Day 29: Stage 23: Nyon, 30 km, Sunny, 27°

Reverse Cruising Along The Chemin de St-Jacques!

I honestly wasn’t quite sure how far I would be walking today, so I was up and away early. If I told you that I might have eaten a tin of Libby‘s baked beans and tomato sauce right out of the can, perhaps you would think less of me😂. However, beans are an excellent source of protein that can carry a person for a long time. I might’ve also eaten a couple of bananas.

It was fairly cloudy to the west, but I was heading east towards the blue sky.



Not my hotel! I’m sure those who are staying there had a much better sleep than I did in my lower bunk bed. But it was fine and it did the job.



I was a bit taken aback when I noticed that the fountain wasn’t shooting up into the air. I guess they turn it off at night, makes sense.

I shared the boardwalk with other early morning runners and walkers. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay at lake level, so I took one last photo of Geneva, and then turned north.

Quite by accident, I passed through a nature Conservatory. It was really nice walking along the park trails and past some beautiful gardens.
Yesterday I explained that I have no GPX tracks for this route. A few months ago I carefully plotted some way points on a GPS app then didn’t look at it again until last night. I set off carefully this morning, keeping a close eye on the app to make sure I didn’t get lost. Of course I was aware that there is a Chemin along the lake, but I wasn’t quite sure what the way marking would be like. I eventually saw a marker. It would take a little while until I was confident enough to put my app away and follow the various types of markers. It turned out that I was on route 4 and there were periodic signs to this effect.
Walking out of Geneva is like walking through a high-end neighborhood. This wasn’t expected, but I thought if it continues like this all day that it was going to be a very boring walk. All of these estates, embassies and consulates have huge walls around them, so all I could see was basically the road.
This is an example of the numbered route markers that periodically confirmed that I was moving along in the right direction.

This is looking sort of south eastward down the lake. Clearly the mountains were going to be largely covered by clouds today, but I didn’t mind having seen them in all their glory last August when walking with Annemarie. Actually, I spent very little time along the lake today, so it didn’t matter very much
From time to time I did walk along the main train lines! I really like the trains, and I took some videos for the kids. 



I spotted a little more signage along the way. This is one of several routes that lead to Jerusalem. It’s about 4000+ kilometers, and I’d be lying to say that I’ve never thought of walking it. Wouldn’t it be a fantastic travel experience! It’s not likely in the cards though. 

I was pretty much spot on with my 2000 km estimate to Santiago measured from the far end of the lake. There’s just one small 300+ km section that I have left to walk to complete this route in the European fashion, ie, returning to walk a route a number of times until you complete it. And taking this a step further, when I walk the 300+ km from Geneva to Le Puy I will also have walked Rome to Santiago the long way (~3200 km) in five separate walks. As you can tell from my analysis, the stage today wasn’t very physically or mentally challenging!🙂 

This is one of the interesting things about walking various routes in Europe. Because they are often pilgrimage routes there is a tendency for them to overlap and cross each other. So I just have to walk that one section and the puzzle all comes together!



Looking back about 7 kms. 


Things were definitely getting very Swiss as I moved away from the high-end estates. There were others along the way, but they were more spread out. I started to pass through little towns and communities.

As is typical in Switzerland, there were lots of potted flowers which helped add beautiful colour to my day. 







Things were getting back into typical Camino mode! I stop for a cup of tea and a pastry at about 12 km. In Italy this was basically impossible most days.





I saw the name of this wine bar, but it took my brain a little while to sort it out😵‍💫
I passed this really interesting looking house, before realizing that it was the gate house to a quite amazing property which I was able to get a glimpse of. 
Wow! Fun to look at, but I have no interest in owning something like this. I must admit though that it would be fun to spend a week here with maybe 10 of my best friends! Even the gate house would do!








In the background are the Jarl Mountains which Annemarie and I crossed last August on our way to the Alps. We crossed them about 80-100 km from here as the crow flies. Very beautiful!




I did eventually arrive in Nyon where I was able to actually stop at a small bar for another camino tradition.
My accommodation for tonight. It was built in the 1600s and also has a restaurant on the main floor. I wonder what $100 will get me for dinner tonight?😎
Last stage of this walk tomorrow. I plan to walk as far as I have time for (30 kms?) before catching a train to Zürich. I’ve been told repeatedly what a beautiful city Zürich is, and I’m looking forward to finding that out for myself later tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks for following.🙏

Day 28: Geneva, Switzerland, Hot 27°

OMG! The Bread! 

I made it! I’m experiencing a little culture shock after almost a month trekking through the mountains, hills and mediaeval villages along the spine of Italy. I’ve been in Switzerland a number of times, so everything is quite familiar. However, I seem to have this problem switching my brain quickly from operating in Italian to French. It will get better. I’ve been here about 6 hours and the transition is happening. However, I have to deal with German my last two days.😬

It’s been an eventful day! I had to be awake and on the move very early this morning. I successfully met my host at 6:30 for the short drive to the airport. Through security quickly and then it was just a matter of waiting for my flight to go. Which it did. We took off over the beautiful Mediterranean and headed north. 

