Clear skies with wisps of cloud greeted us this morning. Another beautiful morning in the Swiss Alps. Leisurely packing, disposal of rubbish, tidying apartment, etc, so it took us until 9.30 to catch the shuttle train back to the huge covered car park in Täsch. We will miss the quiet ambience of motorised traffic free Zermatt.
There followed a leisurely 170 mile drive, studiously avoiding the Swiss motorways for which we had no vignette. The journey was broken by an idyllic coffee stop at Riddes, and lunch beside Lake Geneva. We travelled along the south side of the huge lake for a change, enjoying some of our last views back to the high Alps.
We also had to stop to top up the car with water. Last time it was an oil leak, now it has a water leak, and those are the least of its problems. Based on our experiences with this car, don't buy a Skoda.
We went through Geneva beside the lake, then past Cessy, where my cousin and his wife live. Sadly they weren't able to see us on this occasion.
It's a steep climb from Geneva into the Jura mountains. We stopped to admire the views and could just pick out the summit of Mont Blanc in the distance.
The Jura Hotel in Saint-Claude was today's destination. We have a nice room here and enjoyed a more than adequate 'Menu du Jour' in their restaurant with the same panoramic view as are enjoyed by our room.
Before dinner we enjoyed a stroll around this interesting town that used to be a centre of pipe manufacture. It probably still is, but on a smaller scale. We've been here before, in 2014. Then we were camping, now we are more central. There is a huge cathedral, interesting bridges, large wall paintings/graffiti, and some nice local walks. But that's for tomorrow.
Stats:
We walked about 4 km, with 100 metres of ascent.
Today's pictures:
Idyllic coffee stop at Riddes
Lunch by Lake Geneva
A view from our hotel room
World's largest pipe and diamond
Graffiti in Saint-Claude
4 comments:
18th July 2005 - I set off from the south side of Lake Geneva on the GR5 from St. Gingolph.
I had flown to Geneva then taken a train to St. G.
From my journal:
"At St Gingolph it was raining with the cloud at ground level. It was 18:51. I found I was on Swiss side (the border runs through this town)
I turned left up a steep street, then found I was not heading for the town centre so turned right and then descended back to the main road and looking right saw that I was now on the French side of the customs post ( what security).
The only two hotels were closed. I marched on out of town to a Relais. I tried door. It was closed. A Woman emerged from another door and told me that there was a hotel 2km up road, and offered to drive me there, and refused any payment. It was now 7.15pm
Ha, we had no such problems in St Gingolph yesterday! Believe it or not I was at home on 18 July 2005, having just returned from a walk from Zermatt to Sierre. But that's another story.
(Sent from the excellent Bar des Touristes in St-Claude, after an interesting walk to a batty cave...)
Wow, that is a big pipe. Smoking that can't be good for you...
That would be taking up smoking in a BIG way!
Sue took one puff and flaked out...
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