Blog – Page 16 – GIN Club

Biking the hills to Gilly 4 May 23

With our honourable BLeader incapacitated – perhaps for the summer – Peter T and Peter D have taken control of biking Thursdays for the interim til Stephen is back on 2 wheels.

With a number of apologies, some sound and others more flimsy, four of us turned out at the Evenness at 10am on the morning of a really fine and warm day, shorts weather!

Attending – Mervyn, Ivan, PeterD, PeterT

PeterT had booked a table at Gilly on their sunny terrace for 12.30pm. The plan then was Bonmont (not the full top), Gingins, Givrins, Genolier, Le Muids, Bassins, Le Vaud, Burtigny, Gilly and home. This is quite a challenging ride for 4 non-E bikes and sadly it did not allow time for coffee stops at some of the watering holes we passed along the way.

There were many agricultural vehicles out and about, some very large. We were overtaken near God’s Crossing by a large muck spreader. One comment was that it was like being overtaken by the Daily Mail. There were quite a number of bikers about, many of whom were on racing road bikes and who had little problem overtaking us.

All went well until Ivan stopped to pick up what might have been his brake block but found it was a spurious reflector. He then missed the junction at Givrins and we needed to reassemble at Genolier after guiding him back by phone.

The hill of La Joie Clinique is (after Bonmont) the “low” point of this ride and it is pushed back into dark recesses of one’s memory. But having passed it we were up in the fresh spring air as the day started to warm up.

Ivan, Mervyn and PeterD at Bassins. Not much more climbing to go !

We had fabulous views out over the Lake to the Alps on the road from Burtigny before dropping down to Gilly. Altogether the riding was brilliant as was the weather and the scenery even if our legs were a bit sore after all the climbing.

An excellent and refreshing lunch was devoured at around chf25 for three courses and some fine beer and great service, al fresco on the terrace. I was glad that I had remembered to bring a sun hat, and we all carried factor 50 cream.

All too soon it was nearly time to be off, so we called ahead to our BLeader who had spent the morning at Nyon hospital and was now at home. He invited us to call in at Arnex to check out his new BOOT and sample his home brew in return for our commiserations and moral support. We ambled back at a leisurely pace with some fabulous views to Mt Blanc. Sure enough the BOOT was real and the ale was too. Stephen seemed in good cheer, as was Kate. We shall have to help ensure this stays that way over the coming months. Merci for the fine beer Stephen.

The BOOT of our BLeader. At least it’s his left heel and he might be able to drive soon !

I logged 63km and 780m denivellation from Coppet.

Dogging along the Versoix River

Tuesday 2 May 2023

Attending Mike H, Nicolas, Rob, Peter T

A fine day for a change and four of us with 3 dogs, Onyx, Rocco and Kobie, set out along the river from Sauverny down the river path. Rob had left his cocker spaniels at home but it was good to have him along. Neither Nicolas nor Rob had been down the river path before but for Mike H and I it is a regular dog walk. Mike M and Nessie had sent apologies and were missed.

Although it was a fine day, the previous days had been grim and rainy, and the path was extremely muddy, albeit we seemed to make good progress with little to trouble us. That meant there were no other dogs met along this normally busy path and we had the river pretty much to ourselves. The fresh green leaves made the forest especially beautiful and the river was in some spate. Onyx seemed to spend a lot of time trying to swim upstream while not moving along the ground and he revelled in the water while the other two splashed and paddled about.

We stopped for coffee at Log Beach Bay and enjoyed watching the dogs cavorting about. We returned the same way and looking back it was indeed a fine morning out for us and our dogs.

Cavorting in the wonderful Versoix River in full flow

A Gintlemen’s best friend – for once Rob is drinking only coffee from his shot cup..

