Last night when we arrived at the hotel, the receptionist asked: "are you here to cycle around the lake?" We smiled and readily agreed that yes, yes we were. She then said: "well because the race starts at 6am you can't put your bikes in the garage downstairs, because no one will be able to give you the key to open it again that early". Huh?
Climbing onto our hard-seated bikes wasn't easy. There was a lot of pain and bruising after yesterday's ride and we needed to give each other a little encouragement to get our peddle on. Thankfully we started with a nice long downhill cycle towards the lake.
It was a quiet morning with little traffic on the road. We started off on a good pace, racing through the tree-lined streets and surprisingly our legs were pumping stronger than we anticipated! Today wasn't going to be as bad as we imagined.
Around 12 kilometres out of Lausanne following the main lake road we took a left turn off the bike path and took a recommended detour through the Lavaux wine region.
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| Smilies on the wine route |
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| Chateaus on the hillside |
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| There she goes! |
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| Looking back across the lake |
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| Lake Geneva, looking back towards Lausanne |
Making our way along old stone walls this section of the detour started with a steep, steep uphill which only became steeper.
With our gears down and our heads following in suit we stayed consistent (pump, pump, pump) and ascended the hillside. We cycled along the main picturesque lane and past terraced vineyards which tightly clung to the hillside. It was so beautiful.
The rising sun and the empty roads only made it feel more special. The vineyards of the Lavaux region on the northern shores of Lake Geneva are apparently amongst the most beautiful parts of Switzerland and we could see why. In addition to the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage-listed vineyards we cycled through small medieval wine villages.
Clustered together on the sharp terraced hillside tiny narrow cobbled streets weave between stone houses, homes to the local winegrowers.
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| Lavaux wine region |
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| Kara bringing up the rear |
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| The path ahead |
There were old decorated signs carelessly hanging all along the route advertising wine caves, what we know as cellar doors, and just the idea of going into caves enticed us. Although we didn't have time to stop we vowed to return one day.
We cycled on, climbing higher, dropping down and climbing again across the winding hills taking in amazing panoramic views over Lac Léman and the French Alps.
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| Hard, hot work! Go John! |
After climbing steadily, pump, pump, pump, for over an hour we stopped for morning tea (heart-warming chocolate jaffas from New Zealand).
The road continued down from the village of Chexbres through more equally beautiful terraced vineyards, past more medieval wine-growing villages towards Vevey.
Our bikes raced down the hillside close to a forty-five degree downslope.
As we raced, the cold wind from the snow-capped mountains shot through our clothes and numbed our fingers. It was exhilarating, we'd climb the hills again just for the downs.
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| Jaffa snack stop |
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| We see those Jaffas! |
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| Checking out a waterfall |
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| Cycling through a colourful town |
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| An awesome view of Lauvax |
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| A small medieval village on the hillside below |
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| It's a bird |
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| Catcha later |
We eventually caught up with our bike track again at the bottom of the hill in the busy town of Vevey. Following the crystal blue shore line we pumped our way non-stop along the busy main road until we reached the Chateau of Chillon.
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| Cycling out of Vevery |
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| Castles along the main road |
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| First view of Chillon |
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| Getting closer |
The quintessential image of a medieval castle, with ramparts and turrets standing guard over the lake below, Chillon is a human-made extension of the cliffs above. Once located along the ancient route from Canterbury to Rome, the castle was first written about in 1005.
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| Chateau de Chillon, Montreaux |
However it is known that Chillon began as a Roman outpost, guarding the strategic road through the Alpine passes.
From the mid 12th century, the castle was summer home to the Counts of Savoy, who kept a fleet of ships on Lake Geneva. We thought it was a rather interesting and somewhat exposed place to keep them.
The castle was then greatly expanded in 1248. During the 16th century Wars of Religion, it was used by the dukes of Savoy to house prisoners (like the monks they captured). Then later it became a state prison until the French drove out the Germans and used Chillon as a munitions and weapons depot.
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| The old draw bridge gate |
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| Leaning outer towers |
Today, Chillon is a magnificent castle and currently open to the public. According to the castle website, Chillon is listed as "Switzerland's most visited historic monument" and so we were surprised that there were only a few tourists around. We parked our bikes up outside the castle draw bridge and wandered around to find somewhere to enjoy our lunch (with a view of course).
Lunch was wonderful and even though it was just 11am, we hungrily devoured our cheese on bread. Then we even splashed out on a (small and horrendously expensive) French espresso from a little stand under the castle. Next stop- on to France! The large crescent-shaped lake Geneva is actually a natural border, Switzerland on one side and France on a bit of the other and this afternoon we made fast traction along the longer flat roads around the lakeside. After we had past the lake's mid way point we found the natural scenery changed.
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| Heading into the French Alps |
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| Go Kara go! |
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| Glacial river coming from the Alps |
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| Swiss cattle |
We moved away from the small towns and headed more into a greener landscape. The alps powdered in snow towered above us and we cycled through more thicker woods, green paddocks and wild bush trails.
Passing farms, we stopped to check out the large cattle who all wore old clunky silver bells around their necks and said hello to the fields of old goats.
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| What do you call a field of goats? |
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| French village, Morines |
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| Taking a breather, Lac Leman |
Cycling into France not much changed except the colour of our trail markers, we didn't even realise we'd passed into France initially!
The sixteenth century houses lined up against the road still seemed similar. After another twenty kilometers we walked our bikes down a short gravel side road and took a quick stop to cool off.
Dipping our feet in the cool clear lake we devoured the last of our sticky orange jaffas and watched the hundreds of spiders sunning themselves on the rocks. After a short rest we left the lake again and cycled onto the holiday resort town of Evian les bains.
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| Someone's front gate |
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| Comic Kara overly enjoying her dinner |
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| A chateau along the road |
At the Evian marina (thankfully back in the euro zone) we sat at a wonky white table and relaxed with a couple of cold Belgian beers in the warm sunny afternoon.
The sun bounced off the shiny yachts moored in the harbor. We had raced so fast that we were earlier than expected and relaxing lake side seemed like the perfect way to end our day.
By the time we arrived at the Airbnb we were already ready for bed. We had made great time today but we were absolutely wiped out.
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| Affligem beer at the Evian les Bains marina |
Dinner was short and sweet as we took a stroll by the lake and everything finally was right in the world again when we climbed into the nice hot shower.
We had another early start planned for tomorrow and as soon as we lay our tired legs on the bed our uncooperative eyes clocked out.
Tot siens,
John and Kara
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