Lunch at Sur l’Ardoise 18 Sept 2024

Ralph Wares organised this lunch in Versonnex – at his local restaurant of choice, indeed an excellent choice – thanks Ralph!

His description of the optional pre-prandial walk follows :-

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          “Walk around Versonnex prior to the Lunch at sur l’Ardoise! 

We were a squad of 5 people who turned up outside the church in Versonnex, at 10 am.

John Burley, Stephen Long, Philip Jenkins, Richard Saynor, Mark Warren and Ralph Wares.

Despite heavy clouds we had not one drop or rain, of which the forecast was correct.

The route continued down a tarmac small road for 500 meters then onto sort of gravel paths around horse fields, avoiding any mud.

Then passing over a small quaint bridge, along a track for a mile then right turn leading towards one of the Cern outposts.

Prior to reaching the Cern building we took a Sharp left turn on a track leading to la Batie Golf club Collex -Bossy.

There were lots of mumbling about dry throats, so a 5-0 vote was to stop for a coffee, which John kindly paid for.

Fully refreshed we headed back in a circular loop turning right up the hill from the golf course, then right again at the top of the hill towards the Cern building picking up the original trail path to the church car park.

From a time perspective, the walk takes about 1.45 to 2 hours with a gentle stroll.

Stopping for coffee meant we had to speed up our pace slightly to arrive at the Restaurant in time. (5 mins drive from the Church to the restaurant).

We arrived just in time.

Several topics were discussed on route ranging from American politics, Uhhhhhh,Ukraine situation, and experiences related to pension fund providers.

Not sure my health app is working correctly but it suggests we took approx. 11,000 steps, which is around 7.5 to 8 km in distance about 500 Kcal.”

Ralph W.

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In my own case Mervyn and I chose to cycle to Versonnex after meeting at the Everness at 10 am. Mervyn had been in training – 400km or so around or near Lake Contanz. I felt out of shape and did some slip streaming and was grateful for two milky coffees at Gex.

We arrived on time to find regulars already enconced and beer was soon served. 16 attended and we had two tables, name badges were supplied to order (except Brian had a Bryan) :-

• Brian Allardyce
• Trevor Davies
• Norman Eatough
• Frank Ekman
• Mike Price
• Paul Sochaczewski
• John Burley
• Philip Jenkins
• Ross Linsley
• Stephen Long
• Mervyn Powell
• Richard Saynor
• Peter Taylor
• Gary Vannatter
• Ralph Wares
• Mark Warren

It was great to see and catch up with Frank again after 5 years since we last saw him on the Tour of the Dents du Midi – he descended to the valley on the second, rather long, day. He still lives up near the Salève.

The food was good, as was the house wine, service excellent and the banter matched. Starter of soup or another. Main courses were salmon or pork, and desserts were to die for (see photo), coffees followed. Not bad for Eu45.

Ralph gave the organisers speech – which nicely rounded off the occasion.