GIN hikers – Balcon de Salève – 27th April 2023

Despite a gloomy weather forecast, 17 hardy hikers signed up for a double hike around the top of the Salève. In the event, Drew had an unavoidable commitment at the last moment, so 16 of us made our way somewhat erratically to the rendezvous point by the Observatoire restaurant. I failed miserably to communicate to the Divonne team that Drew would not be there, so precious time was lost in their departure. Anyway, they set off in an assortment of vehicles trying to avoid the autoroute which was apparently blocked. One of the said vehicles, or rather its driver, got somewhat confused by the ever-changing 5 year-old roadworks by the Ferney tunnel and had a pleasant magical, mystery tour of Grand Saconnex before proceeding to Bardonnex.

The weather forecasters had, luckily, misread their instruments and we set off half an hour late in warm sunshine and blue skies with scattered clouds. Two of us were so encouraged that we opted to bare our lower limbs for the first time in 6 months, leading certain comments about the whiteness of our skin!

The views of the Jura, Lac Léman and the Alps were clear and quite spectacular leading to much snapping of cameras (and smartphones).

We followed an anti-clockwise route around the famous Genevois landmark and soon made a short detour to a viewpoint above the Grande Gorge to marvel at how much concrete there was in the Pays de Gex and Southern Geneva. The beauty of our beloved Jura mountains with a few vestiges of snow on the peaks compensated somewhat for the destruction of the countryside below, though.

Happy guys
Our path took us through pleasant woodland until we reached the open alpages where numerous skylarks were singing.

Heading towards La Croisette, we reached a stony outcrop which was the highest point of our hike. In true GIN fashion, bottles were produced whilst we recovered from our exertions and even champagne glasses to celebrate Mark 2tts’ birthday from two weeks ago. “Happy birthday” was duly sung and a crowd-funding campaign was suggested to enable a parapente ride for him, but he graciously declined!

Glasses clinked and stowed away, we continued on our route and we were now having great views of Mont Blanc and the rest of the Alps. Old stamping grounds were identified and plans discussed for future sorties in that direction. We reached the restaurant at the Observatoire right on time for our updated reservation and found an excellent long table for all 16 of us ready and waiting.

Excellent local beers were consumed by most of us, whilst at the Northern end of the table, some red wine was espied. The menu choices of burgers, roast lamb and diots were reviewed and subsequently consumed, followed by coffees.

She says she’s more interested with what’s on the plate

As the circular trail we had taken before lunch was only about 6 kms, 12 of us set off this time in a clockwise direction on the same route, whilst 4 of our number decided to return home for various reasons. The weather was still warm and Mark 2tts and I felt somewhat vindicated by our earlier decisions whilst others stripped off to single-layer tops. Reaching the site of our earlier refreshment stop, we marvelled at the number of parapenters enjoying themselves nearby. 17 were counted in the air at one time, miraculously avoiding each other, but Mark was still not accepting our generous offer!

Someone’s having a nap in the background

Peter was suggesting taking a precipitous path lower down on the way back, but as we had spent a considerable time in the restaurant, we decided to forego this pleasure until another occasion as time was moving on.

It wasn’t the toughest hike for the group, at about 12 kms and less than 300 metres dénivellation, but the company was, as usual, great and the views were superlative. And by the way, we had two Marks, two Mikes, two Steves and two Richards – must be a record!

Present: David C, Larry F, Marks 2rrs, Mark 2tts, Mervyn P, Mike H, Mike M, Peter T, Rob P, Ralph W, Richard S, Richard W, Rudi P, Stephen L, Stephen W (Ralph’s brother) and Thatcher S.

Gin Bikers Brave the Cold and Damp

20 April 23

I set out this morning to head up to the Everness. I was wearing two jackets, a buff under my helmet and cycling shorts over my lycra leggings. It was cold and spitting with rain. I considered turning back, but I did not want to let my BLeader, PD, down. So I arrived to find Peter with Rudi and Nathan. Two e-bikers and two bikers. Rudi told us a tale of his tail-gate opening on the autoroute and his e-bike nearly falling out; happily he arrived intact.

PeterD suggested a normal Gex gambit opening, somewhat adventurous perhaps for a lunch at the Trois Tilluels in Genolier.

