Blog

The forecast being for yet another thermometer-busting hot day down on the plain it was decided to head for the higher hills, namely the Alpes Valaisannes above Morgins (1333m) in the Portes du Soleil .

After a record number of apologies for absence (11 received), only PeterSt and I were left to join Stephen, who was already installed in his mountain retreat. The two of us departed early from Commugny and reached the Morgins parking before 09:30 after a trouble-free journey. A car pulled up alongside mine and out got PeterT, Kobie and a delightful surprise – Jill.  These three had been staying up in nearby Champery for the few days prior to allow the aforementioned hound to escape the worst of the heat. 

Stephen had not seen us arrive but heard the now familiar bark and tracked us down.  

After a brief discussion Stephen decided upon a suitable route, which started with a CHF12 ascent by télécabine to La Foilleuse.  This saved both time and a lot of sweat.

Now at 1815m, the sky was sunny and cloudless and the temperature pleasantly cooler than down below.

After an hour and a half of gentle ups and more downs, en route passing the Gite Alpage La Chaux, the scene of a memorable lunch on a previous long hike, we arrived at Chez Gaby, another very well appointed mountain restaurant on the outskirts of Champoussin, for a morning coffee. Our local mountain man had prior knowledge of one of the house specialities – namely their tarte aux myrtilles – and five portions were duly ordered.  And what portions they were!  Truly the most delicious examples any of us had ever encountered.  The recipe was requested but not disclosed, but suffice it to say this was not your usual dry tart base topped with some blueberry jam.  Kobie looked on longingly but was denied a taste. Jill’s  good influence?

Suitably sugar and carbo loaded, we set off eastward, continuing on a long circuit,  while P, J & K headed back northwards to the top of the télécabine for an early return home.

It was getting hotter now as we were above the tree-line but the magnificent views of the Dents du Midi in the foreground and the Vaudois and Bernese Alps in the far distance were more than compensation.

After descending a path through open fields displaying many alpine flowers in full bloom we arrived at our lunch stop, the Buvette de Savolarie, at 1pm, very thirsty and hungry enough to order the house speciality – croute au fromage. The cooking being done using feu du bois, this took a little time, but worth the wait. The toppings included egg, gherkins, onion, pear and pineapple. Any or all could be (and were) chosen. An interesting novelty was tried after lunch, namely a form of skittles, where knocking down the nine wooden skittles with a wooden(?) ball launched from three positions involves the use of curved side “walls”. The geometry required to ensure the balls’ correct trajectory proved too much for all of us after a couple of beers, although Peter did succeed in knocking down the most skittles. Must have been the croute complète.  A creditable achievement but the skill developed is unlikely to be of any use anywhere else.

With the afternoon temperature rising we were relieved that the hour descent back down to Morgins was largely through the forest.  We reached the car at 15:45 and declined Stephen’s generous offer of cold or hot drinks at his chalet, choosing instead to set off in time to beat the usual rush hour congestion around Lausanne. This we almost achieved and were home around 17:30.

A great day out in the magnificent mountains once again, this time covering a distance of 14km and a climb of 750m (of which, it must be admitted, half was by cablecar!)

Mervyn Powell

10/07/2026

It had been hot for days and days and the forecast for Thursday was for a 35C day in Founex. It was therefore unsurprising that a large number of not unreasonable excuses, alibis, pretexts, and aoplogia flooded my inbox just before this planned outing. We missed you all.

In the event there were only 3 of us as I wrote to Nathan and Mervyn:-

“Just the 3 of us and Kobie have signed up. 

Suggest we meet early at Mervyn’s. 

From there I’ll drive us all to Trelex for an assault on the Vieux Chateau via Beatrix at St Cergue. 

Is 8 am ok ?

Suggest we take a picnic lunch – which – if you skip or reduce breakfast – we could have as a brunch. 

There is a coffee stop too!

Train back down to Givrins. “

Subsequently Nathan proposed an earlier start and it was at 7.15 am on a bright and cloudless canicule morning that we assembled at Mervyn’s.

From the normal “Trelex” parking for Dogging (600m) we left at 7.43am and passing the Lac of Frogs (where Kobie takes his normal dip) we entered the shelter of the forest for the fairly direct ascent up to St Cergue. The temperature was still quite pleasant.

Indeed we arrived in fair shape at the Hotel La Pointe du Jour (1015m), on the main road (currently closed to up traffic) just before St Cergue, at 9am exactly. This was an eatery of old days – my last had been 20 years ago for a pizza after night skiing at St Cergue (Chf 35 all in). The friendly innkeeper came out with a water bowl for Kobie and we took on croissants and coffee under sunshades on the rather fabulous terrace. I took time to read out the apologia.

