Embracing life in the slow lane on a summer holiday to the Alps

Every summer, it seems, those resourceful people in the French Alps come up with more adrenalin-boosting ways of having fun in the mountains. Until earlier this year, I would have joined them. But thanks to an out-of-control skier who ploughed into me in March, I’ve been hobbling around with a damaged knee. Still wanting to get a summertime mountain fix – all that lovely clean air, mind-blowing scenery and fabulous food – I decided to find ways to take things more slowly and see how people with limited mobility can get the most out of a summer Alpine holiday.

I was in the Annecy Mountains, where I could combine bijoux ski resorts with one of France’s most beautiful cities of the same name and the country’s third-largest lake. My first base was the small village of Talloires, which, along with more than a dozen spots along Lake Annecy, has its own beach. Swimming was just what the doctor ordered, and the wooden bathing deck in front of my hotel, Abbaye des Talloires, gave easy access to the water. What a joy it was to plunge into those incredibly clear waters and give my knee a very gentle workout.

Unable to join the cyclists making their way around Lake Annecy’s 33km Voie Verte circuit, I took a boat ride with Florent from Blue Diamond Taxi Boat instead to get a closer look. Talloires sits on its south-eastern side under the cliffs of the Roc de Chère nature reserve, under which the atmospheric Smugglers’ Cave was cut into the rock. Everywhere we looked there was seemingly a grassy bank, sandy stretch or bathing platform from which to launch yourself into the water.

We motored to the southernmost tip for a waterside view of one of the lake’s protected areas, the Bout du Lac nature reserve, heralded by a wall of tall reeds. I returned the following day to wander the accessible raised wooden walkways through this lush landscape of marshes, meadows and woods where two river sources, the Ire and Eau Morte, fed into the lake. The reserve’s beavers didn’t make an appearance, but it was a peaceful and soothing way to spend a morning.

Just up the road from the reserve was La Cuillère à Omble restaurant, a sublime lakeside spot to try some of the fish caught by the lake’s two remaining professional fishermen. Omble (Arctic char) and féra (whitefish) are among the most popular, the latter ending up…