Looking out the door from our accomodation up to a local ski run. The day was crisp and cool. We had a beautiful home made breakfast and headed off down the hill.

We stopped in central Morzine and started putting more clothes on. We were freezing. We should have put our full leg kit on in hindsight as we still shivered for the descent. The sun was hidden behind the tall mountains on our right hand side. I shivered most of the way down and stopped often to thaw in the sun. I was feeling pretty uncomfortable and full of my clothing choice regrets.

There were lovely gorges that we rode through, but no verge to stop l,is they were all sans sun. We stopped only in the sun. Here are a few sunny photos whilst we defrosted.

The temperature increased considerably by the time we reached Lac Leman (Lake Geneva). It was 12 C and we stopped at a boulangerie to get a hit drink and eat, as this would be our last French boulangerie this trip. The Swiss and French border is part way along the southern shores of Lac Leman.

A couple of Lac Leman shots. This is the largest natural lake in Western Europe.

The border is close now, dual flags are flying. The traffic was super shite here too. Evian-Les-Bains was crazy and this was to be our experience all around the Lake.

My fault. I thought it would be nice to ride around the lake. Seriously cyclists, get the ferry across to Lausanne as that is what I would do next time. It is not worth all the traffic and road work angst we experienced.

The border was interesting. We crossed on the foot path, but cars went through the control area. The French did not give one iota. The Swiss had four border guards making more of an effort.

Leaving France with great memories. This was my 6th visit to France, and my longest.

The positive is we are back in Switzerland, the starting point of our odyssey.

There is an area where we needed to head inland (south) away from the lake due to a series of rivers. The area is lovely and open.

Back on the lake edge we pass through another busy town, again with roadworks and people everywhere.

That is Chillon Castle we are approaching. Chillon is in between Villeneuve and Montreal and is the most visited medieval castle in Switzerland and Europe. Yes, there were lots there today!

Chillon began as a Roman outpost guarding the strategic road to the Alps. In the 1600s it was used as a prison. I did tour inside this castle in 1987.

Now we have made it past the many hundreds hovering around, using our bike like a scooter, but this is a nice view with Chillon on the left, and looking over at the French and Swiss mountains.

Montreaux was another very busy town to get through and we headed to the foreshore to look at one thing, along with hundreds of others. Again using the bike like a scooter.

Grapes are grown all along the upper foreshore.

Finally we make into Lausanne, a large city and home to the IOC, the International Olympic Committee.

We had not had any lunch and bought a roll, two bottles of water and a small slice at the IOC small shop. Aud $37…….😊😳

Some photos from the parklands surrounding their museum.

Getting out of Lausanne was no walk in the park. We needed to climb a fair bit through the city, which was a bit tricky un cleating feet on a climb at pedestrian crossings, then trying cleat back in on a slope. 🙈 I kept hoping I could time the crossings with no one wanting to cross. At one crossing I thanked the lady for waiting.

It was then another 30 km to our destination. We had not eaten enough food today and both bonked and just concentrated on the destination. We ended up on agricultural farm paths again and one forest path which pleased us as we were sick of all the cars and people today.

We much prefer small villages and not the business of large towns and cities. I know many love that, with the cultural offerings such as museums and art galleries, but we like the peace and solitude and beauty of the simpler things in nature.

Touring you cannot avoid cities though, so you just have to bite the bullet and tolerate the frustrations.

Tomorrow is a big day again and we have just done some remapping work. Tad longer but less climbing, but needing to pass through part of Bern, the capital of Switzerland.

Until tomorrow, thanks for reading. Stay safe, smile on 😊