See https://www.aubergegenolier.ch

The rain systems for the day were coming from the Gex direction so it was with some relief that our Leader relented at Grilly and ordered a right turn into Divonne, enabling a coffee stop to be engineered at a warm favourite:-

http://www.au-coeur-des-saveurs.ch

We actually arrived in Crassier surprisingly dry, if a little chilled by the 7C temperatures, but coffee and croissants revived body and spirit and we set off to the inevitable Bonmont in good cheer. It was not long before the Hill of Legend was in front of us, and we turned left at the junction to ride the final few hundred metres to the summit.

Smiling might have been a little enforced at Bonmont top – but it was to be downhill from now on

We rolled down in 5C or below teperatures into Gingins, passing Givrins and thence to Genolier remaining amazingly dry still. It was a relief to enter to warm and pleasant restaurant at Les Trois T, and we began to fell even better after the first beer and fresh vegetarian roll starter. There followed sausage and mash and a wondrous dessert.

Bangers and mash, not quite just like me muvver used to make

We discussed many topics including the excuses of absentees, several of whom were eating pork pies. The food was so good I immediately booked to bring my better half next Saturday. Good choice PeterD!

There remained the route home, billed as downhill all the way. It was not. We were into a slight headwind and the rain came as we passed Signy. Nevertheless a fine but unseasonably cold ride after a hesitant start, with a super lunch (set menu 27chf).

Stats for me 48km and 500m denivellation.

GIN Hikers – Jura Winter Storm -A walk on the wild side – Col de Porte and Couvaloup. 13 April 23.

Nathan writes :-

The itinerary I suggested for this outing began at the Archette car park, up to the Col de Porte and then down to the Couvaloup-de-Crans restaurant for lunch. The return leg was around the mountain rather than climbing back up and over it. There was an optional quick climb to the Dôle after “encouraging” liquid refreshments at the CAS Hut.

Nathan’s Hike – Clockwise from top right – Lunch top left

The outing was tarnished by the fact that our restaurant decided to close for 10 days. Unfortunately I was not able to persuade them to exceptionally open just on Thursday for our illustrious group. We each had to carry our lunch up in our back-pack, at least most of us did.

MétéoSuisse led us to believe that there would only be very light snow and only in the morning with very little wind.

Seven of us met at the Divonne car park for our contribution to the saving the earth effort by travelling in only 3 vehicles. Two more met us directly at the Archette. The nine of us (eleven if Kobie and Nessie are included) set off a bit after 10:00 under a cloudy sky, with almost no snow either on the ground or falling through the air.

Soon after though, the ground was covered with a white layer and indeed a light snow began falling. As we progressed toward our objective, gaining altitude, the white layer got deeper and the snow began falling more intensely. Snow-shoes were not required but some of the steeper places were somewhat uncomfortable.

One of the steeper places – more serious still

When we arrived at the CAS Hut there was considerable snow falling. With the low cloud cover we were not motivated, even after appropriate refreshments, to climb to admire the non-view from the Dôle.

Not the Dôle top – but it’s over there. Several chamois in this photo..

Looking back down the track leading to the Col de Porte

Looking up – Rob leads Richard to the CAS Hut at the Col de Porte

Taking Benedictine and chips at the CAS Hut

The wind was no longer a gentle breeze when we crossed over the pass on to the western downward slope. The gusts were over 50km/h! Fortunately they subsided as we descended.

We all made it to the restaurant with no casualty. As expected, it was closed but they did leave the tables and benches on the terrace for us. Some of our more dedicated members cleared off the snow so that lunch would be comfortable albeit cold except for the few moments when the sun took pity on us with a bit of warmth.

After a lovely lunch, in spite of some complaints about the slow/snow service, we began our return through the forest. Being at a lower altitude the walk was more relaxed with neither wind nor significant snow falling.

It was occasionally a little slippery where the snow did not cover the wet leaves but we managed to make it back to the car park safe and sound.