From here the path onward miraculously appears behind bushes over the road directly opposite the hotel (thanks to Ross for showing me this prior to a recce that I did a few days before) and it turns up through the forest reaching the Balade Béatrix. This is a small and quite precipitous path that skirts under the overhanging cliff that guards the summit (1130m).

There is a long and rather tiresome tale (in French) of the legend of Béatrix and what went on in the middle ages before the destruction the Vieux Château. That château must have indeed had a magnificent location atop the hill above St Cergue.

“Le sentier de la « Ballade à Béatrix » est jalonné de 16 panneaux récitant les étapes de la Chronique de St-Cergue. Celle-ci fut écrite par Frédéric-Jacques-Louis Rilliet (1794 – 1856) après qu’il eût effectué un séjour à St-Cergue à une date qui n’est pas établie précisément. Il raconte avoir reçu d’un vieillard du village un vieux meuble, seul vestige du château, qui contenait un ancien parchemin dont cette chronique a été extraite. Elle relate le dernier épisode de la vie du château de St-Cergue qui fut démoli durant les guerres de Bourgogne. Si les personnages de ce roman sont imaginaires, à l’exception du Duc de Bourgogne Charles le Téméraire et des Ducs de Savoie, le contexte politique, militaire et géographique, quant à lui, s’inspire de faits historiques. Nous espérons que l’humanisme des personnages de cette légende st-cerguoise vous rendra les personnages proches et sympathiques.”

Skipping reading the 16 panels we took a short cut and landed on top at 10am facing the rather wonderful panorama over Lac Leman to the alps from the panoply of grassy picnic areas. We took shelter from the sun under a substantial picnic shelter. It was of course a little early for our own picnic lunch, but we did take a nibble and took on more liquid, also wetting Kobie on his back.

Aiming to catch the 10.37 train from St Cergue we were soon down in the air-conditioned comfort of the NStCM carriage from which we alighted in the growing heat in Givrins.

Kobie took a bath in the water tank there and we were soon down and back up to the car, reaching Mervyn’s for beers and our picnics, at noon.

At hot one. Mad dog and Englishmen with a Yank, not out but home just before the midday sun.

7.5km and 640m ascent. Good idea to get out early. Thanks Mervyn for the coffee and beer.

Meteo Suisse did not disappoint and June 11th was a beautiful sunny morning, not too warm, perfect for a GIN hike. Our usual leader had exhausted himself with organisation of a university alumni extravaganza in Champery the weekend before so, when the usual notice of event did not appear, Stephen volunteered to step in to gather participants and devise a route for the fortnightly outing. Recent attendance at GIN events had been rather sparse due to the aging population taking advantage of pre-summer vacation breaks. So it was a bit of a surprise when the returns to the call for hikers saw an usually high positive response rate. In the event, 13 hikers appeared at the rendez-vous of the old station at Divonne, although the organiser had only initially counted 12 and was a little confused at the addition to make it a baker’s dozen (maybe he had forgotten to count himself? No, Mark 2Rs had somehow been left off the initial list).

Rudolph, a relative new-comer to the group, had not quite appreciated the approximation in most of the instructions and had positioned himself exactly at the old station, surprised when no-one else appeared. He soon realised that the people gathering a 100 metres away looked familiar. PeterST thought that the bike leader’s call to action must involve a bike and so rolled up (literally) on his bike. MikeH and Rocco also made an unexpected presence as dreams of a summer on the Med had been thwarted by his boat requiring undesired and excessive repairs. It was also good to see Bill again, returned from his annual USA retreat.

Anyway, all this is to say that a large compliment of GIN members gathered at the right time and right place eager for the gentle stroll promised up to the heights of Mont Mussy and Mont Mourex. This comprised:
Bill
Mark2Rs
Mark2Ts
MikeH + Rocco
Mervyn
Natham
PeterST
PeterT + Kobi
Ralph
RichardS
Rudolph
Stephen
Thatcher

Notably, the full newly-formed 240 club was present (Mark2Ts, RichardS, Mervyn) as was the relative youngster, PeterT, with a recently attained three-quarter century.

