Author: Peter Taylor

The hike last week was cancelled owing to persistent rain. So this Thursday with the BLeader being in the South Atlantic no biking was arranged and instead a delayed hike was organised. Following Mrs Pashley finding the excellent, recommended and newly made “3 villages path” (above Bassins, Le Vaud and Marchissy) recently, Jill and I hiked it and I spotted a possible new section of forest to explore upward of this. Hence 6 of us with 2 hounds assembled at Marchissy (883m) at 10.15 am ready for an ascent to Cret de La Neuve (1494m). I had reckoned on 611m of up (simple math really).

Attending : 6 :- Peters Strebel, Solomon and Taylor; MikeH; Ross; RichardS; with dogs Kobie and Rocco. I had apologies from many, some ill, some away, some busy, some just chilling.

Happily the paths above Marchissy are now well mapped and signposted and it seemed that my target of Cret de la Neuve was reached simply by following the Sentier du Coq, then heading NW up the ridge.

The forecast was good, and so it was a little disconcerting to be starting in the mist, the cloud had yet to lift. We set off in good cheer though following the wooden Coq signs, gently upward through the autumn forest colours.

At one point we had to leave the Coq path and take to tarmac as loggers with noisy chain saws had closed the trail. It took about 2 hours to reach the top of the Jura ridge at the Perroude de Marchissy hut, with tell-tale (and very small) signs of the snow that had fallen recently. We turned right and wandered up the sunny slope to our old favourite lunch spot at the Cret de la Neuve.

A bottle of Bordeaux helped to relax the party and stopped me from choking on my sandwich. One hound perhaps ate too many of my chews too quickly and made an offering to Richard, which he then consumed (again). We met a courageous young lady (from Paris) there who was cooking up her lunch on a stove. Her pack included a tent and she was solo en route from Marchairuz to St Cergue.

Topics at lunch were many and varied. We toasted absent friends and one member told his favourite Margaret Thatcher joke – when visiting a care home she asked an old lady in a wheelchair – “do you know who I am?”. The old lady replied “I don’t know love, but if you ask at that desk over there they will tell you”.

Richard dug out his famous bottle and several of us benefitted from some Russian vodka.

The cloud rose as we moved to go and it suddenly got chilly.

The descent, after a first steep section, was long and uneventful, easy angled with much walking on wide trails and some tarmac and the sun came back. At least this enabled plenty of chatting, and we were soon back at the cars, well before 3pm.

I think we all enjoyed this one, visting an old haunt (for some of us) from a new angle, moderate hiking, in fine autumnal weather. My measurement today was 616m denivellation and 14km. Thanks to attendees and to those supplying photos.

Rob’s kingdom lies North of the Col de Marchairuz, while MikeH claims the South. Rob’s note went out :-

“For the upcoming hike I propose that we hike from Col Du Marchairuz to the Alpage Du Mont Tendre. The plan is we start at the Col at 9:30 am and take an alternative route up to the Alpage, with a return by the usual route. 

• The Col to Alpage route is 10.4 km, 465m denivelation and takes approx. 3hrs
• Return to Col is 8.3km, with 300m denivelation and will take approx. 2hrs 30min mostly downhill.
• I will arrange a booking at the Buvette for lunch.

The proposed mapped routes are attached.”

There were quite a number of apologies, some of which were apparently accepted. In the end seven and a dog arrived at the Col du Marchairuz at 9.30am on a cool and breezy morning. I entered the restaurant with Kobie who grew immediately very excited at seeing Rob, RichardS, Ralph, Rudi, Nathan and David, quietly enjoying a coffee. So excited that I had to take him out straight away without even checking to see if a new parrot had been installed.

Luckily I had an iced coffee in my car, so we were all soon caffeined-up and ready to go for this mammoth outing.

Rob last led this hike on 25 May 2023 when the following attended : – Peter D, Mervyn P, Andrew N, David C, Mike M, Mark Warren, Richard S, Richard W, Ralph and Robert P.  

Re-reading Rob’s blog of that outing it seemed that he found it a bit difficult to keep the team together. There was to be no such replay today, well almost.

As can be seen from the first map above, the outrun involved one of Rob’s long shortcuts. Sadly loggers were in place so we had to slighly shorten the shortcut, but only by a bit.

Happily the wind was behind us and we sailed along in intermittent sunshine.

It was not long before we attracted some doggerel companions.

Just before Cunay, Nathan decided on a shorter shortcut and we found ourselves on very steep ground attempting to reach the main ridge.

By this time it was becoming clear that we were entering the cloud base, with some moisture and a chilling breeze.