Kudos to the group for their intrepidness to have undertaken the hike and finished it with “nary” a complaint in spite of the poor weather, lack of a restaurant and a couple of treacherous passages.

Participants: Mervyn Powell, Philip Jenkins, Nicolas Ulmer, Peter Taylor, Mike Muller, Mark Warren, Rob Pashley, Richard Saynor, myself, Kobie and Nessie.

Walking distance: 10.5km

Climbing distance: 580m

Nathan Finkelstein

Posted by Peter T

Biking to Refuge de Florimont 7.4.23

Sadly Ivan could not join us – he had a good excuse. Others had others…

In the event 3 of us (Mervyn, Peter D and me Peter T) turned out for what turned out to be a fine and sunny if chilly morning, at Everness, heading for Refuge de Florimont – we had biked up there on 31 March 22 for a full Gin Club lunch. Floriment is at 960m and is one of our more challenging rides with over 600m of up. However with no BLeader and no E-bikes we could take it slowly.

And slowly we started. Within 2 minutes Peter D had punctured on his replacement “fast” bike. We attempted a tube replacement but even after a trip back to his house Peter could not get any air into the new tube. So we all biked the 400m back to Peter’s house where he changed back onto one of his regular steeds (which had some form of faulty gear change – apparently he could not access the very lowest gears (somewhat necessary on a Florimont ride)). How he managed I’m not sure.

Not the best of starts – GIN puncturitis returns

Thus some 40 minutes later we set off again – Peter D seeming now to have the bit between his teeth led us up through the forest of the Bois de Portes, across La Versoix River and up into Grilly and the Train Track. A very pleasant ride to Gex followed as a precursor to the potentially very unpleasant ride up out of Gex through les Maladières to Florimont, pretty much all of it avoiding the main road but on good if sometimes somewhat steep tarmac.

Route up to and down from Florimont 37 km and 650m denivellation

The slope seemed unrelenting and we took time out to rest several times. My heart monitor afterwards showed 20 minutes at over 136 bpm and another 45 minutes above 115 bpm. This is not a ride the preparations for which involve a fondu the night before. In the event (for me at least and I believe for the others too, each in our private torment) it was not too bad and we arrived in time for our reservation shortly after midday.

The beers were excellent (local craft brew) and the menu-de-jour lunch, at Eu17 for a big fresh salad, chicken pierrade (we cooked on a hot stone) and large baked potato, with sauces, fresh bread and followed by coffee gourmand, with good friendly service, rivalled the old days of the Vieux-Bois. And the view from our table was/is one of the best in the area. NB Peter D enjoyed a good-looking/tasting sauciflette.

View last year – same this year and from our table this year

We missed our BLeader from last year (gallivanting in Blighty)

A year ago it was a bit warmer, but note similar clothing to this year..

We settled up and it was time to go, wrapped warm for the still-cool air. This restaurant descent is one of the easiest, if a little steep at first, as it’s pretty much downhill all the way.

A very good ride (looking back) that tests the legs, with a fine lunch as reward. I’m tempted to drive up again soon. Recommended eatery.

37km 650m from Coppet.

Hiking Le Vuache 30 March 2023

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.

Eleven of us – the two Marks, Peter, Nathan, Rudi, Richard, Mike M, Ralph, Drew, Mervyn and me, Philip, plus our two canine friends Nessie and Kobie, but minus the otherwise-occupied Stephen, Thatcher and Rob – met at Chaumont, an old twisted village at the southern end of the spine of the Vuache. The promised rain seemed to be all around us but failed to reach the ground.

We found the sign to the Vuache summit tucked away in a small alley behind the church and set off up a steepish rocky gully. Initially the promised Spring flowers were scarce, with only a scattering of the Violets (both blue and white, plus the occasional yellow and white bicolour), blue Spring Squills and Corydalis (both white and red versions) brightening the path.

