{"id":4436,"date":"2023-10-16T20:20:41","date_gmt":"2023-10-16T19:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/?p=4436"},"modified":"2023-10-16T20:20:41","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T19:20:41","slug":"gin-hike-fort-lecluse-to-leaz-on-12-october-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/2023\/10\/16\/gin-hike-fort-lecluse-to-leaz-on-12-october-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"GIN Hike \u2013 Fort l\u2019Ecluse to L\u00e9az on 12 October 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Eleven hikers and three dogs met at the Fort l\u2019Ecluse parking at 10am. Present were Peter T with Kobie, Nicolas with Onyx, Michael with Rocco, Stephen, Robert, David, Rudi, Richard S, Andrew, Nathan and Peter S who led the walk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immediately after leaving the car park, the group had to navigate a hazardous crossing of the D984 with cars speeding around the corner on the left and appearing out of the dark tunnel on the right. This was followed by a steep uphill climb on the lefthand side of the lower fort<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Leader Peter S with Andrew and Stephen on the steep uphill section right after crossing the busy road<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

to reach the \u2018Fort Sup\u00e9rieur\u2019. Onyx decided to go exploring above the fort which gave the group a chance to appreciate the views to the west and east of the Rhone valley. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Peter S gives us a short history of the Forts L’Ecluse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Team with Rocco at the upper Fort<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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End-on view of the Vuache<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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View back up towards Geneva<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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View of the Vuache and the Rhone valley <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Mike enjoying the sun<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From the fort the route tracked gently downwards to Longeray and then headed back upwards for following signs to Les Marais.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gentle going down from the Fort<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After about 30 minutes of ascent just before the path exited the woodland there was a long overdue water break. Richard provided the lubrication for a lively discussion about the merits of generic drugs championed by Michael and an update from Robert on the latest opinion poll on Scottish independence.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trying to flog purported Ballantyne’s 12 year old whisky <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Rob holding forth <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The next section of the hike provided expansive views of Le Vuache on the left and the Plateau de Retord on the right with rolling countryside stretching towards the French Alps in the distance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rudi cruising<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Onyx – Pas tirez!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The expanse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The path continued downwards towards L\u00e8az with the dogs happily exploring the now cow free pastures. The second crossing of route D984 was surprisingly easy with the driver of a large truck with Lithuanian license plates stopping to let hikers and dogs cross safely. Passing through the village of L\u00e8az there was a brief stop at the memorial to \u201cLes enfant du village\u201d who had died in the great wars of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945. The picnic was enjoyed, with the dogs in close attendance, on top of a hill in the shade of ruins of an old chateau topped by a statue of the Madonna. From this \u201cBelv\u00e9d\u00e9re de Leaz\u201d there were fine views across the Rhone valley back towards the forts and the narrow passage between the Jura and Le Vuache mountains.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Looking down and back to the Ecluse Fort and the sleepy Rhone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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More last of the summer wine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Even in October some choose to sit in the shade<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Peter T and Kobie enjoying the sun – and posing..<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Picnic overview, sun and shade available<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A truly memorable picnic spot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After lunch, the path descended quite steeply through beech forests towards the Rhone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Steeply down – Nathan and David – note different uses for sticks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Nicolas and Rob hold up the forest<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kobie, Onyx and Rocco made a short excursion for a swim in the river. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Almost down to the Rhone river bank<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The trail passed the ruins of the Moulins de Condi\u00e8re and then crossed the TGV rail line at the hamlet of Lavaux. The warm afternoon sun prompted a final repose in the shade with the dogs happily clambering over drowsy hikers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rudi dreams of Kobie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Rocco needs petting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Last stretch to the car park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The car park was reached around 3:30pm to complete a walk of 12km with 620m denivelation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eleven hikers and three dogs met at the Fort l\u2019Ecluse parking at 10am. Present were Peter T with Kobie, Nicolas with Onyx, Michael with Rocco, Stephen, Robert, David, Rudi, Richard S, Andrew, Nathan and Peter S who led the walk.  Immediately after leaving the car park, the group had to navigate a hazardous crossing of … Continue reading “GIN Hike \u2013 Fort l\u2019Ecluse to L\u00e9az on 12 October 2023”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hikes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4436"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4465,"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4436\/revisions\/4465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginclub.website\/home2\/gentsinnyon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}