Pump, pump, pump! Pump, pump, pump!
 |
| Leaving Geneva, Switzerland |
John's legs pumped, Kara's legs pumped a little slower but our bikes whizzed down the wet road. It was our second long weekend in May (and our last long weekend for many months - eek) and we had planned something a little crazy: a 200km cycle around Lake Geneva (also known as Lac Leman to the locals).
We had decided to do this crazy adventure one cold day in January after, what is now apparent, a relatively short cycle around our new home in Amsterdam.
 |
| Catching a view of the lake |
After watching the weekend's weather forecast move from thunderstorms and snow showers to rain and drizzle we were hopeful that the weather might clear a little but just in case we had still made one last trip to Decathlon on Friday night for rain ponchos.
Come Saturday, it was dreary and cool but as our plane descended over Switzerland the welcoming lake below was calm and we caught the reflections of grand Swiss chateaus along the lakeside mirroring back up at us.
 |
| Taking a rest from the rain |
It didn't take long for us to pick up our rental touring bikes in downtown Geneva. So we decided to make a quick stop in the city for morning tea, struggling of-course with our abysmal (read non existent) French! Doh. This side of Switzerland is French speaking! Not that our German is much better....
A quick stop and a change into our hardy bike pants we were eventually on our way by 10am with our legs pumping us merrily out of the cloudy city.
 |
| Racing towards the grey clouds |
 |
| Leaving the village of Founex |
 |
| Another quaint village |
 |
| Drink stop! |
Today our mission, if you could call it that, was to cycle from Geneva to Lausanne. A mere 60km on google with a predicted cycle time of 3hours and thirty minutes.
 |
| Cycling a lonely route through the fields |
However, Google did not measure the distance and time on the cycle path which (thankfully) deviated us off the main road but had us turning and twisting through remote quiet hillside villages, going up and down all over the green countryside.
At the end of the day we had cycled 72kms and with photo stops, water breaks and toilet breaks it was just after 5pm when we stumbled into our hotel for the evening.
It had been an amazing day, we had seen some absolutely amazing quaint little towns, built from grey stone and surrounded by lush fields of vines.
 |
| First vineyards along the lake |
 |
| Photo on the jetty |
 |
| Clouds again! |
 |
| Houses surrounded by greenery |
One of our favourite stops was in the village of Morges where we had explored the Morges castle built in 1286 and visited the colourful cobbled town.
 |
| Morges Castle, Morges |
 |
| Harbour in Morges |
 |
| Another wine village |
 |
| Morges city promenade |
Some villages were so small that we raced by in mere seconds catching only a glimpse of colour from the tulips on windowsills. Over seven hours we had cycled through the rain and through patches of beautiful sunshine. We had pumped our way across wobbly stone bridges and weaved carefully around tight corners, along lush parks, forests and alongside the clear blue lake.
 |
| Idyllic vine house |
We're pretty sure the trail had even looped in a circle at some points, around paddocks of yellow spring flowers and up and over trickling creeks.
We had seen so many picturesque homes built with triangular towers and circular orange colored roof tiles that it blew us away and we wish we could have taken photos of everything!
We had smelt the beautiful fresh air and breathed it in deeply, but man, when we eventually arrived into Lausanne we were exhausted!
 |
| Village hall |
 |
| Oh the castles! |
 |
| Taking a well deserved pit stop |
 |
| Interesting house panelling |
 |
| Arriving in Lausanne |
The small city of Lausanne, our pit-stop for the evening, is home to just 130,000 people and was originally built by the Romans as a military camp over the site of an old Celtic settlement.
The city sits amid one of the most idyllic settings in Europe and after a hot shower we went off exploring. Nestled near the gigantic sea-like lake and covering the foothills of the snow-covered Alps the city is far from flat. We opted to use our free transport card that the hotel gave us and lazily caught a bus up to the highest point into the city centre.
 |
| Down Escaliers du marche |
 |
| Place de la Cathedral |
 |
| Brave Swiss woman! |
 |
| Place de la laud |
After the fall of the Roman Empire, fear of invasion forced the inhabitants of Lausanne from the lake front to its current centre, a hilly, perhaps easier to defend site. The city which emerged from the camp was ruled by the Dukes of Savoy and the church. Later it became a refuge for fleeing French and then during the Napolenic wars the city became the capital of the Vaud region, remaining so to this day.
 |
| Movenpick ice-cream? How Swiss... |
 |
| Centre city street, Lausanne |
 |
| La Cathedral de Lausanne |
 |
| View behind the flowers |
 |
| Looking over Lausanne towards the lake |
We walked around, up and down as the sun battled against the clouds above us looking down the old medieval streets and up at the towering cathedral. The city was nice, but it didn't feel as safe as we had expected it to. There were lots of people loitering about and after a short look around we headed back to the hotel to get a good night's rest (and find some ice for our butts). Tomorrow wasn't far off and we still had to reach the half way point!
Tot siens,
John and Kara
No comments:
Post a Comment