Wsi spokojna, wsi wesoła

It’s been really long time since we had a chance to immerse into polish countryside which, by the way, I have always found delightful.But this summer we were invited to a get away wedding of our best friends who decided to organise the reception at Brzezieński Młyn – a very small village in Kaszuby. We stayed there for two days which was enough to have an insight into peace and quiet of the place.


 We started our little excursion by walking around the village. It’s actually amazing how the image of a polish countryside changed within the years. It developed a lot but didn’t change entirely. I guess you need to be polish to understand the rustic/rural character of a shop selling dotted aprons… Anyway, I liked this place a lot.

Here is the quaint image of the contryside:

And here is what the countryside has the best to offer:

Les Gorges du Pont du Diable

We decided to have a quick excursion on our last day before leaving to Poland and we chose Yvoire and Les Gorges du Pont du Diable for our destination. This site is nothing more than a tribute to the powers of nature – namely erosion. It’s amazing what water can do to rock!

A legend has it that this place used to be a devil’s hideout (therefore its name).

A whole tour took just a bit over 30 minutes. We followed a guide who answered all our questions and waited patiently while we took the photos and gazed at all those magnificent colours. A truly enchanting place.

 

Le Parmelan (1832 m)

 
Our last hike together during these holidays and at last -good weather, yey! We chose to go along Le Parmelan, starting from its highest point – La Tête du Parmelan (1831 m). We really didn’t know what to expect – will there be snow or not, nevertheless we decided to give it a go and it was a good decision. 
The first part of the trail led through the forest, and then le Grand Montoir path that was leading very steeply up the rock. This passage is very dangerous in winter because of frequent avalanches. This time it was rather easy, I would even say there was no need to use the cables installed there for safety.

The snow started right after we did the chain passage. We were actually both surprised by the amount of it! Fortunately, it was very wet and heavy so we could pass through only with a bit of vigilance. A couple of minutes before the summit we could see a breath-taking view on the Alps, still covered in snow.

We made a pause by the cross but it was only the beginning of our trip so we didn’t stay long. Our round trip was supposed to go up to La Tête, then along the ridge of the mountain (which is actually pretty long) and then down at the other side and back to the car at the footstep of Le Parmelan. So we left a rather crowded top and went on a deserted hike along the range… We didn’t descent so there was snow everywhere – something that we hadn’t expected. It was very difficult to follow the path because there were few foot trails and the snow was hiding the paths from us. It was also hiding the wholes in rocks, so we really needed to watch our feet. The fact that we were the only human beings around was also a bit disturbing… If other hikers didn’t dare to claim the ridge, perhaps we were too bold?

Despite the uncertainty, we enjoyed the views – Annecy valley on the right, the Alps on the left. But it was no carefree hike and it actually became an opposite of carefree when we had to admit we had lost the trail. We reached a point there were only rocks and chasms around and what was worse, we really didn’t know how much time we had followed a goat trail instead of a marked route. We had no choice, we had to backtrack. Fortunately, at some point we spotted the correct trail, something like 30 metres under us. The problem was, we didn’t see any possibility to cross this distance at it was almost vertical, through rocks. In the end, we spotted a place that was good enough for us, so we took the risks and… slid!

As much fun as it looks in the photos, it was actually a scary experience. It’s not easy to control a slide like that and we had rocks and wholes covered by snow around. I felt a great relief the moment I found myself standing on the marked trail. From that moment our route continued rather calmly, even though there were pretty steep passages ahead of us. Nevertheless, nothing could frighten us afterwards.

Lazy lake

There is something very soothing about Lac de Divonne. The tranquillity of water and greenery of the mountains go well together, but it’s not like these two elements are special only for Divonne! Yet this little place is different to me than the others and I like visiting it. I like it so much that I decided it deserves a separate post even if I already did one.

Crêt de la Goutte (1621 m)

I have been craving for a good weather hike for a while and had high hopes that would be the one! Well… it wasn’t exactly what I craved for, still better than the last ones weather-wise. Crêt de la Goutte is a summit in Jura range, just a 15-minute-drive from home. I chose it because it’s close, fun, and low-altitude (I don’t want to wade through snow on the routes). I was also glad that I could share this hike with my friend Kim who is a keen walker (and runner) herself.

We started off from Fort l’Ecluse but were unable to find the path up, so we went on the planned route clockwise (except counterclockwise). At the end of our hike it turned out that we had been just right by the track, we even looked at it, but we just didn’t believe it was a trail (it looked nothing like it – being wild, unmarked and steep). The path was very mild in the beginning, going through fields, meadows and forests. The weather was nice in general, pretty unstable though. At some point we saw a gloom of storm chasing us, fortunatelly we managed to get away only with a bit of a drizzle. I mean… that time 🙂

At that time… because just a couple of quaters later, right before the summit, we had to face a drastic weather change and make through the hail. Well, that was new 🙂 You can imagine my disappointment, struggling to get to the top, already tired after a couple of kilometres, and not being able to see the views around… again! Fortunately, we stayed a couple of minutes at the top and the sky started to clear a bit, in order to become completely visible after we have descended.

photo: Kim
 

We soon left the plains behind and entered a forest, following a path that was well marked with cairns (stone pyramids) that came in handy, especially on the wilder parts of trail. Every now and then we sidetracked a bit to see stunning rocky cliffs.

Photo:Kim

At some point of walking we found ourselves above Fort l’Ecluse, with a charming view on le Rhône river and Vuache mountain range.

