Springing into Summer?

So the British fascination with weather continues and once again I will launch into a blog post with my weatherman hat on. Winter seemed quite long this year, so I was told. With it being my first year here I have no point of reference however I can declare that April was neither the warmest nor the driest April I have experienced. A friend said that forget spring, this year we are going to skip it and jump straight into summer – and so far this prophesy is playing itself out.

I am currently writing this on a quiet Sunday morning in early May, sat in Vero’s parents’ kitchen with the sun beaming down and the mercury already rising outside. Yesterday the thermometer on the car read 28 degrees and I expect it will be somewhere near that again today. We are off to Lac Aiglebelette (if that’s how it is spelt) later for a picnic and I am hoping it will be marvellous.

So effectively, the trees and flowers have gone from nothing 2-3 weeks ago to an explosion of vegetation and colour (mainly green). Bugs are everywhere, bees are very, very busy making up for lost time and suddenly the whole place is alive again, awoken from its prolonged hibernal slumber.

In terms of photo opportunities, we are back in Ruy again (as mentioned) and were here two weeks ago at the end of April. Again blessed with some sunny weather (if not too hot), I was able to capture the contents for the second annual spring photography showcase of the garden (see last years here). I have also sneaked a few in this weekend which are worth including too.

This year, not as much because of the prolonged colder weather – in fact the fruit harvest on some of the fruit trees in the garden will not be as good this year as some the earlier blossoming varieties (cherry and plum trees) were attacked by the frost and the cold. We will see! I quite fancy the idea of coming down one weekend to help pick the fruit and then do all the tings afterwards (make some jam etc).

One other side effect of the warmer weather is Geneva seems to have doubled in population – tourist season is definitely well underway and you cannot walk 5 meters in town without seeing people with cameras or dodging tourist road trains. I cannot imagine what the place will be like when the European Football championships get underway at the beginning of June…it may be fun to see it but to try and commute across town when it’s like this is going to be a veritable nightmare.

As much as I like football and all the regalia that goes with being in a host city, we have decided to get out of dodge for a week during the championships (and not because there’s no England – if there was it would be even worse!!). Now if we were better prepared we could have rented out our flat for about 5000 Euros but it’s too late to ‘cash in’ now. Anyway a UK mini-tour then a few days in Spain is on the cards – flights and car are all booked and full details will follow.. a nice break before the second half of the year and all the fun it is going to bring. Watch this space!!!!

Salèvation

One thing we both love when we get the chance is to escape from the hustle and bustle of urban life to open countryside and if possible somewhere with a view. Now one of the main reasons for choosing to relocate to Haute-Savoie was just that. I think there are one or two elevated views in the region that could be worth checking out. Being spoilt for choice as we are it is never easy trying to pick where to go. So we started with a trip up the nearest ‘mountain’, the Salève. Now the Salève dominates Geneva and the surrounding French towns (including ours) on the Haute-Savoie side of the border.

It rises gently from the south-east before abruptly falling away to near 800m sheer drop at some points overlooking Geneva (ice-age glacial formation at its most obvious). It’s not high, its highest point being around 1300m but it is long. On top it is effectively a plateau with views of the whole region (The Genevois basin, the Jura mountains, Switzerland and Lac Leman, Lake Annecy and the Alps).

There are a few ways of climbing the Salève, one is on foot which takes a few hours, two is by cable car which takes a few minutes, and three is by horseless carriage which was the option we chose. Once up on top, there are several trails high and low taking in a variety of landscapes.

Open alpage on top, deciduous woodlands below and rocky outcrops with precarious drops in between. We took a circular trail which we did not quite complete which took in everything the Salève has to offer, both in terms of landscape and in terms of views. It was a tiring, if not too undulating, walk which was really worth it.

There was not too much wildlife around; however very often a huge apocalyptic shadow would swoop over head – what is it? Dragons? Pterodactyls? Nope – parapente. The Salève is like many alpine ridges and mountain ranges in that there is an abundance of thermals and today was no exception. It was quite impressive to be rounding a rocky outcrop and see a huge parapente swoop by out of nowhere at some speed only a few meters away. If I had the guts I would like to try it as it must be heck of sensation as you are literally flying like a bird.

The rocks were quite impressive too, the most being the Trou de la Tine, a big hole effectively.

Looking across to the south you can see the much bigger stuff. Bring on the next mountain I say….

Britannia Rules the Roads

Today I jumped off the train home from Lausanne and was able to take in a pro-cycling event. Having caught the bug on Bastille day last summer when we went to see the Tour de France, I thought I would go and check out the final hour of the Prologue for the tour of Romandie, a five day event taking in the French speaking part of Switzerland. Many big names were there and although there was nowhere near as much pomp and atmosphere as the Tour de France it was fun nonetheless (for someone who was interested in this kind of thing). I did manage to snap some photos with the camera in my phone.

There was a small tented village where the sponsors were promoting their wares. However, most of the freebies were gone (except giant green hands which I already possess) – I was able to try a small piece of Gruyere cheese…! What was cool was you could get up close and personal with some of the riders. I saw the flaming galah that is Australia’s Robbie McEwen who was larking around and very courteous about people taking photos (and friendly too). Compare that with the miserable persona of eventual winner Andreas Kloden who just sat on his bike and warmed down paying no attention to any of the interest in him, surrounded by two mean looking eastern European bodyguards who would not think twice about snapping you in half if you tried to tell Andreas a joke and inject some humour into his life.

