Biking to Maison Blanche

Thursday 4 April 24

With many biking team members proferring reasonable excuses only 3 of us turned out at the Everness on a fine April morning. Mark, Paul and myself. I was struck by the fact that Paul, having e-biked from Geneva, still ported 5 layers of clothing on his upper body, including two padded items.

Well I say fine morning, but it was a tad chilly as you can see from the buffs. However the forecast was for a warming trend. Given that there were only a few of us I decided that we should pay tribute to Paul and instead of heading NW, we should head SE towards Paul’s base. Well sort of. We would aim for lunch at Maison Blanche golf course, where Paul is a member.

It was a case then of the woods near Chavanne, crossing the Versoix River and up to Grilly, the train track trail to Gex and a coffee. It was a splendid spring morning, sunny and full of birdsong. The Bar Brasserie Bellevue at Gex is closed for renovation and it was not obvious that there was any coffee to be had so we asked locals. A very friendly fellow (training for the information bureau ?) spent some time helping us find the excellent cafe on the left up in the Rue des Terreaux which goes up to the Marie. I believe this is called Le Flush. It is certainly worth a future visit. Burger du Chef and Frites for Eu 15 looked good.

I introduced the subject of “dictums” and Paul has subsequently provided me with some useful input for my quest into the various rules of life. I would welcome more from members. The quest continues.

No croissantes were left so there was nothing for it but to head to Maison Blanche up the “bastard” (designated by M2ts) of a hill outside Gex, followed by a leisurely roll across and down to Maison Blanche.

We arrived at 11.40am, 20 minutes too early for lunch so there was time for a beer or two on the sunny terrace. This is the life. A fantastic view out over to Mt Blanc, warm sun, great beer and fine company. Adding to the company was David, a friend of Paul’s, who used to work at Motorola. His two chums Kevin and Stephen (who had recently had a new knee (sic)) came in from their half round and joined us for a convivial lunch inside. The Maison Blanche has a new chef, from Mauritius, and the menu du jour was excellent, BBQ chicken and frites.

We enjoyed some bon conversation/banter and coffees before it was time to leave to roll back down to our respective base camps (in my case reversing the train tracks and the V River crossing). There was one point where Mark took a slightly wrong turn in Gex and I sat waiting for him to struggle back up a hill with large trucks.

More of a lunch with a ride than a ride with lunch, but hey, we got out there.

I recorded 40km and 400m, so not such a doddle perhaps. A most convivial ride and lunch. Maison Blanche is certainly worth a lunch. The terrace and restaurant views are superb, food and beer good, friendly service and prices reasonable.