A Spring Squill

Nessie out in front, while we pause for breath

Nathan, Mike Richard et al trail hauling

Looking south again towards the pre-Alps

Mike, with Nessie, just before his hat blew off

However, just past a little gate at around 900 m altitude we suddenly found hundreds of Dog’s Tooth Violets, which are unknown at lower altitudes. As though a notice had told them “yes, you can here”.

Dog’s Tooth Violet

Not long after, we started to see the wild Daffodils for which the Vuache is famous – millions of them forming a yellow carpet up to the cairn marking the summit (1105 m). However we were probably too late to spot the Snowdrop-like Snowflakes that grow near the summit.

A carpet of wild Daffodils

Mike with Kobie trying not to stand on them

Team at the Vuache summit cairn (1105 m)

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.

Nessie was as quiet as a mouse, while Kobie was on general food lookout and realised that barking was a good way of attracting attention and the odd titbit.

The only points of deep discussion at picnic time seemed to be (though I could have missed a few others) the merits of Richard’s latest potent potion, namely Prime Uve Nere, and those of the new First Minister of Scotland. Unfortunately Rob was not with us to give his expert well-informed opinion of the latter.

On the return, we initially retraced our steps but then 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.

The centre of attraction in the car park turned out to be Mike’s Renault Alpine, the type of sports car that used to do well in the Monte Carlo Rally. It’s sleekness attracted a lot of envy. Less so the luggage compartment under the bonnet, just big enough for half an average suitcase. Undeterred, Mike pointed out a second, but even smaller, luggage space in the “boot”. So where was the engine? Ah, to expose that would require unscrewing the back window. Clearly a car that requires careful attention to engine checks and suitcase size before setting off for Monte Carlo.

Mike’s sleek Renault Alpine half-hidden behind sleek Mervyn (notice dog seat)

Mike’s sports car has a frunk, which impressed us all

Vuach vital statistics: height rise 525 m; distance 7.4 km

A search of the dusty GIN blog archives revealed that the same 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.

Posted by – Philip Jenkins

Guided visit of Musée de l’Histoire des Sciences, 31/03/2023

The curator, Stéphane Fischer, gave 7 of us an illuminating 1-hour tour of the principal exhibits in this impressive museum in the Perle du Lac parc, which was built in Italian style in 1825 as a country residence by a rich banker Bartholini at a time when all around was virgin countryside.

A certain Hans Wilsdorf bought the villa and it was his wife who declared the area to be ‘la perle du lac’, and the name stuck. The villa got its present rôle in 1964, when large numbers of exhibits began to be accumulated, and this trend continues today. Some weightier items couldn’t be accepted as there is no lift in the building.

The achievements of 18th and 19th century scientists, in the majority from England and Geneva, were many and varied. Herewith a few examples

a battery in pile form (hence the word ‘pile’ for battery in French), by the scientist Volta, where alternating copper and zinc disks are charged to produce and store electrical current. In 1857 Geneva became the first city to light its ‘rade’ by electricity, replaced by gas in 1897
The Genevois Horace Bénédict de Saussure, basically a botanist who branched out into geology and physics, had long dreamed of climbing Mont Blanc to
carry out various experiments. In 1760 he offered a generous prize of 20 Thalers to whomever first reached the summit: for 26 years nobody succeeded, then in August 1786 Dr Paccard and a local cristallier Jacques Balmat reached the summit. The following year, de Saussure climbed the mountain himself with a party of 17 men: they had to carry a weighty glass container ( a museum exhibit) in which they collected a sample of the thin air above 4000 metres. They also had to carry a mountain of equipment, in duplicate in case of accidents, plus de Saussure’s bed, mattress, curtain, tent and several changes of clothes. They took 3 days. De Saussure suffered from mountain sickness and could not carry out all his experiments. He estimated the height of Mont Blanc at 4775 metres, considered pas mal pour l’époque (actually 4810m). The statue of Jacques Balmat pointing to the summit can be seen in the centre of Chamouni (18th century spelling) to this day.
various barometers used to decide altitude, using a tube of mercury
in the 19th century Geneva scientist Jean-Daniel Colladon explored the speed of sound through water, immersing measuring rods as detectors.
a device to show how polar auroras were formed (see photo). Its use of an electrical current to produce changing colours was accepted as the correct explanation until in the late 19th century a Norwegian scientist proved that auroras were formed by solar winds interacting with the earth’s atmosphere

