Author: alasdair.geo (Page 1 of 16)

The forecast was not very good for today, predicting thunderstorms in the afternoon.  We therefore decided to take a taxi up to the trail, 10 minutes by car, but saving us about 3 hours of walking.  Everywhere was wet and muddy after yesterday’s rain, which meant diverting around boggy ground and trying not to slide in the mud.  The first section took us through the forest, before opening into meadow, but still with trees about 200m either side of us, so no view.  It was an easy walk to the highest point.  The views of a few days ago had disappeared, with low cloud obscuring the Alps.  It was even difficult to work out where Lake Geneva was, despite being relatively close.  We kept going, aware that we were probably reaching the weather again.  There were numerous gates to go through, with lots of cows in the pasture.  There was a new sign: “beware of cows as they may attack because wolves cause unusual defensive behaviour”.  We still had to pass close to some, but didn’t have any problems, giving them time to move out of our way.  There were also several signs saying “bull present with cows” but didn’t see anything.  We slowly descended towards St Cergue, taking care on the slippery surface, and speeding up the flat sections.  We finally reached another field, this time with cows and a bull, and waited while he wandered past with the herd.  We reached St Cergue and had a coffee and cake while waiting to check in; there had been no rain, but our boots were a bit damp.  The landlady of our b&b was very friendly.  I told her we were planning on walking the GR5 trail rather than the Jura Crest trail to Nyon tomorrow (about half the distance and a route I walked a few years ago).  She told us that the GR5 is currently impassable due to major roadworks, and took us through the village to show us the alternative (short) route.  The start of the path was not obvious as it involves walking alongside the railway line!  This route will take us down the hill and then join up with the GR5, leading us to the train station at Nyon, and the end of our walk.

Yesterday I said today was going to be leisurely; it was an easy walk, but it’s the wettest we’ve been in a long time.

It was a nice path along the lake.  We looked up to see the hills completely covered in clouds and were glad of our decision to keep low today.  We were walking SW, and all the weather was coming from there.  We decided to cover our bags and put our rain jackets on.  This technique fooled the rain god, no rain arrived, and we took our jackets off about 30 minutes later as we were too hot.  We only met a couple of people on the path, but there were quite a few fishermen in boats or standing in the lake.  We saw a few heavy rainfalls in the hills around us, and spent a few minutes standing under a tree for one shower, but we were still dry.  We then put our jackets on just before the rain started; not too bad at this point.  We reached the village of Le Chenit, and passed through an industrial estate with the watchmakers Breguet, Romain Gauthier, and a short distance further on Blancpain.  We were now only 3km from Le Brassus and this is when the rain became torrential.  We nipped into a doorway for about 10 minutes and started walking again when it stopped.  Another kilometre, and the rain started again.  This time there was no shelter so we kept going.  We reached Le Brassus, passing Audemars Piguet, and went into the railway station to shelter from the even heavier rain.  It was now only 500m to the hotel, and as the rain decreased we made our final dash for the hotel.  200m to go, and the rain got so bad that we had to shelter again.  A brief respite and we made it to the hotel.  At least the receptionist wasn’t too bothered by our appearance!  We turned the radiators up to high and strung up our wet clothing to dry.  The rain seemed to be even worse as we looked out the bedroom window.  The good news is that the hotel restaurant is open tonight.

It is remarkable how many of the top watch manufacturers are located in a rural area; there are also many small manufacturers that we’ve passed that I’ve not heard of.

We left the hotel and walked to the edge of town.  The path started uphill almost immediately, and we followed a road for a while.  We took the old route up the hill, it’s probably been changed because of logging operations, but nothing was happening on a Sunday.  The weather was both hot and humid and it was hard going uphill.  The first road narrowed to a single path, which then turned into a 45 degree slope.  We struggled up to the top, and were finally clear of the forest on a good road.  We had climbed about 400m, but there was still more to go.  There was a walk through meadows and forest, before the track narrowed along a ridge and then started climbing again.  We worked our way up the final section and made it to the top, where there were crowds of people.  Looking over the western approach, we could see a car park and restaurant just a short distance below us; most had climbed for maybe ten minutes!

