Bulle - Geneva
128,4 km, 9hrs 36mins, 1308m total
climb
It was going to be an easy cycle today,
we stayed up on the 800m high plateau for 20km, before a rapid
descent down to the shores of Lake Geneva at just less than 400m,
then follow the lakeside for the rest of the day.
The weather was miserable but not
extreme in the morning, but little did we know today was going to be
the first day when we got properly soaked for the first time. The
rain would lay a torrential, 4 hour siege at our
professional, 100% waterproof clothing. The eventual breach, overcoming
layer upon layer of Goretex and Lycra, would saturate our under-clothing to the point where water was squirting out of the
lace-holes on my waterproof shoes. Wet, wet, wet.
That wasn't until the end of the cycle
though. Before that it wasn't too bad, and despite being cold after
the descent to Lake Geneva, it was really impressive. Lots of vineyards
and working farms on the steep tracks down, then the lake itself was
surrounded by old and interesting towns offering the tourist a
multitude of places to rest, eat and play beside the lake. We passed
through Vevey, Montreaux, Villeneuve. All had nice looking residences
that I could imagine cost a few quid, casinos and plenty of Hotels
and Restaurants that would be thrumming in the summer. Road condition
and driving etiquette were applauding for cyclists.
We had planned a stop at Decathlon (we
had been waiting until we were in France) at the 77km mark. This was
because we had taken a big decision to replace our tent! Our current
tent is a real lightweight dream, only 1kg and big enough for both of
us with room to spare, despite it's bijou appearance. It also only took 5
mins to put up, and would fit in any pannier. The problem, and one
that I did not foresee, was the amount of space the luggage takes up.
There was some room at the feet end of the tent inside, and a enough
for a couple of pieces in the fly sheet, but not enough real room to
make it work. With the bags all inside, it was uncomfortable when
they were wet. We ended up locking the waterproof panniers to the outside of the
tent each night. This works fine but is a pain when you need
something, and I am not sure that someone wouldn’t just razor-blade
the panniers if they really wanted to. The new tent is a much larger
affair, 3 person and enough room for us and all the luggage
comfortably. Enough room to swing a horse in fact. Its also a lot
heavier at 3kg, and takes up a lot more room when packed, but it has
to be worth it as we intend to tent every night when the weather is
better. It will pay off. We will also be sending back some more cold
weather gear to the UK soon to reduce our luggage weight.
So after Decathlon we had 30km or so
left until Geneva camp-site. Then it really started raining. We were
also following a road that went from country road through villages - to
a dual lane carriageway without warning. We tried to avoid this a
couple of times but ended back up on it, also wasting some time.
Eventually we crossed the Swiss border again and started nearing the
end. We were constantly on the lookout for Hotels, sometimes
searching the GPS for possibilities, but didn’t find anything
suitable. Each few soggy km's we would stop and look at the options,
until eventually we realised we weren’t that far from the
camp-site, and it looked like the weather might break, just a little,
enough to put up the new tent.
We got to the camp-site at 6pm, and the
weather had broken, albeit briefly as it turned out. We registered and found a spot of the
wet grass and put up the new tent. Felt massive inside. We both had
long hot showers which really helps revive your spirit. We had dinner
after dark, sheltering from the rain in the plush porch of the
reception (it was closed after 8pm) whilst we cooked some Gnocchi
with Pesto and spicy sausages on the stove and shared a bottle of
red. These moments feel satisfying after a wet day on the bike :)
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