Author: Mark Warren

Fifteen Ginners and guests plus an adorable black Labrador, Onyx, met in the centre of Russin with even the latecomers arriving two minutes early. We consequently set off punctually at 10am with three “leaders” who had recently done the walk as well as emeritus leaders who knew it well. The steep walk down to the station and over the railway line went well but then an emeritus leader asked which way to go in view of a choice of at least three options. The group agreed to split and to meet at the first hide which was achieved without incident. Indeed, it would have been extremely difficult to get lost as all roads led to the Rhone.

The Rhone was flowing fast with little bird life but there were several ponds off the right bank – the étang des Bouvières for fishing – and three (Paul Géroudet, Jacques Burnier and Maurice Blanchet) collectively known as the Teppes du Verbois for their birds and nature, each with its own hide. Many pairs of binoculars were brought out and many minutes taken looking at the various birds, including swans, red-crested pochards, great crested grebes, coots as well as a grey heron and a great white egret. The light and the reflections against the water were glorious.

We continued towards the confluence of the Allondon with the Rhone where kingfishers were spotted and then up the surprisingly challenging slope to the Vignoble Doré for an excellent lunch. Conversation ranged from how long it would be before Liz Truss resigned (end of the week), leaders who some would like to see out of power or prospects of such before the year’s end (leading contenders were Putin, Bolsinaro, Trump and Khamenei), the benefits of the House of Lords for the man in the street…

More seriously, would volunteers for leading future walks please contact Alan Baker.

A good walk as underscored by a participant who said he would come back with his wife. Another said so would he, before correcting himself to say he meant his own wife.

Participants:

Brian Allardyce, Alan Baker, Mike Clayton, Bryan Clark, Norman Eatough, Tim Goodyear (not lunch), Philip Jenkins, Hubert Pettingell, Mike Price, Richard Saynor, Paul Sochaczewski, Nicolas Ulmer and Mark Warren

Guests:

Hugh Pettingell, Eric Williamson and Onyx.

There were 14 of us (Alan B, Brian A, Bryan C, Trevor D, David S, Tim G, John B, Mike C, Mike P, Paul S, Phillip J, Richard S, Tom B and MarkLW) and a dog who set off down the Grand Rue towards the Pont de Grilly/Pont Bugnon). Grilly has a history going back to at least Roman times and was famous in the 13^th century for a certain Jean de Grilly or Grailly who effectively ran Aquitaine for Edward I of England. Its actual bridge which dates from the 17^th century was the principal crossing from the Mont Mussy to Coppet until the development of Divonne; it spans the River Versoix (the boundary between France and Switzerland) and there is still an albeit unmanned customs post. Mme de Stael famously escaped from France to Coppet over it.

Our walk continued along the riverside towards the Moulin de Grilly. This Moulin is privately owned but there is an interesting explanation of the use of watermills in the Pays de Gex – including wood cutting, diamonds for the watch trade, generating electricity and of course food. At this time, we had beautiful views over both the alps and the Jura and could see woods and fields with little evidence of human construction. A grey heron, a great white egret as well as crows gave a safari aspect with horses making the loudest noise.

After a loop of five kilometres, we were back at our starting place by the Auberge de Grilly where ten of us concluded the morning with an excellent lunch.

A lovely morning which was further improved by only having the rain when we came out from lunch.