 
From the point you see in the photos above, we basically went down… Like, vertically down 🙂 The path we entered was very steep and definitely very wild!

That’s Kim in the bushes…  I mean on the trail.

While hacking through the shrubs, we heard thunders and were wondering how far the storm was from us. At some point we reached a viewpoint that terrified me a bit.

Having seen the doom, we accelerated a lot to soon find ourselves at the fort. From there only half an hour left to the car. Uff, the storm has passed sideways.

Poetic Lausanne

Lausanne is a nice city very close to Geneva so we can be there whenever we want. Last time I visited it 3 months ago with my friends (see this post). This month I took my mum to see the Olympic city. Thanks to her interest in arts and literature I got to know many interesting facts about polish poets that lived there too. Juliusz Słowacki, Adam Mickiewicz, Stefan Żeromski, Zofia Nałkowska… Being curious about their works, I read a couple of Lyrics of Lausanne wrote by Adam Mickiewicz. I quote my favourite one (I can see Lausanne with my eyes of imagination when I read it).

 Nad wodą wielką i czystą                      
Stały rzędami opoki                               
I woda tonią przejrzystą                         
Odbiła twarze ich czarne.                      

 Nad wodą wielką i czystą                       
Przebiegły czarne obłoki                      
I woda tonią przejrzystą                        
Odbiła kształty ich marne.

 Nad wodą wielką i czystą
Błysnęło wzdłuż i grom ryknął
I woda tonią przejrzystą
Odbiła światło, głos zniknął.
A woda, jak dawniej czysta,
Stoi wielka i przejrzysta.

 Tę wodę widzę dokoła
I wszystko wiernie odbijam,
I dumne opoki czoła,
I błyskawice pomijam.

 Skałom trzeba stać i grozić,
Obłokom deszcze przewozić,
Błyskawicom grzmieć i ginąć:
Mnie płynąć, płynąć — i płynąć!…
 Lausanne, 1838.

 
/English version here/

Here are a couple of photos I took by the lake side that in my opinion illustrate well this poem…

But it’s not only the lake water that delighted the poets… Just a quick glance at the city is enough to win your heart. I’m pretty sure we will visit this place a couple of times more.

Croix du Nivolet (1547 m)

Put off by our last hiking experience when we had to turn back because of snow on the trail, this time we chose something less risky – Croix du Nivolet of a not-so-stunning altitude of 1547 m. Although it seems mediocre in here, actually it was a wonderful trail, filled with many attractions.
We started the hike from a forest path that soon led us to the plains at the footstep of the mountain from where we could see our destination – the Nivolet Cross which towers above the neighbouring city of Chambery.

Soon we approached a vertical wall of the rock. We already knew what was coming – fun chains passage and a ladder-ish installation that made our way on the mountain.

From there we quickly reached the summit through a crowded path full of families with children that chose an easier route. A beautiful panorama spread from the top – on Lac du Bourget, Chambery, Aravis mountains and Alps in the background. We made a well-earned pause before choosing a different route for a descent.

Our descent started  through a forest. We were coming forward to a vertical rock and you can imagine our surprise when we were close enough to see people climbing it. That was thrilling to me!

It’s not really visible but in the very centre of the photo above there are people climbing (just right from the cave). They are just attached to the vertical wall…  Anyway, we were soon to something similar at a close-up. We continued our walk and soon got to a La Doriaz waterfall. That was stunning! The water sprung from the rocks and just a couple of meters above there were people hanging on the rope, climbing down after cave exploration. I mean… how cool is that?

Our path continued along the cascades of water until we reached the fields that were situated beside the village we parked our car. I have to say that was a really awesome hike.

Mont Billiat (incomplete)

Yet another foggy hike (I have to say I have had enough of the fog in the past week). A trip that was supposed to be really magnificent, with a walk on the ridge of a mountain range that should give as a thrill… Not this time though… Conditions were too harsh that day. Temperature dropping below 0 Celsius, strong wind and frozen snow caps that stopped us just 100 m below the top… – we had to give in this time. But Mont Billiat – we will be back!

Pic des Mémises (1676 m)

Our second day in mountains – no matter the weather 🙂 We went down the south-east coast of Lake Geneva to climb Pic des Mémises of a not stunning altitude of 1676 m – but allegedly with stunning views over the lake. Well, we never learned that, so we need to take it for granted. Why? Because we had our heads in clouds… Literally!

Trail started in the forest. A misty, humid and slippery but really enchanting steep path led us through stones and waterfalls to „l’echelle” – a 12-meter long ladder making access to the higher parts of the mountain. We made a short stop before climbing the steps up and leaving the forest behind. The climb felt a bit dangerous but nothing horrifying.

When we reached the top of the rock the landscape became way more monotonous. Clouds covered everything so we could see only grass and milky fog around us. That changed though when we reached the ski resort (now closed).

 
Viewpoint 🙂

 

Ski resorts are characterized by the fact that they are built in places where snow will last as long as possible. And so, the ski station was covered in wet, heavy remains of snow. Now how do you think the fog looks like with the snow covered plains? Like this…

There was no visibility whatsoever! It felt like we were immersed in a glass of milk. We had absolutely no idea where we were going – if it hadn’t been for the map and GPS, we wouldn’t have been able to continue. It was really a particular experience. Such conditions lasted for about an hour and then we made a turn to reach the summit of Pic des Mémises. A quick photo of a cross and off we go back to the car through muddy little paths. We even made a bet who would be the first on to fall down. Sadly enough, it was me 🙂