We finally knocked the 1679m b—–rd off so it was time for some summit apèro – Chilean Cabernet Blend, el Parron, with some healthy nibbles.

We were soon ensconced inside the Alpage at a reserved table, with room for Kobie by the door, beers were ordered and very welcome Old Boxer arrived.

A very enjoyable lunch with much banter. Some politics, not much about Scotland. We solved a few of the world’s problems though. And Kobie at least had behaved acceptably well (I believe).

Time to face the wind, but happily the sun had come out and the wind seemed less cold.

The way back is “mostly downhill” according to Rob (see above). It does not always feel that way, still another 300m up to go. But we were well fortified and somehow I had avoided the Saynor potion bottle. And the sun was nice.

For those of you who have done this it is indeed a long way back and we strode on with fortitude.

The trail goes on and on, but after 8.3km we finally made it.

I think we were too tired for final refreshments at Marchairuz, so we simply said our farewells and left.

Before finishing I promised an insight into Rob’s thermal protection, allowing him comfortably to wear shorts in cold and windy weather.

A super day out 18.5km and 750m. A fine lunch and great company. One of our longer and more challenging outings. Well done to those who made it. Sorry for those who were not able to come.

Thanks Rob for leading us again through your kingdom.

It was time to re-attempt the Parmelan, known to some as the Parmaham, others as the Parmesan. Here was the flyer :-

Dear GinHikers,
For this upcoming Thursday 17 July I am proposing to visit David’s old favourite, not the hard cheese normally grated, but – The Parmelan. The weather forecast looks to be dry. 

Le Parmelan

• Difficulty: Intermediate 
• Altitude: 1,832 m
• Ascent: 2 hours 00 min via the Grand Montoir
• Descent: 2 hours 00 min via the Petit Montoir
• Elevation Gain: 750 meters
• Round-trip: 9.0 km
• Map: IGN 3430 OT
• For viewers :- Richard found this YouTube video showing the itinerary:-
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlvRxdUu9Hg

Parmelan is one of the must-sees of Haute-Savoie. Visible from the surroundings of Annecy, its imposing cliffs dominate and make it a panoramic viewpoint that will amaze any hiker. The ascent by the Grand Montoir is delicate, with passages exposed to heights on a narrow and steep path. Although entirely secured by chains and ramps, the passage can scare people with a fear of heights; I thus advise the use of a rope.

The route I propose describes a loop which starts at the Bois Brûlé parking lot and descends smoothly through the Petit Montoir. The plateau of Parmelan is very sculpted by erosion as chasms and fissures form the lapiaz.

Starting Point: 45.952219, 6.222312

Ascent

On the right of the parking lot, the path gets into the forest and becomes quite steep very quickly. Follow the direction of Chalet Chappuis reached in 20 minutes and already offering a beautiful view of Lake Annecy and Dents de Lanfon. Turn left to reach the junction with the road coming from La Blonnière, and continue again to the left. After a good walk, the trail gives the right to admire Parmelan’s cliffs and runs down to the bifurcation of the Petit Montoir where you take a right towards the Grand Montoir. By entering the Grand Montoir, vigilance is in order: the pathway, although secure, is still difficult.

Indeed the weather was set fair with early clouds forecast to disperse leaving a clear and sparkling day.

Richard had some fore-knowldege of a buvette on the top, which might have attracted more punters, but after receiving many apologies and excuses, some tendentious, some robust, five of us and a dog turned up at the Divonne parking at 9.10am, with Richard joining us later at the start. At the last minute MikeH pulled out for medical check reasons.

Attending : Mervyn, Nathan, Ralph, Steven (Ralph’s brother – a photographer from Blighty and who has been on previous hikes (Incl Le Salève)), me and Kobie with Richard meeting at the Parmelan parking.

As we approach the mountain a herd of cows gave an opportunity to take this shot from the car:-

As we drove up the zig zag mountain road, cars in front and behind foretold that there would already be a number there and indeed it was a pretty crammed parking lot (at 1167m) as we arrived, but there was room for us all. Clearly the Parmelan was going to be busy today, but I saw this as a good sign in that here is a hike really well worth doing.

Richard arrived shortly after us and we assembled for the task ahead, 700m of up, steady at first but getting steeper and a little tricky in the Grand Montoir. The weather was perfect and the team were in high spirits, including Kobie who was pleased to be back in the peloton.

At Chalet Chappuis the views are expansive and give only a hint of what is to come. We continued steadily up stopping for a drink at the 1500m level before the path bifurcates, Grand Montoir to the right, Petit Montoir (and our descent route) to the left.

