WALKING barefoot down a woodland path with a complete stranger somewhere in the mountains of France, I wondered if I would ever be in this position at home.

Barely half an hour after meeting this woman, she’d persuaded me to take my shoes and socks off, as we wandered down the low slopes of Le Grand Bornand, Haute-Savoie.

If someone I’d only just met asked me to join them in a barefoot hike around the usual trails of my tree-lined walks of Pollok Park in Glasgow and Duchal Woods in Kilmacolm, they’d have been given the widest of berths.

Yet here I was, gingerly picking my way over a carpet of pine needles and stones, ooya-and-aaya-ing as I veered towards the edge of the path where the longer grass was kinder underfoot. And my shoes and socks weren’t all I’d be taking off in these woods. 

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Getting my feet out, guide and yoga instructor Alexia Vulliet told me, was part of the process of grounding, connecting me with the earth. Apparently, it helps to realign the body’s energy flow, a sort of skin-to-skin contact between the planet and my feet, without Nike and Converse getting in the way.

Funny the things you’ll agree to do when you’re away.

Alexia runs one-to-one and group visits to the river in the countryside surrounding Le Grand Bornand. The practice is known as Tuomo, which means ‘inner fire’ in Tibetan, and purportedly pushes the limits of resistance to cold, purifying the body.

I’d never tried cold water therapy before, except when the boiler was on the blink. Driving my sister to a pop-up sauna and dip at Lunderston Bay, was as close as I’d come to the real thing, and that didn’t involve breathing exercises, mantras or visualisations.

That was before my trip to the Annecy Mountains. Down to my Speedos in the middle of the woods with a woman I’ve only just met,  we eyed a pool of water which, she told me, was around 7 degrees celsius. For reference, the thermostat on the shower back in Glasgow is set to a tropical 45.

I followed her as we tiptoed in, and before the water even reached my ankles, my body was shivering. Drawing on my crash course in breath work and visualisation, I set about putting everything into practice, overriding the body’s physiological response with my newly acquired psychological self-mastery - effectively breathing and chanting through the shock response. 

Alexia said the optimum experience is to aim for one minute of submersion for every degree of temperature in the water. Having got into the rhythm of sitting in a pool in the forest in my trunks, I stayed in the cold stream for nine minutes. By the time I emerged, carefully picking my way over the rocks with chilled limbs now resembling cuts of corned beef,  I was fully aware of what practitioners of cold water immersion call ‘the burn’. 

The blood had travelled from my extremities to my central organs, and my torso felt like a pizza oven. Endorphone-jacked, I wrapped up (it’s important not to rub yourself dry immediately) wander up the path, absolutely elated.

Whether it makes any difference or not that my introduction to cold water therapy took place in a river flowing with clear glacial-melt water is up for debate.  Emerging from the cold into the gold light of  an early autumn afternoon in the pre-alps must beat dunking yourself in a tub round the back garden next to the wheelie bins, not least when it comes to walking barefoot and breathing exercises.

My stay in Annecy came after an eye-popping fly-by several months earlier en-route to Geneva airport after a ski-trip in Serre Chevalier. In the 30 minutes it took to track the north shore of Lake Annecy, where mountains rise sheer from the cleanest body of water in central Europe, and hundreds of paragliders dot the sky like clouds of colourful pollen, I’d immediately gone from first-sight to planned-return.

Subsequent research showed how this Medieval town with its castle, ancient churches and public art festivals,  can become busy during the summer months, making autumn an optimal time to visit. My October return coincided with an Indian summer which gave the place the feel of late August, with the lighter crowds of early October. 

The balmy air also meant the pleasure of messing around on - and in - the water wasn’t offset by post-dook shivers, rendering an invitation to try morning yoga on a stand up paddle board less intimidating than it sounded. Falling into this water, I figured, would be like falling into a warm bath.

Amazingly, I emerged dry. After an hour of floating yoga on very forgiving waters, with NYC SUP teacher Cindy, I landed back on terra firma with the usual away-from-it-all fantasies of doing this sort of thing when I got home, although a downward dog on a paddle board might be harder to pull off in a wetsuit. 

While to stand looking at this sublime body of water is worth the journey itself, there are just as many activities  around Lake Annecy as there are on and in it.

Like much of rural France, it is hugely popular with hikers and cyclists. Hiring an e-bike at the beginning of the lake, I spent an afternoon tracking 13 miles south east along the long flat cycleways, noseying at the lakeside pads of the moneyed folk in settlements like Duingt (with its shoreline chateau) , downing a packed lunch at the town of Doussard at the bottom of the lake.  My return journey was back the way I came - the alternative loop around the lake involves some on-road cycling, which isn’t my idea of adventure - arriving back in Annecy after a five hour round trip just as the sun began to set.

The next day, I hired a car and headed further into the hills for a traditional brunch of bread, sausage and cheese at Le Cheminee in Col Des Annes. The road up to this mountainside lunch spot is a gorgeous winding drive, passing what must be one of the most photogenic spots in the country - the dinky Chapel of St Anne, the patron saint of travellers, dating back to the 1600s. While there’s barely enough space to swing a thurible, it is a must-see in the area, a testament to rural endeavour and a  picture-book icon, religious or not.  

Paul doing yoga on a surf board (Image: unknown)

Further up the valley, the views from Le Cheminee terrace beneath the Aravis plateau looking over the valley were breathtaking, and the whole experience was made all the more authentic by the distant tinkle of chiming bells around the necks of a herd of dairy cows as they were slowly driven down the hills by their farmer.

Afterwards, I hiked 90 minutes up the well-trod path from Le Cheminee higher into the Aravis slopes, my guide Julien helping me catch a rare glimpse of a gypaète, a large bearded vulture, one of only three couples nesting in the region.
A lakeside yoga class down in the valley at Lac Du Thuy brought the day down, before I headed back  to my digs for the night at the traditional alpine farm-chalet of Auberge du Fraizier, where watching the moon rise over the peaks from the hot tub is recommended, if not guaranteed.

My final night was spent under canvas, following a sound bath session led by meditation teacher Laurie Yver, sleeping in one of several Mongolian yurts at Olachat, a back-to-nature hostel-style hang out, where guests mingle in a central space, eating meals off-the-shelf in prepared jars, playing guitar or swapping hiking tips. 

David, the proprietor, worked for Médecins Sans Frontières, before setting up this unique site, which is as far from the traditional hotel experience as it’s possible to get. On a trip where coalescence with the ebb and flow of nature’s ways is the priority, Olachat is the real deal.

According to my cold water tutor Alexia at the start of my visit to Annecy’s mountains, the purpose of the practice is to return from the experience revitalised and stimulated, perhaps even to experience personal (re)awakenings.

After four days connecting to nature in these hills and valleys, I can only agree. Whether you need to get your kit off in the forest to feel it, is up to you.

FACTBOX

Paul English was a guest of Annecy Mountains.

Further information visit annecymountains.com 

Easyjet fly from Edinburgh to Geneva and Lyon.

STAY:

Auberge du Fraizier

le-fraizier.fr

Olachat

lechitboutdulachat.com

Auberge du Lyonnais

auberge-du-lyonnais.com

EAT:

La Cheminee

en.legrandbornand.com/bar-la-cheminee.html

Marius Bar @ Perse Bise

perebise.com/en/hotel/le-marius-bar

Seve

seve-restaurant.fr

DO

Toumo Yoga

masalayoga.fr/ateliers-stages/