Category: Hiking

A fine day in prospect saw eight of us and 3 dogs assemble in the car park at Divonne for a Jura hike. Sadly Richard S and Peter Strebel withdrew at the last minute and were missed. Almost immediately it became clear that Mark Warren and I had the same idea of how to approach the Barillette restaurant – booked for 12.30pm; by driving up to near the Chalet de la Dôle and traversing the mountain clockwise. The alternative would have been a long slog up nearly 800m from Florettaz – one for another time/team.

Attending – Marks W1 and W2, Nathan, Mervyn, Larry, Mike H and Rocco, Nicolas and (Tiray Pas) Onyx, and me and Kobie.

It did not start well when Onyx followed Kobie into the Divonne fountain pond.

Safely up at the parking at 1418m we set off to scale La Dôle (1677m) passing the Chalet with all dogs leashed. Cows and chamois were abundantly evident, as were hares.

It was a fresh start with initial cloud on the tops and a nice breeze. We stopped a few times and then at 1632m on the ridge to allow stragglers to catch up. That was the last we saw of Nathan before the restaurant (where he arrived on time at 12.25pm, whereas we arrived after 1.12pm).

So we meandered up after Nathan and stopped at the top in the look out pen hemmed in by cows, looking up at the work in progress maintenance work being done on the radar ball.

We decided to escape (slip past) the herd and take aperos on the broad ridge descending to Col de Porte at 1660m.

We toasted absent friends which at this time also included Nathan. There was some jolly banter about Niagra Ice Wine and other delicacies. Then suddenly we realised that we had 20 minutes left to get to the restaurant on time, but that it was at least an hour away.

Peter went back to the summit pen to retrieve his stick, and we wended down past the Col de P and down and up across to the Barillette mast.

We arrived safely at the restaurant 45 minutes late but with no worries as Nathan had indeed arrived à l’heure. Happily there were few other diners and we chose a table out on the terrace for the dogs and us to be the happier.

Initial beers were excellent and Larry chose the wine – to celebrate his 87th birthday the previous week.

We chewed the fat while the dogs chewed the bones. The conversation glided over many subjects, including paedophile poets, and we were soon into coffees and not inflicted by a man with a bottle of strong and oddly-labelled potion, nor another with his flask of strong Scottish stuff.

All too soon then, with most of us and most dogs behaving well, we set off back up and down to the cars, passing a potential new GIN recruit as we left the restaurant.

Thanks again to Mark 2ts for the coffee and Mervyn (or was it Mark too?) for the milk.

An enjoyable hike with dogs that mostly behaved, nice lunch in great company that also mostly behaved, fine weather and some nice wines, good sausage, excellent frites, and some fabulous views, chamois and hares, and, er, cows and electric fences.

10.5km and 480m denivellation.

PS – When I got home Kobie slept in the basement immediately for 6 hours – he’s still there…

PPS Thanks to Nicolas for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame T Shirt !

The weather forecast was not promising with severe weather warnings over most of Vaud so the leader of this event decided to keep this “hike” low and with opportunities to escape if necessary.

Just 5 of us assembled in the parking in Morges: Larry, Bill, 2 Marks and an Irish interloper -Arthur Grifith. Surprisingly none had walked the full path before. Despite the forecast, which was changing by the hour, the day started out dry but not sunny.

We started along the lake, past Préverenges to the Ile aux oiseaux which certainly lived up to his name. This was new to many of the participants and now includes two powerful, and free, telescopes to watch the birds at close up.

After many of the birds had been identified, but not by me, and the information panels scrutinised, we continued on to St Sulpice. This is the only section of the walk where the path leaves the lakeshore, just before and just after the church.

Shortly after St Sulpice the path returned to the lakeside and we continued on to our lunch spot at les Berges de Vidy. By now it had started to rain so we donned waterproofs or raised umbrellas which miraculously stopped the rain.

