We started our day at 8:00 by walking into the village and taking a local public bus about 30 minutes to Solalex (4820 ft.), a beautiful mountain pasture. Just as we got off the bus, the fog rolled in like a blanket and this is a view of the trail. Love the avalanche warning.
But luck was on our side and slowly the fog started to clear. The major view was the breathtaking cliff, Miroir d’Argentine. Although I don’t have a complete photo of it, these views provide evidence of its grandeur. Our guide said her father climbed it when he was 78 and another man from her village did it at 94. Think it makes a difference when you have done it your whole life.
We continued walking through pine forests and alpine meadows, catching glimpses of the mountains through the clouds whenever possible. I was surprised that we walked through these forests because I expected mostly alpine vegetation.
And we saw lots of wildflowers in bloom - buttercups, clover, yarrow, etc. similar to what we had at home in Kentucky a month ago.
Along the way we encountered a number of cows, who seemed quite unperturbed that we were invading their territory. And they all wear huge bells on big leather straps around their necks.
We hiked to Barboleuse, an alpine village where we had lunch at La Terrasse. If was nice enough for us all to eat outdoors and we had polenta, a well prepared and delicious local dish.
Afterwards, we walked to Gryon, which is the birthplace of our local guide Mireille. She told us her mother’s family had lived there since the 16th century. We walked around the village, observing the traditional Swiss style of housing and noticing dates of construction. One was 1662 and another was 1750.
She showed us her great grandfather’s home that was built around 1880 and served not only as a residence but also a grocery store and post office.
Unfortunately, the family was not able to keep it and it now belongs to an English couple.
We also went into an old stone church which appears to be ecumenical.
Apparently, at one time it was Catholic, but when the priest saw his parishioners declining in number, he switched to be a Protestant minister so he wouldn’t lose his job.
After our tour, we were treated to wine, cheese and a tart at Cafe des Alps and Sydney and I sat with our new friend Jeanette.
Then we boarded a little train that took us back to Villars.
We clocked in almost 7 miles for the day.
Tonight we had another delicious meal at the hotel and off to bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment