Thursday 18th September: Overcast but warm: 15°C to 22°C
Across Excenevex and Coudree Bay to the Dents du Midi
Narrow streets of Yvoire
Coffee at the Port in Yvoire
3 tourist buses arrive in Yvoire
Entrance gate to Yvoire
Exit gate to Yvoire
Overcast day over Lake Geneva
Arriving at Casino at 2mins to 12
Lunch at Hermance
Chatting to fisherman in Hermance
All about Gamaret wine grapes
All about Pinot Blanc wine grapes
All about Chasselas wine grapes
Vineyards near Lake Geneva
Arriving at Chateau de Veigy
Happiness is finding a supermarket
A cold beer after a 30k day
Chateau de Coudree to Chateau de Veigy: 30.1k. 8.10am to 4.40pm: 8hrs 30 mins
A long but interesting day walking around the GRP Littoral de Lac Le Man - the walking track around the edge of Lake Geneva. Through the old village of Yvoire, Nernier and Hermance, then skirting cross country through vineyards to Veigy and another chateau for the night.
Another long day ahead and breakfast isn't included so we have a quick meusli and yoghurt that Ian has carried all day yesterday and then we're out the door just after 8am. There's a relatively new housing estate built on the Chateau de Coudree grounds and the road through is very flat and and the new construction reveals a sandy base. The Coudree Bay end of Lake Geneva is all sandy, and the village of Excenevex at the end of the Coudree housing estate has a sandy beach - the only sandy beach anywhere along the foreshores of Lake Geneva.
It takes us 2hrs to get to the walled village of Yvoire. There's 3 bus loads of tourists just arrived. Any wonder - the village was voted one of the most beautiful in France. At the front gate is a large array of flowers adorning the narrow entrance, which leads to a car free zone (except for commercial vehicles). All the houses are old. Really old and as the village is built on a hillside, the narrow roads descend to the water's edge where the old port is still in use by fisherman.
We were hoping to have morning tea here and buy bread an cheese for lunch as our food bag is completely empty. But the alley named Rue de Boulangers has no boulangeries, and the only epicerie is closed on a Thursday - that's today - so we leave empty handed. A quick coffee at the port will have to do.
Leaving by the the old gate to the village, the track takes us to anothe old village, Nernier where we meet a group of Australians out sight seeing. Two of them are house sitting a place in Samoens for 3 months, so of course they have lots of friends and rellies visiting. There's no Boulangerie her either, so we continue on, always looking for a little Frenchman carrying a baguette, indicating a boulangerie nearby. It's a few minutes before 12 when we walk into Messery. There's a bit more traffic, so a shop is promising, but as most places in France close at 12, we walk faster. Around the corner we spy a Petit Casino - a small supermarket and rush in to buy some bread, cheese and tomato for lunch.
Following the GRP Littoral de Lac Le Man, we're walking on a mixture of quiet roads, farm tracks and forest trails. At 2pm, we arrive at Hermance, another old village on Lake Geneva, famous for the home of Percy Bysshe Shelley and his young wife with whom he eloped. It's a beautiful village, a Swiss village as it's just across the border from France, and spread over a hillside leading down to the lake. After walking down the narrow streets, we arrive at a small esplanade on the foreshore where there's plenty of seats with a view across Lake Geneva. A good spot for lunch. We're so close to Geneva, we can see the tall water fountain in Geneva Harbour spurting above the trees on the point.
We've already done 23k so time for a relaxing lunch watching the fisherman trolling up and down in front of us, and the planes landing at Geneva Airport on teh other side of the lake. It's 3pm when we move on, heading inland cross country towards Veigy through vineyards and farming country, along gravel roads, busy with farm machinery. At an intersection with the motorway into Annemasse and Geneva, there's multiple car parking lots in various paddocks, where workers in Geneva either park their car to catch a bus or do a pooled car.
Ten minutes later we're in Veigy. We've already marked the spot for the Chateau de Veigy on Ian's IGN maps on his Samsung tablet, and it's easy to find. It's not as large as the previous chateau, but in magnificent grounds with beautiful gardens. The owners aren't home when we arrive, which was OK because it stated on the booking form that it would be 6pm. But after waiting for 10 minutes, and contemplating going shopping first, the lady turn up and welcomes us inside. Lots of nodding and hand waving and we're shown to our bedroom - a huge room at the front of the house overlooking the garden.
The internet has been so good for not only booking accommodation, but also for locating supermarkets and we already know there's a Bi7 about 500 metres down the road. So after unpacking, it's time to go shopping. You learn so much about French food by shopping and watching what the locals buy. Butter, cheese and bread are staples, closely followed by fresh fruit and veg. Junk foods such as soft drinks, chips and sweets don't feature much at all.