The view was not nearly as good as previous days.  We dropped down to the restaurant, and then had a reasonable descent to where the road crossed the col.  We then walked down on a good path to the village of Le Pont.  Again, we passed lots of fortifications and bunkers.  Perhaps the most impressive was yesterday where we saw a dry stone wall crossing the valley, except it was backed by 2m of concrete.

The stages of the Jura Crest generally finish on the crest, either at accommodation, or where there is a bus or rail link.  Tomorrow’s stage (Monday) finishes at a hotel which is shut on Mondays and Tuesdays, so we have booked a hotel in the same valley that we are in tonight.  I then discovered that the bus from the crest to the village 6only runs on weekends.  Tomorrow, therefore, we won’t be going up to the crest, but instead will have a leisurely walk along the lake to our next destination.  We are still deciding what to do on Tuesday when we do need to get back up to the trail.

It was a simple breakfast but with fresh bread, still warm, driven up from the bakery.  The first part took us to the top of another hill, before gradually descending through ski slopes.  We reached the village of St Croix after an hour and a half of walking, where I went and stocked up on water and biscuits.  We followed a country road uphill out of town, stopping regularly as it was very hot and humid.  We reached the col, passing several wind turbines moving slowly in the breeze.  The road continued uphill until we reached a very busy mountain restaurant ( most had arrived by car).  We had an ice cream and drink, and set off again.  We passed several bunkers from WWII, and numerous sets of large concrete tank barriers.  In this section there were lots of revolving gates to get through; not designed for those carrying backpacks.  We started on the descent to Ballaigues, and debated whether to cover our bags as the rain started, but it didn’t last very long.  Large thunder clouds were beginning to build as we neared the village.  It would be another hour of walking to Vallorbe, so we decided to take the bus.  The rain started again and we took refuge in the old village wash house.  The bus arrived in time and we enjoyed the eight minute bus ride; a lot faster than walking.  The bus route passed within 200m of the Swiss/French border before going down to the town.  We got into our room in the hotel and found there was no electricity.  A call to the owner, and I opened the fuse box in the room, and put the electricity back on.  We went out for a meal at the auberge owned by the commune.  There was a huge clap of thunder, but there’s not been any rain so far.  Hopefully it will rain overnight and be dry in the morning.  We’ve combined three stages into the last two days, and the next few days are all quite short.  It’s been impossible to arrange accommodation if we extend the stages, so we are stuck with short days.  (We still have to resolve a problem in a few days time, where the bus we thought we would take from our accommodation back to the route only runs at the weekend)

I was writing the blog while we had our evening meal, and as I finished, there was a huge gust of wind.  The staff ran out to take down the umbrellas as the rain started falling heavily.  Everyone ran inside with their food.  There was more thunder and lightning, and the manageress offered us an umbrella to use on the way back to the hotel, only 50m away; we have to return it in the morning.

Our accommodation for last night was past the start of today’s stage.  We had two options: a steep climb to get us onto the stage and then walk along the ridge, or walk along the valley and then gradually make our way up to the ridge.  We decided on the second option.  We left the hotel and walked along the valley on a mixture of quiet roads and a couple of busy sections.  We were on one of the quiet roads when we passed a number of buildings.  One had double fences, security cameras everywhere, massive vehicle barriers, and apparently no windows in the building.  We were discussing what sort of security complex this was, when we saw the sign at the main gate; it was the Cartier watch and jewellery factory.  A short distance on we stopped in the village of Motiers for a cake and coffee.  This village has museums of cars, aboriginal art, another that we couldn’t work out, a theatre, and numerous absinthe producers.  There was also the Bovet watch workshop (prices up to $1 million).  After our very good cakes, we finally started to climb.  There were plenty of people and families about, presumably having taken an extra day after yesterday’s holiday.  The forest path climbed slowly upwards and we made good time.  The path then narrowed and we climbed hundreds of steps, until we finally arrived at the start of a narrow gorge.  The path here had been built in 1942 and comprised bridges, stairways, and bits of path going round narrow ledges.  There were handrails at the worst bits.  We worked our way up, occasionally having to retreat to a ”passing place” if we met people descending.  It was spectacular and we finally reached the top and were back onto wide forest paths.  We finally cleared the trees into open meadow, still continuing upwards.  The next bit of excitement was having to go through a gate in one of the many electric fences, only to have an entire herd of cows making their way along the same section.  We chose a gap in the herd and walked through, then round the large group to get to the next gate.  From there it was a short walk to finally gain the ridge, with spectacular views of the whole of the Alps, with not a cloud in sight.  Even Mont Blanc didn’t have its usual hat of clouds.  We stopped at a small restaurant for a piece of tart and a drink.  We walked to the top of Le Chasseron and admired the view; the transmitter of a few days ago, now over 50km away to our east, the hills and valleys to the north, and the lakes and plain to the south, then the huge chain of the Alps stretching as far we could see along the southern horizon.  From there, it was 5 minutes  downhill to the hotel.  We had a cheese fondue for dinner (excellent) and spent most of the meal trying to work out the last time we had one.  (We were given two fondue sets as wedding presents!)

Today was a public holiday in Switzerland and there was a crowd waiting for the bus to go to La Vue-des-Alpes.  There was no sign of the bus at the stated time, and we were just about to try and organise a taxi with some others, when it arrived.  The weather was a lot better than yesterday; sunny and warm.  We walked up the road to the ridge and started along it.  There were numerous high points along it, with great views south to the Alps.  We could see The Eiger and Mont Blanc, both about 120kms from us.  There were lots of people out walking because of the holiday (and the good weather).  We finally descended off the ridge and then walked through a wide valley with trees dotted about, almost like English parkland.  We continued the descent and stopped at a restaurant for a very good piece of apricot tart and a drink.  The path then went back onto the ridge, but we followed a local road as we still had a long way to go to our accommodation.  We joined the trail again for the descent to Noiraigue.  This was steep, and it looked like there had not been any work on the path for a while.  We reached the village, and then walked on a track beside the river to our accommodation. 

We each had four blankets as it was very cold overnight.  Breakfast was bread, butter, jam, and cheese, with coffee or tea.  Today was to be another day with no accommodation at the end, so we had to reach the bus stop by 13:55.  We made our way along the grassy track that led west and down from the metairie.  It was windy and cold, but the wind dropped as we descended.  This then led us into a forest section, still descending, before it changed into an old road, finally coming out onto a new road.  We decided to follow the road, rather than go back into the forest on the Jura Crest trail.  We reached a village and joined the Jura Crest trail as it was marked along a country road.  After a kilometre the trail was signposted heading into the forest; we again kept on the road, which was much faster walking than going over slippery stones and roots in the woods.  The sky to the west did not look very promising as we made good time, finally joining the trail again.  After about a kilometre the trail veered off into the woods; we again kept on the road which would lead us directly to La Vue-des-Alpes, where the bus stop was.  It started to rain, and we put our jackets on, and covered our bags.  The road was marked (for cyclists) with the kilometres to La Vue-des-Alpes, and as we hit 2km, the rain got heavier.  With just under 1km to go, the rain became torrential.  We decided we would get even wetter if we stopped to put our waterproof trousers on, so kept going.  We reached the col and walked into the cafeteria, dripping water everywhere.  We had about 45 minutes before the bus, so had some hot food and drinks.  The bus arrived on time and we travelled down to La Chaux-de-Fonds.  We had a hot chocolate while waiting to check into the hotel.  We turned up the radiators in the bedroom and have got everything drying!

