Last night in Morez, we were too late to eat at the bistro with all the locals. They had a moule et frites night and were fully booked. The other options were either take out pizza or doner kebab. We went for the latter and it was quite tasty and came with soccer on Turkish TV.
We did go for a nightcap at the bistro though, and had a nice Macvin, my new discovery in the Jura, and pastis, Liz’s go-to drink here in France.
After instant coffees at the hotel, we did the usual croissant and pain au chocolat breakfast at a boulangerie and then headed out on today’s relatively short ride of 60km to Geneva. And we started quite early at around 9.45, probably a new record on the trip.
Right out of the gate, we hit the climb up to Les Rousses, climbing about 500m (1600ft) over 15km (~9 miles), so not too bad. On the climb, I sang my classics to entertain Liz: the Swiss, American, and German anthems, and then I looked up the lyrics to Mani Matters “Alpeflug“, a song I like a lot and should really learn the lyrics to.
Up at Les Rousses, we traversed a nice, green plateau to La Cure, where we entered Switzerland. No passport or Macvin allowance controls.
The biggest immediate changes of entering Switzerland were:
- Very nice roads.
- The water is drinkable from most fountains compared to the usual “Eau non potable” disclaimer on French fountains.
- Pastis is not ~2€ like in Morez or Domblans, but 7CHF (6€).
After La Cure, we soon reached the Col de la Givrine, a small pass, after which the long descent to Lake Geneva started. We rolled through Saint-Cergue and then down quite a steep and serpentiny road toward Nyon.
I think Anne and Reece took the exact same route: “From the border we pumped up a little further to the top of the Col de la Givrine (1211 meters), where we could look across the haze obscuring the valley at the snow covered Alps south of the Lac Leman (Lake Geneva). From this point we coasted all the way into Nyon, with much use of the brakes to keep from flying off the ends of the hairpin curves.”
Unlike Anne and Reece, we did not ride all the way to Nyon, but stayed further away from the lake to follow the bike route 50. Soon after the descent, we had a picnic lunch where I sat on a wasp that promptly stung me. I haven’t been stung in a while and yup, their stings do hurt.
We made very good time and were already at the hotel near the Geneva train station at 14.00. On the last kilometers, Liz and I talked about the fact that this was the last cycling leg that Anne and Reece did. After Geneva, they continued traveling by train. We were feeling both sad that our ride on their path would end here, and thankful that their trip inspired us to go on such a great adventure.
Arriving at the hotel, our room was not yet ready, so we headed to the bike repair shop to take care of my broken spoke. Liz waited with a 7CHF pastis in a nearby cafe while I arranged with the nice man at Péclôt 13 to replace my spoke until 18.00 and to give me four extra spokes for each side of the wheel. I was thinking that this would be a good solution given that the wheel was fine for dozens of kilometers with a missing spoke, and we would not have to search for bikeshops when more of the spokes go.
We then went back to the hotel to check in. Since the my cousin and mom’s train got delayed, we had time to go for a cool-off swim (it was a hot day!) in Lake Geneva. We went to the nice Bains des Pâquis a short walk away from the hotel, where CHF 2 gets you in (in Zurich, the swim places cost CHF 8 at the lake!).
While Liz enjoyed the sun and water a bit more, I went to pick up my mom and cousin from the train station to walk with them to the hotel. At check-in, they almost did not let my mom stay at the hotel because she did not carry an official license. The monsieur at the reception was not too nice about it, either, and muttered something about the obligation to carry identification in Switzerland. We checked, and there is no such thing. Anyway, we got the room in the end.
From the hotel, my mom and cousin joined me to pick up the bike, and we spent the time until 18.00 in the cafe near the bike shop with drinks and catching up. Unfortunately, when I got to the shop at 18.00, my bike was still not done, but they promised the fix until 19.00. More drinks!
When I got back to the shop at 19.00, the mechanic looked concerned and told me that he has to sell me a new wheel. After he replaced the spoke and was truing the wheel, another two spokes snapped. Chatting to the mechanic while he replaced the whole wheel, I learned that I introduced Liz to everyone in French so far as my “mari”, which means husband. Eight years of French education in school and no practice gets you this.
By now it was getting late for our dinner reservation in the nice Perle du Lac that has a great terrasse with views of the lake. For dinner, my friend Lukas and his girlfriend Christina joined us. We all had the menu with a gazpacho starter, fish entree, and desserts from a “dessert-wagon”. Lukas got concerned about the latter, because we were rather late and it looked like the fresh berries would run out soon. Sure enough, when the cart came around to us, the berries were gone, but they brought more from the kitchen. I think it took a good fifteen minutes until the young, probably rather new waiter had served us all. It was so nice to spend time and catching up with everyone!
Then we walked slowly along the lake back to the hotel, and decided to get a nightcap on the way. More CHF7 Pastis (I would regret it the next day, of course). It was already almost midnight by the time we got back and we fell asleep before our heads reached the pillows. Great day with friends and family!
Total distance/elevation to date: 2807km/17’682m
Rest days: 9
Day 36 Route and Stats
Relive
The 1948 Tour 
Yes baby :)))
LikeLike