There are notices here that the paths are dangerous in winter when the gulleys are snowed up, as when twenty five years ago or more I recall they were badly verglassed and Jill and I retreated.

And so to the crux section of the Grand Montoir and I fixed Kobie on his leash. There were a number of parties ahead of us, but all moved steadily up in good humour.

The path steepened and some exposure began to be felt. A stout wire was available for pulling on or just for balance.

We zig zagged up the steep trail, passing some, allowing others past us.

We all regrouped after the main section and took the final steep section at leisure – well almost. Soon at the col, Kobie looked for shade while we regrouped again.

A notice stated that dogs should be on a lead as the chickens thereabouts are aggressive, so I retained him on the leash. The team all looked in good shape and I think had enjoyed the mild excitement of the steep path cut in rock. So we tootled up the remaining 80m to the hut at the top – the Chalet Hôtel C.Dunant, next to the Croix de Blondet.

There were quite a number of folk at the top, enjoying the fine views. As Richard had predicted the restaurant/bar was open and we went inside to escape the sun. Ralph ordered large beers for us all which were cool and refreshing.

Suitably refreshed we set off to conquer the actual summit of the Parmelan, not far off.

It was time for lunch and we found some suitable rocks close to some shade for Kobie. Some red wine was shared and we did toast absent friends. They were missing a real classic. Kobie benefitted from Richard’s suasage and apple.

We all agreed that the fluid from Richard’s bottle was indeed excellent. Sirin Lingonberry liqueur from Finland.

Well refreshed and in a merry mood we upped sticks and set off back down to the col. An alternative but longer route traverses the lapiaz, but this was not needed today.

We had some astounding views over to the big hills, with Pointe Perćee not too far off. It was warm and Kobie, having escaped from the aggressive chickens, took time to shelter from the sun.

We stopped as Steven expressed signs of cramp, and he took on some mag tablets. This would not have been of interest for this record but for what happened shortly afterwards. We set off back down the trail towards the Petit Montoir and within 5 minutes or so at the front I heard news from the back that Steven had turned back; he had left his camera on a rock when we had stopped. Very shortly after a young lady appeared holding Steven’s camera. We thanked her profusely. (Richard believed she had looked at the photos in the camera and recognised us from crossing us in her ascent).

All that was needed was to recover Steven. We called him by phone and he was soon reunited with his beloved camera, relieved if not over the moon.

The trail descends gradually and then traverses back under the cliffs to the junction with the path up the the Grand Montoir. It was here that the kind lady gave Kobie some water from her pouch. We moseyed on down to the Chappuis Chalet where chickens were wandering among the hikers.

On the final trail Kobie took an early bath.

We were soon back at the car and rehydrating. It had been a warm hike, getting hot finally.

We said farewell to Richard and all the other fellow hikers we had been meeting on the trail, before driving back to Divonne (1 hour, no trouble) and then over to Mervyn’s for some cool beer in the garden.

A super hike in great weather, fantastic views and great comapny. I had 701 m (not 750m ?) and 11.5km (not 9km ?). My monitor also showed I had got my heart into level 5 (145 bpm and over) for 30 seconds. This rarely happens on hikes…. And Kobie slept well that night. Thanks for the fun everyone.

It was to have been the Parmelan. But the weather forecast was not the best, albeit I kind of promised dry weather. So 6 of us showed up at 9.30 at the Divonne Lac parking, with Kobie. And Stephen met at 9.50 at Genolier, hoping for a gentle hike. I had hinted at 700m or so, with a gist of a plan to come down by train from St Cergue back to Sus Chatel.

Attending : Nathan, RichardS, Mark2ts, StephenL, BillW, Ross, and me PeterT, and Kobie. Apologies and excuses had been received from many, mostly plausible.

The forecast seemed to have worsened but almost 43% turned out in optimistic shorts.

We commenced by crossing the train track and heading up alongside the streamway where Kobie got some refreshment. After a slight break to take in the intimate stream landscape we continued on up, those at the front wettened by the close damp green leaves enfolding the path.

We soon arrived at Rob’s Gully, famous to the cognoscenti – which the team were rapidly becoming. At the top the path levelled out and a discussion ensued on prime numbers, in particular 17 which is a special number. And the fraction 1/17 has a coninually repeating 16 string decimal, a repetend.

153 is also an important number related to 17. Mark had some irrational pronouncements about rational numbers which none of us could make head or tail of. It all made for some light relief to the light rain which was beginning to fall.

No rest for the wicked and we continued up in what could have been Amazon rain forest. Muggy sticky and green.

