Robert O Riordan kindly stepped up to the plate and organised a fondu lunch for the whole GinClub at the Basse Ruche. As this was a snow-shoe/hiking Thursday, Mark2ts organised a hike beforehand. This blog is thus in 2 parts, the pre-lunch hike, and then the lunch.
The Hike
Here is Mark’s note :- “I sent my original note while I was still in Tignes surrounded by snow so it had not occurred to me that most of the snow had disappeared from the Jura in the warm weather. I walked some of the planned route today and there is no need to bring snowshoes. The snow that is still there is mainly hard so no sinking in. It is slippery in places so crampons may be a good idea.
The plan is to mainly follow Peter Strebel’s plan B from 2 weeks ago, but we’ll need to set off early to be at Basse Ruche by midday. We’ll start at the Tancouex parking in St Cergue and follow the road and path up past La Borsatte to Mont Roux, then continue into the Fruitieres valley and return down the valley to Chalet Devant, possible apero stop, and then directly to Basse Ruche. It’s about 7.5 km with 360m ascent and should take about 2:45 hours according to Switzerland Mobility but I think we’ll be a little faster.
After lunch it’s just 1.5km back to the cars.
We’ll meet at Divonne at 8:30 or at the Tancouex parking in St Cergue ready to set off at 9:15.
Mark”
In the event 8 of us started out at Tancouez. Mark, Nathan, Ralph, RichardS, David, Philip, Mervyn and me, PeterT. I thought it best that, as this was primarily a lunch, Kobie should not come along too and he spent the day with Jill.
The weather was perfect for hiking and at times would have been not bad for snow shoeing, in patches, albeit we left our raquettes at home. We set off on time and Mark agreed to let me lead the pretty way towards Mt Roux.
We passed close to Les Agosats farm and headed NW towards Mt Roux.
Snow shoes might have been useful in places
We tracked up through the less-snowy forest until we reached the turn to Mt Roux at 1236m. Here a unanimous decision was taken to shorten the hike and head straight up to the Fruitières de Nyon for leisurely apèros before descending to the Basse Ruche. Mark’s planned longer outing might well have been tricky with some deep snow still about, and it would have left little time for a chat and an apèro drink. We arrived at the FdN before 11am and variousy disported ourselves on the dry grass near a single seat. We were the only folk about. A yellowish haze had come up from the Sahara and we could not see the normal alpine summits.
Some Rasteau appeared as did some honey liquor in Richard’s Bottle of many fluids, together with nibbles and Mark’s strong black coffee, and we enjoyed some calm downtime in the hazy warmth of the sun.
It was soon time to pack up and descend the steep slope (not in snow) down to the BR for lunch, where we arrived in Swiss timing for the midday GinClub Fondu session. We said good by to Nathan. With the walk back down to our cars later I clocked 7.5km and 325m.
The Lunch
We said hello to RobP (snowshoe leader, but sadly still crook), Ruedi, Gary, Jeff (Shane), Paul and RobertOR, 13 for lunch overall. There were a number of other AVS parties in the dining room and it was a (our) shame that we at our end did not all get to meet those at the other end of our table. It was a lively affair, certainly no room for a big Cobberdog.
The beers arrived followed by plentiful platters of meat. Then the fondu, with both bread and spuds, and chasselas, followed by fruit salad and coffee. Conversations flowed but not along the table, we were too spread out and the restaurant was busy. Altogether a very pleasant way to spend lunch.
All too soon we were finished and up and out down the short distance back to St Cergue and our cars. I think I put on a kilo – but one has to have a fondu at least once a year. It was a very tasty one and we all ate religiously. Thanks to Robert O and Mark.
(Note – I need to add RichardS’s photos too, but could not locate them at this late hour of Monday night)
