Once again it was going to be a late breakfast so we opted out ,to have it further along the trail. Apart from the 50km zone to get out of town it was all dedicated bikeway to the French border.
The valley is widening out now and the farms are mostly grain or potatoes. Funny how the architecture changes by the region , the farm houses look almost identical here, bottom story originally for cows then people above. The bike trail being on the stopbanks misses towns , so it wasn’t until Vouvry that we came upon a supermarket . Then we’d find a bench to sit on for our breakfast. I guess we must look a little strange to the locals as they walked by with a little smile and a “bon appétit “.
Before we knew it we were at Port Valais and then Bouveret . What a magnificent sight. We are turning left here and following the southern shore to our hotel in Évian-les-Bains
The first town we came to was St Gingolph just as the old paddle wheel ferry was coming in. This part is in Switzerland
And right in the centre of town is the French border. All borders are manned into Switzerland because they have higher taxes than France and people pop over to buy their cigarettes and groceries
Slicing up my baguettes and tomatoes with my trusty Swiss Army knife. This looked like it would be a quiet ride around the south side of the lake on the map,unfortunately the road had only a few bike lanes and there were a lot of trucks so we opted for a parallel road up in the hills
Cor !!! The Road ran steeply up into the hills. Wonderful views mind you and this builder was a bonus. He was making the mortice joints for a traditional house they were working on .
I love meeting these old tradesmen. A little further along at Maxilly we passed a Citron garage where they were working on one of the Tour de France promotion vehicles. As the tour approaches a town ,the ‘caravan’ of the teams promotional vehicles drive through before the bikes throwing out souvenirs to the crowds.
The tour passes through a town 10 kms from here so we’ll possibly go and see it
Quite a big town, it was once famous for its hospital (in 1355) which catered to the poor and to passing pilgrims. Modernised to its present style in 1840 and then used as a council building.
Our hotel is along on the left. It’s Basic ,But it’s in a great location , especially for a beer in the street later
Paris to Paris 