The rain became a little heavier but it was not cold and we topped out at the Arizier Road in good order. A short stretch along the road, now partially in the cloud and driving rain, took us to the right turn which led through fields then into the upper forest. It was at this juncture in the lee of a large hedge, that the leader relented and offered the team a vote – to bail out and go directly to St Cergue for a pizza etc, as it was about midday already. We were saved by Mark’s phone which showed that the rain was about to end and that we could expect at least a two hour (relatively) dry spell. Vote cancelled!

What that meant was another 5 km and 300m ascent to the Fruitières de Nyon. The leader had a perception that the team were beginnng to become subdued, little was spoken as we trudged higher. A short revitalising stop was permitted before the final stagger up to the FdN under cloud and some wind, but no actual rain.

It was almost 1pm. We were alone and had several tables to spread out over, but huddled together for companionship.

At some stage black (or perhaps red) kites swirled over us in the maelstrom. A nesting pair of swallows were seen on the roof of the FdN itself.

A pleasant lunch, nobody choked so I (or they) did not need to use my LifeVac (I did provide a short demonstration just in case, as I had bought another soggy wrap from the Volg). Nathan helpfully suggested that I could reduce my choking risk by not choosing the soggy wraps. Mark offered strong black coffee and Nathan his Japanese whisky. Kobie had some good chews and part of a pork pie.

We were ready to go. The plan now was simply to descend to St Cergue the easist way, avoiding the intial steep and damp path. We took the road down.

We took the trail right past the youngsters on their zip wires at Basse Ruche and arrived in St Cergue at 2.38pm just after the train had left. Undaunted we tramped over to the boulangerie café (Le Ptit Gourmand) where Richard treated us all to a warm cuppa (each!).

Richard had not yet paid just as we realised we had 2 minutes before our 3.07pm train was due to leave. We held the door for him just as it was leaving and we settled down for the comfortable train ride back down the mountain.

From Sus Chatel it is only a short hop back to the cars.

Another memorable hike, which Kobie and I do quite regularly, but I found quite hard in the conditions. Both Kobie and I were exhausted that evening.

12 km. 740m or so of ascent.

Posting a Comment later from Mark:-

I can’t let an opportunity for a bit of maths pass so here’s what I think the guy was saying about 17 (already shared part of this with Peter). Also here’s a proof that any number with repeating digits must be rational.

1. The decimal expansion of 1/17 repeats after 16 digits
   1. Perform the division by hand. Write out a few lines
              0.0588
      17) 1 00
                85
                150
                136
                  140
                  136
                      4
   2. At each step there is a subtraction with the result (highlighted in red) must be less than 17. If the result is zero the decimal expansion terminates. If it is a repeat of a previous result the decimal expansion repeats from here. Therefore the repeat length can’t be greater than 16 
   3. In general for any integer, n, the maximum repeat length must be n-1 and is usually shorter. I believe it must be shorter if n is not a prime since if n = r * s the maximum repeat length should be the product of the repeat lengths of r and s, i.e. (r – 1) * ( s – 1) < n – 1
   4. The repeat length is not always n-1 if n is a prime.  c.f. 2, 3, 5, 11, also 13 (repeat = 6). So 17 is the smallest prime with this property.

2. Any decimal with repeating digits must be a rational number (ratio of 2 integers)
   1. Assume X has repeating digits with a repeat length of n digits
   2. X may have some digits before the repeat starts, e.g. 1/6 = 0.1666…
      Subtract off these digits and then multiply by powers of 10 until it is of the form 
      Y = ( X – X₀ ) * 10^m = 0.a₁a₂…a_na₀a₁…a_n…
      above is not strictly necessary but simplifies the next step
   3. Now calculate Z = 10ⁿ Y – Y = a₁a₂…a_n, an integer
   4. Now work backwards
      Y = Z / ( 10ⁿ -1 )
      X = Y / 10^m + X₀ = Z / { 10^m ( 10ⁿ -1) } + X₀ , clearly a rational number
      
   5. As an example  try X = 3.142857142857…
      X₀ = 3, m = 0 , n = 6
      Y = 0.142857142857…
      Z = 10⁶ Y – Y = 142857 an integer
      Working backwards we get
      Y = Z / 999999 = 0.142857142857…  = 1 / 7
      X = 3  1/7  =  22 / 7  

Once again, thanks for a great hikeand for some mental stimulation., Cheers, Mark

Nathan organised this excellent hike warning us however, in view of the uncertain weather forecast, to “be prepared”. He recommended us to refer to Philip’s description of the terrain, from his 30 March 2023 blog. See below in blue. (Philip also reported in 2023 that his search of the “dusty GIN blog archives” revealed that a similar hike was organised in June 2018 by David Colledge. There were three participants then, an indication of the significant increase over the last 5 years in GIN hiking interest.) I note that David wrote – Lunch in La Cave de la Ferme in nearby Frangy – highly recommended with 4 course lunch at €16.50.