One could spend several days in this fascinating museum, so rich and varied and impressive are the exhibits.
Once the visit was over, several of us reviisited some exhibits, then most repaired to the La Caramela restaurant in the nearby Hôtel Eden for a tasty lunch.
La Caramela turned out to be the name of the owner’s ginger cat, beaming down from its picture frame a few metres away.
As usual, les absents avaient tort.

Participants Mike Price, John Burley, Nathan Finkelstein, Rob McKenzie, Mike Muller, Paul Sochaczewski, Norman Eatough.

GIN Biking – March 23rd 2023

The GIN Biking season hasn’t yet started but the promise of another Spring day and shortage of snow on the slopes encouraged the B.Leader to suggest a gentle ride to blow out the cobwebs and get the gears back in action. An enthusiastic 7 responded to the invitation, although Thatcher had to pull out on the morning, leaving Stephen, MikeM, PeterT, Mervyn, Mark and Ivan to meet at the Everness Hotel. There were on display an equal number of uncovered muscular legs in shorts to legs in longer biking leggings and a 5:1 ratio of pure muscle power to e-bikes. Peter suggested an initial coffee on the hotel’s terrace or, at least, indicating that in the future we could meet a little earlier for a coffee on in order to ensure that we were in prime condition for the start. The danger would be that there wouldn’t be a start……

Participants took the description of a gentle ride to heart and set off at a modest pace through the woods in the direction of Grilly. From there the pleasant, slightly uphill, track along the converted railway line led us to Gex followed by the first, more meaningful, ascent of the day up to Vesancy. The leading biker arrived in Vesancy just as the clock was striking 11h….the hour when our regular coffee spot opens its doors to clients. Our friendly waitress recognised us from previous GIN visits and happily unpadlocked the outside tables to allow us to relax and enjoy the unstrenuous part of the season’s first outing. Coffees came and went but there was no sign of the backmarkers. Phone contact with Mervyn and Mark was attempted but suffered through poor signal.

Didn’t we have a few other riders at the start?

Eventually, Stephen set off back down the road and met the two, not too far away, upset that a puncture had delayed them but glowing with pride that, due to the benefit of prior more negative experiences, they had the necessary equipment to fix it. Mark was particularly pleased that Mervyn was able to share in the chain grease….an unavoidable consequence of fixing a rear wheel puncture.

The late comers were allowed a short recovery break before we set off again, enjoying the initial downhill ride before bracing ourselves for the inevitable Bonmont climb. On this occasion we took the classical (i.e. legal) route without having to encounter on-coming traffic, which previously had been known to be somewhat indignant that one-way guidelines were not being strictly followed. Unfortunately, Meteo Suisse failed us at this point and the rain-free day proved to be over optimistic. Happily , this was short lived and we also had the protection of the trees as well as the help of the uphill climb to distract us. Regrouped at the usual 777m point, we realised that our timing would be perfect for the 12.30h lunch reserved at the Auberge de Crassier. All that lay before us was the downhill cruise.

Bonmont conquered (again) and open road to lunch awaits.

They say that lightening never strikes twice in the same place. The same cannot be said of punctures. Once again, the front runners were left wondering where the peloton was. Happily, phone signal allowed notice that there was an interruption to the descent. Sadly, the supply of replacement inner tubes had been used up and Mark had to wait for Linda to rescue him. Did we detect a little Schadenfreude from Ivan? The irony that he had a few problems with the bike Mark lent him last year did not go unnoticed…..