The wisdom of the usual hike leader questioned how a 4 km walk was going to occupy two and a half hours until lunch…but the man temporarily in charge had devised a plan: a spiral assault to the heights (hopefully not spiralling out of control). Initial direction was not promising. Trying to escape rapidly from the urban jungle the group was led directly towards a dead end but was happily saved by the man with local knowledge and belatedly acknowledged to be in the group: Mark2Rs. This had the added benefit of passing a little known local point of interest: a 4000 year old hexagonal astronomical stone, hardly noticeable in the modern Divonne, submerged in a grassy verge.

The spiralling begins

Mark led us onto the planned track which followed the base of Mount Mussy to Mourex overlooking the road between Divonne and Grilly when the foliage allowed. The group strung out as the path narrowed forming smaller sub-groups and allowing everyone to proceed at a comfortable speed. Frequent stops permitted reassembly. This group has sufficient medical experience to fill many tomes but once the usual update of ailments had passed our gentle meandering allowed conversations on a whole range of non-medical topics. At some point along this path RichardS let on that he was carrying more than his usual small bottle of surprises with sufficient celebratory champagne to satisfy the crowd once the summit was reached. We carried on up through Mourex on the road that the GIN Bikers fear due to its relentless steep incline up through the village and towards Mont Mourex.

Beautiful views to the Alps and observers

At the base of the final climb (and potential back relief for Richard) the leader consulted his watch and declared that there was more of the spiral to be covered. Happily, he ruled out the longer loop via Vesancy and proceeded on the upper path through the woods on the Jura side, circumnavigating further the Monts Mourex and Mussy. This path had some up and downs, allowing extra elevation to be added to the final statistics, and eventually emerged at a junction where the main track from the Ferme de Mont Mussy leads directly to the summits. By this stage the lack of our usual coffee stop was beginning to show on the hikers and there was a desire to rapidly complete the 1.2km to Mont Mourex and the promise of refreshments and our picnic lunches.

Old dogs on the way up through Mourex

Emerging from the woods into the open with the bright sunlight and stunning views was an almost religious experience for some. Their penance was soon to be rewarded with spiritual gain. Spiralling, or unspiralling, of a different sort was soon in progress as champagne cork wiring was unwound, corks removed with a spiral cork screw and screw top spirit bottles opened. The bench normally used for weary pilgrims was seconded as an impromptu bar. Birthdays were well celebrated and absent friends toasted with addition bubbly being found in PeterT’s backpack. In the middle of all this excitement and diversion of attention, Rocco seized the opportunity to nuzzle his way into Mervyn’s backpack and release goodies for himself. Despite the best efforts of experienced dog-handlers, Rocco was not easily deterred and it took some time before Mervyn’s tooth marked sandwiches were retrieved, almost intact. Happily the Côtes du Rhone Mervyn supplied added to the reduction of any potential rabies threat.

Two uses for the same bench

Ralph surpassed usual spirituality by offering a full bottle of the favourite Scottish tipple as well as a smaller sampler bottle of local kirsch from a neighbour…..all this in addition to Richard’s bottle of unusually acceptable brandy content. Not all was consumed but sufficient that the impact of increasing age coupled with food and especially alcohol was a recipe for uncontrollable siestas. As the years pass and the group ages the number of recumbent figures after lunch increases. This day was no exception.

What a view!

We’re not as young as we used to be…..

Eventually revived after a very satisfying lunch and rest, the group reformed ready for the unwinding spiral, initially towards Mourex but then turning anticlockwise to the direct return route on the lower wooded path on the Alps side of the mountain. This downhill section really separated the group as certain physical ailments are more difficult on the down than the up. By the time we were at the Ferme it was obvious that Ralph was in difficulty and that the cortisone treatment planned for the next day could not come quickly enough. He fairly rapidly agreed to await a pick up and had confidence that he would not be left stranded by the rest of the group. Richard kindly ensured that was the case.

The rest of us continued on the steepish downhill to the road and across by the Divonne Golf course and the Sources de la Divonne. This was flowing well but not flooded as had been seen on previous occasions. From here it was a short walk through the town, where one hiker took advantage of booking an economical haircut.

Farewells were said at the car park. Whilst some left for home a hard core decided that a visit to Charley’s Bar would be a more suitable ending….the retrieved Ralph being very much of that opinion. Mark2Ts generously supported this final fling.

The postscript to the walk was an evening email from Rudolph who had been relaxing in the shower after the hike only to find two ticks in close contact. It seems that siestas on the grass after lunch might have consequences…….

It was great to see so many GIN members out on an enjoyable walk in ideal conditions. What was scheduled as a gentle stroll was 15.5km and 420m climb (although other records may differ). In any case it was a good day’s exercise close to home….another confirmation of that great organisation called Gentlemen in Nyon.