunity and one I probably won’t get again but we’ll see.
have you been to Chamonix before?? let me know if you need any advice - we had property there for over 10 years and been visiting for well over 30 years.
I have but only as a schoolkid 40yrs ago. I’ve flown to Geneva a few times for races and camps )I remember dragging a bike case across the airport to avoid the Swiss charge).
Mrs FP is very keen but I’m not aware of where we’d need to stay for ease of getting around/ trails, things for them to do. I assume Cham is all walkable for access?
Anyone signs up to utmb then I will see you there. Love Chamonix anytime but utmb week is special
According to easyjet, I can fly direct to Geneva from Southampton but I can only see out til March
Basically every port from Rotterdam round to Caen takes between 7 & 8 hours to Annecy. +1 hour to chamonix. There are now basically 2 périphériques around Paris and depending on the time you get the are will influence the traffic.
Sadly the overnight ferry timings tend to mean you’ll hit paris at peak morning traffic. Just the way it is. But it will be august so the traffic around paris will be considerably less! It’ll be the tolls that will be the worst. But if you’re avoiding driving on a Saturday, it’ll be fine.
I can’t see how driving will make a whole lot of sense. We come back from holiday on the 21st (not 22nd) which is a Saturday.
Packet pickup for CCC is Thursday. If we left on the Sunday, wouldn’t be arriving til the Monday. Time we’ve picked up keys, settled in, then we wouldn’t be mobile until Tues, gives us a couple of days to mooch around, then race day is Friday, finishing Saturday. I probably couldn’t see us being back before the Tues, then back at work, or take nearly three weeks off.
It could be done but it doesn’t fit nicely. I think it will have to be flying.
depends where you’re staying. if you’re in Cham central then yes, everything is walkable but the valley is quite long and stretches from Les Houches to Argentiere at either end and they are about 10-12km apart. there is a valley bus service which is very active in winter (ski bus) but maybe not so frequent in summer, so a car is useful to have to get around the whole valley as there’s so much to see and do - and to/from Geneva airport (just over an hour’s drive). if you can get something in central Cham you can do without the car and get a transport bus to/from the airport.
you don’t need to go anywhere near Annecy to get to Cham by car from the north - from the south of Dijon just head towards Geneva and on to Cham. I’ve driven to Cham probably over a 100x over the years using many routes south (including via Switzerland) and never via Annecy!
I did the HotChillee Alpine Challenge based at Annecy. I went on my own and called Mrs FP from there. She asked what is like, and I looked at the houses, flash cars and high end shops and said ‘not for us’ 
No. But it was a waypoint that I had as driving times. Like going via Paris. It’s hardly Paris when it’s the outer périphérique over 50km from the centre.
You know, details. Or visualisation for people.
Been looking around at apartments and its a bit tricky for 8 days, most of them seem to be set up for Sat-Sat and whack on a huge premium for Sun-Mon.
I’m not exactly sure where i want to be as the only point of reference I have is the running track but a lot mention La Praz?
Le Praz miles away?
Personally always stay within walking distance of the start - makes it easy getting to the start and easy to get to bed afterwards.
Don’t stay too close to the start or you will be kept awake by the sound of people finishing CCC/TDS/Utmb at all hours of the day and night.
Make sure they have a lift as well for post the event - stairs will be your enemy 9schoolboy error made by a mate a few years ago booked on the 4th floor - took him about 30 mins to get to ground level the morning after😂
Well that would be great if I knew where the start was? I have no frame of reference, hence why I said a lot of the accom mentions distance to Le Praz?
Les Praz (not La) isn’t too far from Cham central - about a 2km walk along the river - but will depend where in La Praz you’d be staying as it’s quite a large area. lots of posh chalets and 2nd homes for the well off.
the start/finish is in the very centre of Cham - in front of the church and tourist office as in the image @tunster posted. can’t get much more central.
if you want an apartment, the other place to look is Chamonix Sud - loads of smaller, and cheaper, apartments in higher rise blocks so can be a bit party central with da kidz and yoofs in winter - quieter in summer with families renting. it’s also closer to Cham central than Les Praz - a few hundred metres walk.
Thanks FB. I will check out some of those apartments. Quite frustrating that a lot of the places won’t give you a price without sending an enquiry form (yeah, nah).
Discussing with Mrs FP today. She said we could ditch our surfing holiday! (we’re still married, just) in favour of this but I don’t want to, mainly because I’d rather surf than do this race if it came to that choice but the thing is just the uncertainty.
If we booked this, ditched the surfing and can’t travel, then we may end up with no holiday in summer for Little One. We’re booked to go away at Easter surfing but I can’t see it happening. So it has to be about her as a priority, not me.
I have a day off today, so will work things. If we can fly from Southampton, that would be a huge plus but maybe they only cover the ski season from there?
just one thing to add into the equation for CCC - a friend of mine who lives in Cham posted this on twitter earlier in response to someone commenting about UTMB
“That’s if it happens! I’d be surprised. I entered MCC though (locals’ race) anyway, just in case.”
he’s an ultra runner so knows the local scene and is really unsure if the UTMB weekend will happen