Peter, sipping his beer at the Auberge, was unaware of the reason for the latest delay but had used the spare time to reconfigure the restaurant to allow for the 6 of us to be seated (for some reason a table for 5 had been prepared). When we arrived, minus Mark, this had to be reconfigured back to 5 again. We ordered drinks and the plat du jour (fish with rice and asparagus) and waited to see if Mark and Linda appeared. They did, just as we finished the salad starter, but they decided not to stay and headed home to relax over their own plat du jour: sushi.

Mark, you didn’t have to go to such lengths to have lunch at home…..

Not sure that salad is agreeing with you Mike.

Conversation was wide ranging and lengthy. We covered topics such as: preferences of baths vs. showers, unchanging character traits from adolescence, political polarisation, the luck of living in Switzerland, Russian speaking in Ukraine and much more. The time drifted by, coffee came and went, and we reluctantly left the now empty Auberge to recover our bikes and the relatively short ride home (shorter for some than others).

A great start to the new season, although punctuated by unexpected stops, and a well worthwhile warm up for the year ahead.

Statistics: ca. 42kms, 19.1km/h average travelling speed, 580m elevation gain.

No snowshoe snow hike from the Givrine to La Cure and back – 16 March 2023

Mark Warren SS Leader writes :

The four members first meeting in Divonne and two plus Kobie going directly arrived at the Givrine parking rendezvous in good time for our scheduled 10am departure only to discover that the new pay parking system was creating more problems than the cost. The metres do not accept debit cards (the card operators charge too much for the liking of the Commune), the Twint QR card had been removed (what vandalism in St Cergue!) and there was little to no wifi connectivity precluding the use of the App “easypark”. (NB in future walk up to the station where 4G is stronger. Ed PT). There was however a traffic warden present to supervise the five or so cars in the carpark (one had a parking ticket) and to witness our plight and to enable Nathan to negotiate free parking. But all this came at a cost since we didn’t leave until 10h20.

This season has been particularly bad for snow shoeing. We started off with winter wanders before any snow arrived and then only had arguably three “proper” snowshoe outings before we were out hiking again, albeit with some slippages. Although it had snowed Wednesday morning, the restaurant and the webcam indicated that it had all melted so we traipsed off at hiking speed only to discover there was much more snow hiding round the corner, including some still in the trees. Not enough to warrant our absent snowshoes but deep and fresh enough to give that lovely crunchy sound made through walking on fresh snow. Animal tracks were clear (hare and wild boar).

At least we were walking on the white stuff !

It was lovely in the sunshine and we went to that extra post across a field, reaching the chalet Pré du Four for a pause, taken in the traditional GIN way.

Some white some red – Swiss apèro courtesy of Stephen who had been cleaning out his cellar

A quick phone call to the restaurant to ensure a late arrival wouldn’t create a lunch problem enabled us to enjoy the view of the Mont Blanc range for longer, then off we went on an easy snow covered path to Chez Mamac for our lunch, which we took outside, starting with welcome beers and cheese with cold meats.

At Mamac. Let’s start with beer and cold meats !

Chez Mamac is famous for its trifon – a fondue saucepan partitioned into three parts – enabling a choice of three different cheeses. The usual intellectual conversation scarcely covered Scottish independence but included Crédit Suisse and other banking problems, Shackleton and antarctica, and end of the snowshoe season and start of the hiking one. As the baker from St Cergue had delivered insufficient tartlets, we moved directly from main course to coffee.

Despite the temptation to take the train, we unanimously decided to leg it back to Givrine, which was mostly over snow! And so freak blizzards aside, ended the 2022/23 snowshoe season with a snow hike.

Mark handed the gavel back to Peter for the 2023 summer hiking season. Next hike 30 March 2023 – La Vuache led by Philip.

Participants: PeterT plus Kobie, NathanF, MervynP, RichardS, StephenL and Mark2R

Distance 11km; height difference 320m.

PS – Many thanks to Mark for leading us through this relatively snow-free winter. We had some memorable outings. We look forward to more in 23/24. PT et al.