We took the train back up to Frinvillier and immediately started climbing.  It was a series of short zig-zags climbing up the steep hillside through the trees.  As we neared the top the zig-zags got longer, finally disappearing, but the trail still led upwards.  In total, we climbed for about 4km of walking.  There was then a short descent on a road before we started climbing again.  The forest thinned out, and we walked through huge meadows of wild flowers, with lots of orchids.  We finally reached a seat and stopped for a drink and some chocolate.  The target for today was the giant transmitter on top of the mountain, which we had spotted yesterday. We could now see several lakes below us to the south, though it was not possible to see the Alps.  The path led up and down over a number of small hills, and then we started the climb up to the transmitter; 400m of climbing over about 5km.  The wind increased as we climbed and it got a lot colder.  We finally reached the transmitter, with 360 degree views, and then started the descent, at last on the road.  We descended to the hotel that marked the end of today’s stage, but knew that it was closed.  Our accommodation was about another 3km of walking, first a steep descent down the hillside, then along a small road.  As we approached, a dog came barking down the hillside, but then was happy to accompany us to the “metairie”.  There seem to be quite a lot of metairie in the French speaking part of the Jura; farmhouses that offer meals and also possibly accommodation.  We had a very traditional evening meal; rosti potatoes with onions and baked Tomme (Christine) and cordon rouge (Alasdair) and salad, and a tart to finish.  The sleeping accommodation is definitely the most basic so far, but this is the only place available.

We woke to thick cloud and pouring rain.  This was not good, as the day’s walk was forecast to take 7 hours.  We went down for breakfast, to a huge array of food, despite there being only five guests for breakfast.  After breakfast, we went back to the room and debated what to do; we could take the cable car down, then train to the next hotel, or wait and see if the weather would clear as forecast.  There were occasional times when the cloud lifted, but most of the time visibility was about 50m.  As we got close to the checkout at 11am, the weather definitely improved, so we decided to walk.  It was cold, but not too wet as we headed into the wind.  The path was good, so we kept up a good speed.  We then reached a climb, followed by a narrow path along the ridge.  It wasn’t as narrow as the first day’s but we walked slowly because of the treacherous  underfoot conditions.  The weather gradually improved, and we had some great views, back to where we had started, and where we will be going in a few days.  We then climbed up onto some moorland, the first since we left Germany.  Visibility was again bad, but as it lifted we saw two chamois about 100m ahead.  They hadn’t smelt us, so we managed to get fairly close before they ran, over a wall and down the cliff.  Today we saw a lot of stone walls, which we haven’t seen before on the trip.  We overtook a few other walkers on this section, and then we saw our first signs in French on an electricity box.  The train from Frinvillier to Biel/Bienne ran at 35 minutes past the hour, so that was our objective when we saw a sign to Frinvillier saying it was just over 2 hours away.  We avoided a slippery descent through the forest by walking on the road, and made it to the station with twenty minutes to spare.  Frinvillier is a weird place, set in a valley, and the motorway, another road, and the railway all emerge from tunnels for about 500m before disappearing into the hills again.  

Biel/Bienne is officially French and German speaking, and the name reflects this.  The architecture in the area around the station, where we are staying, can probably be described as 1920s brutalist (apparently they had a left wing mayor at the time).  It’s also the main centre for Swiss watch making, though we haven’t seen any signs of Rolex, Omega, or Swatch.

We left Balsthal to the sound of church bells ringing.  As we started the climb, the bells were joined by the noise from the local rifle range.  We climbed about 750m over a distance of 9kms.  Near the top the path crossed from the north to the south side of the ridge.  The noise of gunfire disappeared, only to be replaced by the firing from a club on the south side.  The path narrowed as we worked our way through the forest, and then reached the top.  There was a large military installation at the top, and the path led down the cliff in a series of steps and zig-zags.  At the bottom of this section we walked about 50m and were suddenly walking in wide meadows, on a very good path.  We stopped at a restaurant for cake and a drink.  The path went up and down as we walked along the crest line and there were plenty of people out walking.  At one of the road crossings over the ridge there was a large playpark, with many people walking about the high wire bridges between the trees (all wearing safety harnesses).  There was then a long straight section, where we were walking right into the wind.  Then it was back to many small ups and downs, before the final climb to the end of the stage.

Tonight’s accommodation is at the hotel at the end of the stage, with views southwards to the Alps.  We could just make out the mountains in the rainfall in the distance.  The meal was very good; despite being on half-board, we were told to choose any four courses from the menu!

We’ve now got clear blue sky to the north, and overcast to the south.  Tomorrow is another important day, as we cross the border from German to French speaking Switzerland.  (In the Alps this was marked by a small stream, with the villages only a few km away speaking only French or German.)