I tried to trace my route back along the Via Francigena. There’s Lago di Bolsena to the right which means Rob and I walked all the way across this photo last year. Siena would be far left (north) not in the photo.
Of course, the highlight of the flight was going across first the Italian Alps and followed by the Swiss Alps.
As always, the mountains were spectacular! I’ve passed over them when they’ve been without clouds, but I consider myself lucky to have seen most of the range. A few photos.

Mount Blanc? John what do you think? 



We flew right past Geneva before circling back to the airport (top of photo), and you can see the famous water jet fountain from a long way away. 
Once we landed, I found the train into town only to discover that my Italian data plan was not valid in Switzerland. TIM who provided me with my data plan in Florence was incorrect. I was told I’d have cell coverage in Switzerland. No matter. I’ll just go back to the Stone Age for a few days.😂 I had the foresight to plot route waypoints on my GPS app. Hopefully it will be enough to find my way across to Lausanne over the next couple of days🤞


As I walked through Geneva, it was immediately clear that this is a city for the wealthy. All the huge brand names are here, but it’s the super expensive brands that draw the eye. People are dressed in extremely high end apparel. Clearly not my thing, and I stand out like a sore thumb. Haha, I’ll never see these people again. It’s enough that I’m here and will start walking tomorrow morning.

A bit of this and that as I walked around the lakefront

Jet d’Eau is quite magnificent! I’ve wanted to see it for years. It was initially built to let off pressure from the hydrologics in the area. I’m not sure what that means, but that’s what the sign said.🤔 It was built back in the 1800s, and in the mid-1900s the city of Geneva took it over and built a permanent spot for it. It’s been the symbol of the city for the last 150+ years. It’s like a geyser on a broken oil platform. It’s huge! 


It’s apparently lit up at night, and if I have the energy I’ll walk down for a look. 


Nice story. Due to the early hour of my departure, I didn’t really have any breakfast this morning. So by the time noon rolled around, I was getting pretty hungry. In fact, I was getting a bit desperate. I walked away from the waterfront thinking that I might find a small place to eat that would be less expensive. Remember, I had no data so I couldn’t look for options or assess cost. I saw a nice little place up ahead and went in. A nice lady sat me down and asked me what I wanted to drink. I asked her for the menu and she replied that there is no menu. There was only one plat du jour and it was the same for everyone. Since I was already seated and had no choice I said, OK! She proceeded to bring me out a cold Coca-Cola, a nice green salad and a plate of bread. Not just a plate of bread, but an amazing plate of French bread! Italian bread is OK, but the French and Swiss bread is unbelievable! So good!!

The salad was followed by a nice piece of very tender steak, and pomme frites. There was also a tasty sauce over the steak. My family will tell you that I’ve essentially quit eating beef for environmental reasons. That said, I hadn’t eaten since last night, and I was pretty hungry. So I stuck my moral compass in my back pocket and enjoyed a very good steak.

As I was nearing the end of my lunch, the senior waitress came over with another sizzling piece of steak with french fries and completely re-loaded my plate! I couldn’t believe it. I think she could tell that I was a little depleted today, and she made an effort to try and fatten me up!🙂 Whatever motivated her, it was a very generous and wonderful thing to do. 

When I sat down I had absolutely no idea what lunch would cost. When she brought me the bill it was for Fr.51, or about $75 Canadian. The second serving of steak and fries was definitely not on the bill. I don’t usually tip too often in the EU, but I did today. 

I went for a good long walk around the harbor, and here and there to walk off my extraordinary lunch. 

Believe it or not, an hour later, I was getting a little bit hungry, so I stopped for a gelato. I came all the way from Italy to Switzerland to have a gelato.🙄 Insane! 

I’ve had only had one gelato during my Italian wanders, but this little place high above the ferry wharf had my favourite type, Straccetelli! I enjoyed it immensely! It’s a particularly hot muggy day here, so I found an umbrella shaded little table and chair on the harbour and that’s where I’m sitting as I write this post. 

On my way to this spot I found a route marker in the cement sidewalk. That got my attention! 

The route that I will walk a couple of stages beginning tomorrow crosses much of Switzerland before transitioning to the GR 65 at the French border.  It’s better known as the Le Puy Chemin or Chemin de St. Jacques. It runs all the way to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. I’ve already walked most of this route and parts of it twice, including a few stages of it last August while walking the Via Francigena. 

The purpose of this two day walk is to

tie up a few loose ends. By Wednesday the only part remaining to walk from Lausanne to Santiago will be the 2 1/2 week section from Geneva to Le Puy, France. I have it on good authority that Annemarie would like to walk this section as well! It would be nice to complete this 2000+ km Camino! I’ve been picking away at it in bits and pieces since 2013. 

A chocolate wall! Welcome to Switzerland🙏

These boots just have to last 2 more stages, about 70 km. I think they have about 1,600 km on them and many of those on hard pavement. They look ok from the top,
But they have lost their integrity and are pretty much cooked! I’m not sure that they will ever see Canada again, but they have been excellent servants. Super boots! I have one last pair at home waiting for my next adventure. Sadly they stopped producing them during the pandemic. 

I’ll be up and away early. A hot day coming. 

Cheers!