We left Vidy planning to catch the boat back to Morges and arrived at the quay in Ouchy just as it was pulling out.

So we originally decided to walk up the path from Ouchy to Lausanne station but there was a metro train already waiting for us at Ouchy so we caught it in order to just miss the next train to Morges. Eventually we sorted out tickets (the most stressful part of the day) and caught a train back to Morges and returned to our cars.

A very interesting, and even cultural, walk if not too strenuous. About 15 km with essentially no height gain. The storms came to nothing (but were violent during the evening) and the only serious rain was while we were in the restaurant.

Author and Leader : Mark Warren

Impeccable logistical cooperation enabled today’s nine hikers (Peter Taylor, Mervyn Powell, Larry French, David Colledge, Richard Saynor, Bill Westermeier, Peter Strebel (new member – welcome Peter!), Ralph Wares and Mark Warren) to leave the rendezvous point at the Gare de Noiraigue on time. The day was sunny, sun hats made their appearance and the forecast (not the one I read – Ed. PT) was good to the extent that some of our party didn’t see the necessity to bring any wet weather gear. 

The trail up to the Creux de Van is straight forward and not particularly difficult, but it does go up some 750 metres which is a challenge in itself.

After leaving the village, there is a steady incline for longer than one thinks, even for those who know this trail well, before a left turn at the start of the famous “sentier des 14 contours”. This path meanders up the slope in serpentines with frequent great views of the rock basin; trees at each turn are numbered and after number 14, we found ourselves at the top with its magnificent view over the cliffs of the Creux de Van, including a recent rockfall, and a welcome glass of champagne in celebration of Richard’s birthday.

We then started to hear thunder in the distance and feel the odd drop of rain. The prudent hikers with rain gear put it on while the others accelerated for the 45 minutes’ walk to the restaurant, La Grand Vy – yes, La Grand Vy and not La Grande Vy! No one could explain that grammatical oddity.

Those suitably protected hikers took time to saunter round the ridge, looking at the views, watching a passing ibex and noticing others hikers sheltering under trees, some with picnics. Some told us in a despairing tone that the restaurants were full, so it was just as well that we had a reservation. 

The restaurant was cosy and had good local mountain fare which was washed down with the odd beer or glass of wine. Several took the pudding option of an ice cream flavoured with the local eau de vie – absinthe. Richard’s famous bottle contained an excellent Armenian cognac. We toasted absent friends, especially the GINjured.

The rain was falling quite heavily after lunch, but there is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing. Which was exactly the problem for some of our party who had over relied on the weather forecast (or read the wrong one) as some three or four did not have rain gear. Our experienced hiking group organiser came to the rescue for two as he had three sets of rain gear with him. As a result, he himself wore a bright green poncho, which earned him the nickname of the Jolly Green Giant.

Even though the trail back to the Gare was easier and shorter than the one up, there were some slippery parts that challenged some of our group who realised their age a little bit as young children overtook them hopping, skipping and jumping. As we approached Noiraigue, the rain stopped.

A lovely hike, already a favourite for some and newly discovered for others.

Distance 14 kms; height difference 750m.

Written by Rob Pashley

The plan was to start walking at 10am from the Col, and ten adventure-minded members turned up on time for a quick coffee at the restaurant before moving off. Our favourite parrot was unfortunately missed as it was having a rest at the home of one of the restaurant servers.

Peter D, Mervyn P, Andrew N, David C, Mike M, Mark Warren, Richard S, Richard W and Robert P.  Richard W, Ralph W and myself set off on the dot in true Swiss style. As is usually the case with hikes or indeed snow-shoe outings led by our Scottish leader, as soon as we started the clouds disappeared and the sun shone for the rest of the day. It wasn’t long before most were disrobing to cope better with the rising temperature. 

We managed to stay together for about a third of the way to the Buvette two of the group decided to take the official route at the Cabane du Cunay while the rest of us tried a much longer shortcut.  

Consequently, those who knew better had to climb over a numbers of walls and cover some rough terrain and we ended up with three separate groups, with the leader leading diligently from the rear. It was a bit of a climb reaching the top of Mont Tendre at 1679 m and the three groups came together again for fabulous views into forested France and the Alps. Two of the team were sent on to the Buvette so ensure a suitable table was found and the beers were already in the fridge waiting while the rest of us admired some high-tech Swiss German mountain bikes resting at the summit.

The Buvette was very welcoming  and all heartily tucked in to mainly Rosti based meal with added cheese extra eggs and sausage, however the waitress was having quite a difficult time keeping up with the beer order. But we all managed.

After some traditional toasting with some Scottish liquid and some Danish stuff (that some suggested had some strange sexual connotations) and dire coffee, we paid the young lady of the Buvette and started off on the 8k or so hike back to the cars. The temperature had risen and it turned out to be a slightly more difficult and longer return route, although we all kept to the official paths. The quality of the chat, though, diminished as tiredness fell upon us, or maybe it was just the beer as the few that weren’t drinking beer seemed to talk more sense.

A couple of the team held us back at the re-visit to the summit of Mont Tendre having some polite conversation with two young ladies. They eventually caught up with the rest of us. 

One of the advantages of starting a hike at Marchairuz is that you can relax at the restaurant at the end of a hard day’s hike. We took some well-earned refreshment there while congratulating ourselves on our hiking prowess, amongst other things. After all, it was a 16.8 km, 734 m déniv hike.

When all at once I saw a crowd
A host of golden dandelions and buttercups

William 2Ws ish

Last year we hiked via La Dôle to Sonnailley to find the daffodils mostly spent. This year we were one day earlier and they were worse (spenter?). However our leader, me, had already lowered expectations and told the participants they would need to bring their imagination so all was not lost.

Seven of us plus a furry hound gathered at 10:00 at the parking at la Givrine on what promised to be a cold and wet day and Météo Suisse did not disappoint: we had some rain, sleet, hail and mist over the course of the hike. Fortunately not too much of any of these and it was even dry at our lunch stop. There may have been a little sunshine but not enough to be noticeable.

We arrived in 3 cars and spent the first couple of hours trying to master the intricacies of the newly installed parking meters.

That accomplished we set off up to the Couvaloup de Crans and onward to La Dôle going through a field of daffodils on the way up. At least the leader had the sense to avoid saying that an even better display awaited them at Sonnailley.

Once at the Dôle we had done most of the climbing and it was clearly time for an aperitif. So we stood in the lee of one of the buildings with a bottle of white and a variety of nibbles, finally washed down with a glass of Welsh whisk(e?)y. We raised a toast to absent friends, especially Stephen.

We met a Scottish beggar at the top, we had no cash so we gave him a bit of food

Then it was time to start the descent, along the ridge to the South West and down what is marked as a footpath but in reality is an invitation to fall and crack your head on the rocky path. Fortunately we all got down intact and to the road which leads past the Grand Sonnailley to our designated picnic spot. This road passes within about 10 metres of the French border and there was much discussion of (illegal) entente cordiale meetings there during the pandemic.

The picnic spot was a slight rise, mostly out of the wind, and with no rain. Unfortunately there were no daffodils either, but plenty of buttercups. Fortunately we have photographs from 2 weeks earlier when they were at their best.

Lunch was washed down with an excellent red, some Scotch, more Welsh and coffee. Then we we returned via the Sonnailley au Prince hut to the Couvaloup and thereafter down the road to la Trélasse (both closed so no opportunity for a beer) and back to our cars.

Present Peter T, Mervyn, Nathan, Rob, Richard W, 2 Marks, Kobie. 14 km, 690m denivelation.

Excuses ranged from ‘only got one working leg’ to ‘going to concerts in Prague’ to ‘wife reset my priorities’.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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)

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