Further research into the dusty GB archives showed that David organised another hike up the far end of the Vuache in May 2019 from Chevrier with 4 attending. David wrote “altogether about 3.30hrs followed by a very reasonable lunch at Restaurant du Vuache.”

Philip : “The Vuache is a long lean mountain. Not at all a Fujiyama. Not even a Môle. But I see it every morning from my kitchen balcony. And it tells me what the day’s weather will bring. Geologically it’s part of the Jura range. Good Jurassic limestone, no doubt riddled, like the Salève, with water-filled cavities. And maybe bottomless potholes that nobody has explored. But physically it’s an isolated mountain, cut off eons ago by the melt waters from the immense Rhone Glacier that filled the whole Lemanic basin. And it holds secrets known only to those who explore it in early Springtime.”

On that hike in March 2023 hike we were 11 : two Marks, PeterT, Nathan, Rudi, Richard, Mike M, Ralph, Drew, Mervyn and Philip and hounds Kobie and Nessie. On this hike we missed Mark 2ts, Rudi, Richard, Mike M (and Nessie) and Mervyn. We added on this occasion Mike H (and Rocco), Stephen and Ross and were thus 9.

(I was told that several absent members have poor knees – at least they gave that as an excuse to Nathan. I can only recommend daily taking Pernaton tablets – they have saved my knees. )

https://www.pernaton.ch/en/produkte/produktubersicht

Unhappily the timing this year was different, it not being early Springtime. So we missed the wonderful display of daffodils (that we had seen two weeks ago on Mark’s Dôle hike). And unhappily too the warm sunshine we had enjoyed two weeks ago was missing and we experienced instead a cold dry and windy day almost exactly as per 30 March 2023.

It did not start that way as there was some weak sunshime as we ascended the ridge from Chaumont attempting to catch up with Philip who had started 15 minutes earlier.

We caught Philip up after about 300m of ascent. He was gayly and gently elevating himself up the ridge, stopping to take close-up photos of the plants he loves (not daffodils though).

Philip writes : –

Thursday’s ascent was the first time that I had seen wild orchids actually in flower on the Vuache. Having given myself a 15 minute head start on the peloton, I had time to photograph them (and have a breather!). The GIN plant enthusiasts, of which I’m sure there are many, will no doubt welcome this botanic addition.

I have given the relevant plant names to the photo files. I’ve also added one non-orchid, Sainfoin, the reason being that it’s a real beauty, whose identity had me initially confused until PlantNet put me right.

At one point Ralph kindly offered us all a cup of his hot strong black (and good value) coffee. Excellent! I almost did not miss Mervyn and his milk.

At a large green field two chamois (or deer according to Mark) broke cover and Kobie went off to investigate but soon came back. It was not long however before he found a leg bone of a deer (or chamois) left by hunters and he and Rocco spent some time arguing over who should eat it. Both won.

We wandered on up along the woodland path which traces the spine of the hill, in places steep and rocky. I spotted only 3 daffodils still in flower, but there were many other flowers (Philip will tell us).

On the way up we had noticed a picnic table at the top of the green field and members retraced steps back to it, keen to tuck into some warming sustenance and whatever wines were on offer. In this case a Nero d’Avola and a Rasteau. Drew of course had his flask, but we missed Richard and his abominable bottle.

Philip wrote 2 years ago :- There was no handy auberge nearby, so we ate our picnics (in a particularly windy spot) with extensive views over the Rhone Valley and in the distance the Plateau de Retord. This time we had the same wind and views, but the advantage of a (slanting) table that sat 8 of us, albeit we were 9.

All too soon it was over. No time or inclination to discuss Scottish independence. This was a time of Trump Tariff madness.

On the return, we initially retraced our steps but then Nathan again deviated down the steep western slope of the Vuache, fortunately relatively dry and unslippery. This took us through the hamlet of Chaumontet and back to the village of Chaumont. (most of this para was copied from Philip’s 2023 blog).

We passed some very young climbers about to start out on the training rock slabs.

Another enjoyable hike on the Vuache, despite somewhat inclement weather and gone daffs. About 10km and 546m denivellation. Thanks Nathan.

Attendees – MikeH and Rocco, Mark2rs, Drew, Stephen, Ralph, Philip, Ross, PeterT and Kobie, Nathan (Leader).

(I’ll post other pics if folk send me any – or do it yourself if you can. PT)