We rode away from Geneva at 8:40am after a hearty breakfast. The Swiss cycling infrastructure was amazing again today, although the path was a mix of on-road paths, with a yellow line separating the cars from the bikes, and off-road. In fact the bike lanes on-road took up more road than the car lanes. When we did come across some bike paths away from the road they took us on side roads and up some hills! The farms here are beautifully maintained and look almost like demonstration crops. The best part of the ride today was our lunch stop on the banks of Lake Geneva, and the 5km or so we did through a small village. Although all the drivers are very careful and they always give you a wide berth, it’s still a bit unnerving having the constant noise of cars, trucks and whatever whiz by you. The consolation is that the maximum speed limit on these minor roads is often only 70 km/h. Testimony to their care and attention we survived the ride totally intact with no close calls.
We stopped for mornos at Cobbet, lunch at Rolle, and many other places to take photos. In fact the scenery was so beautiful that towards the end we had to say enough is enough with the photos and just kept riding. We arrived 15 minutes into check-in time after riding/walking up a monster hill. Still hot and sweaty Wendy felt almost embarrassed to check-in to this lovely four-star hotel. She thinks that the receptionist was a little surprised as they wouldn’t get too many cyclists here, however, was too polite to let on. We are in room 504 of Hotel Victoria, which reminds us of the one at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. We do have lake views, if you open the curtain and the windows and stick your head out!
After unpacking and a little rest, we set off to find the nearest tourist info office which is allegedly in the train station about 250m away. Perhaps we didn’t have our eyes open, but we couldn’t find it, so went next door to the Coop (supermarket) for dinner. Neither of us felt much like doing too much walking so it was back to the hotel for dinner. Greg went out for his post-dinner wander.
We have a Lausanne transport card, that allows us free travel on trains, buses and metro lines. So tomorrow the bikes will stay locked up and we shall explore on foot and via public transport. We had this option in Geneva, but opted for a bike ride instead. It must be a Swiss thing, because we had it in Basel in 2014. We both feel a bit tired tonight after a few challenging hills but also contented that we had such a lovely day on our last long ride for this tour.
Some of the paths we rode on today
Through an apple orchard
Coppet Church and street view.
Interesting shutters
Church of Saint Robert
In the middle of a roundabout somewhere
Lovely flowers at Nyon.
More flowers
Mornos stop
Nyon marina
Nyon Chateau in the background
Foreshore at Rolle
Rolle, our lunch stop
Lakeside vineyard - a lot more grapes are gown here than expected; it is the
French speaking part of Switzerland
Despite the 30+ deg temps there’s still snow on the mountains
Lunch stop
View at lunch stop
Entrance to the village of Saint Prex
In the village of St Prex
Foreshore at Morges
Our room, 504 at Hotel Victoria, huge room
Our bathroom, in some hotels we’ve stayed at, this is the size of the room,
Our elevation profile for todays ride
Views from our window
Yes, the lake is there!
The passage from the lift to our room
The view from the 5th floor of the void in the hotel; it is an old style hotel, the lift has a carpeted floor and what looks like tapestried walls
Our hotel, with room in the red circle