In any case, it was a gorgeous late afternoon and the cyclists were pumped to attack the 2km circuit up and down the Rive Droite (the north-west side of the lake in Geneva). In the end it was a Brit who posted the fastest time, the talented Mark Cavendish, giving this ex-pat an extra sense of satisfaction that he took a slight detour on the way home. He no doubt won because the circuit ran in and anti-clockwise direction, and clearly being British, he cycled on the shorter left side of the road…

Bringing things up to date

Yeah yeah yeah. I warned you in my last post of 12 February 1987 that I was starting to 'neglect' this page and hey-ho two months on here I am again.

So what's new? We have been quite busy each weekend but more with doing what we want as opposed to doing what we must, which is nice. There's often a couple of hours spare for a walk or a bike ride in the countryside near our home, where the views of Mont Blanc remain just awe-inspiring. We have over the last two weekends discovered the kilometres and kilometres of quiet, flat cycle trails either side of the border not too far away , which I must say is an absolute pleasure. They are a mixture of vineyards, farmland and forest trails with the same amazing views. I feel this will be a regular activity especially with lighter evenings and less days working in Lausanne. I also have a very recent subscription to the Tennis Club du Saleve so I'm sure with all this sport I'll soon be able to work off the cheese filled belly I have developed this winter.

Work is keeping us both busy, as is the commuting so evenings are mainly spent eating, watching some inane TV then going to bed ready for the 6.15 alarm for it all to start again tomorrow. There was certainly a bit of a groundhog day feel about the last two weeks...

So chez nous the flat is looking very much like a home now - we even have some living creatures sharing it with us (plants). All the furniture arrived from Ikea as planned in February and is now up and in full use. The night we put together the sofa I christened it by falling asleep on it watching footy (bliss). Still one or two bits of furniture required for the bedrooms and some pictures to hang, however there's no rush for now...




The next piece of news is we have a new member of the family however she is metallic black and lives in the garage under the apartment building. In the end after a day (on foot) looking at cars, we plumped for what we had before albeit the updated version with a little but more equipment. (For those of you who don't know your cars this is a Toyota Yaris II)



Its great to finally be mobile again - shopping is now more expensive as we buy more and we finally were able to buy all the products to use the dishwasher (4 kilos of salt is heavy). No, seriously we have tried to get out in the car every weekend since we had it and this weekend we finally remembered to take the camera with us. It was delivered just before Easter so we were able to spend that weekend in Ruy (and not have to take the train) as well as recover some more of our things that were stored down there. In theory it should cut the travel time in two however coming back on Easter Sunday we were snagged up in the snow falls and it took over 3 hours.

So, what I have done below is to put a couple of specific entries about what we have been up to lately and now we are mobile, hopefully there will be some more frequent entries. Let's hope the real spring weather arrives soon.

Chateaus of the Chablais

So having a car is one thing - knowing where to go is another; there is such a great expanse of open countryside and choice of terrain to explore. This makes it difficult for those who don't know the region that well to find somewhere to spend a sunny spring morning or afternoon. However, thanks to a guidebook on the Geneva region with fifty 2-3 hour walks on all terrains, knowing where to go is no longer a problem.

So today we decided to test drive the new acquisitions (car an guide book) and took in a really pleasant walk in open countryside in the 'Chablais', taking in on its way some Chateaux and some typical French villages. The Chablais is the region of French territory between the lake and the Alps, as well as name for a nearby mountain range where you will find well known resorts such as Morzine and Avoriaz, as well as Abondance, known for its excellent cheese.



After a stop to buy some bread in the quaint town of Bons-en-Chablais, we started out at the Chateau D'Avully, near the village of Brenthonnes. The Chateau is used for grand receptions (weddings etc) however like everything else on a Sunday, was closed. We then walked into open countryside and into our first village stop of the day in Dugny, which was the highest point of the walk at 580m above sea level (where's the sea), and gave some nice views of the Voirons, our nearest range of mountains.



We then walked through some orchards and down to Fessy, typified by its Church tower and maybe not the most typical French village buildings, but quiet and quaint nonetheless. here we found an Atelier or workshop, where it was clear from what was on display outside that the speciality was metalwork.



After Fessy it was on through some more open countryside and past more cows to Lully, where Vero was not the only one having some rest and enjoying the views.



Then we descended further and reached the second Chateau on this walk, Chateau de Buffavens. This one was definitely private however I think it was split into several residences judging by the number of doorbells on the gate and the wheely bin outside. In the grounds there were some deer, with some stags rutting which was quite neat.



After that the route took us along the mainline between Evian and Annemasse, however we only saw one train, a TGV with about two passengers going quite slowly. The last village stop was in Puard before we returned to Brenthonnes where Vero decided to sit on a bench and make me walk up and get the car at the Chateau...

This was our second excursion into the Chablais, the first being an afternoon ride to the medievel lakeside village of Yvoire (no photos as we'll go back when its in full bloom). It's unknown territory however given the number and variety of destinations, we cannot wait to discover it some more.....

Europe's Biggest Car Showroom

The 78th Salon International de L'Auto rolled into town between the 6th and 16th March. It is Europe's biggest and most prestigious car show held at Geneva's Palexpo exhibition centre near the airport (a bit like the NEC in Birmingham). So Vero and I gave up the opportunity of freezing our butts off trying to ski with the crowds in la Clusaz and decided to squeeze through the crowds at the motor show instead. We had just ordered our new car and it was due to be delivered the following week, so it was a bit like going shopping with full cupboards. However it was a great day out and we saw some really nice models (not just metal ones), as well as plenty of bizarre designs too.

And I cannot go without mentioning the bizarre ritual and what seemed the main reason for so many people being there - to try and get as many different manufacturer branded paper shopping bags as possible. Vero was no exception to the rule and managed a haul in double figures. Me, I just sat back and soaked it all in through the camera lens... Enjoy