Blog Ani i Radka
This summer was abundant in adventures. Lovely weather made it possible to go and see many beautiful places. Have a look at compilation of photos from various places we saw in this period.
Arles:
Avignon:
Bories:
Lausanne:
Gordes:
Montreux:
Pernes Les Fontaines:
Pont du Gard:
Rolle:
St Remy de Provence:
This spring was plentiful of activities for us. the weather is very good this year so we can benefit from that having 1-day trips around, we did an almost 3-week trip to Poland and went for holidays on Sardinia. here are some flashbacks from this time.
Versoix:
Toddler’s Group Bake Sales:
Szczecin:
Annecy:
Meyrin:
Sardinia:
Holidays are over… High time to go back on the trails. I didn’t choose the itinerary for today, I guess I would have been less courageous myself 🙂 But Moléson was the mountain I had always wanted to hike. It’s just beside Gruyeres, my beloved village that I visit several times every year. Every time I was there I looked at the lonely peek with a sparkle in my eye. So when there was an opportunity to join a hike there I didn’t hesitate.
Although we’ve had good weather this year, it’s still April so mountains are still in snow. We learnt about it in a pretty painful way. Wet and heavy ground slowed us down, we had problems finding the path and most of all, we were constantly sliding. Some passages would not pose any difficulty in summer but today they were delicate and it even happened to Sergey that he lost the grip and slid down a couple of metres. Fortunately, he was able to somehow stop and nothing serious happened.
Not without a struggle, but we made it to the top from where we had a nice panorama over the Alps. The sky was clouded but clouds were high enough to let us see far and well. We made a lunch break, happy and not aware that even more struggle ahead of us 🙂
Whenever I can, I always do the routes that go in loops, I don’t like to trace back my footsteps on my way down. Today was no different. What I didn’t know was that the variant that was chosen for our descent was not really used in winter. At least we didn’t see any traces of hikers. It looked like the opening walk for these chemins and now I see why.
The path led on a ridge of a neighbouring mountain that looked like that:
I don’t have that much experience in winter hiking so I didn’t trust this overhanging snow. In fact, if it wasn’t for Sergey who went first and encouraged us to continue, I would have turned back. I did this passage with my heart in my mouth and felt seriously relieved when it was over. The rest of the route was substantially easier but not really a Sunday walk either. To cross all the snow fields was not an easy task and we moved rather slowly at times. At some point we lost the path and had to go downhill in the snow. I was glad we made it safely to our car.
I really longed for a proper hike and was very excited about the one we were supposed to have that day. But I also chickened out a bit and settled for a not-so-challenging route which turned out to be a mistake. I mean, don’t get me wrong, the hike was very nice but I had a bit of a feeling of dissatisfaction afterwards – like I wanted more that day but the route had finished… Anyway, we will have a chance to have another one so nothing’s lost.
But to the point – our destination: Pointe de Bellevue – which in translation would be Peak of Beautiful View. It really was, but I’ll get to that later.
We started our hike on a very steep meadow where we gained elevation super quickly. It wasn’t a real trail, we just crossed the field where convenient for us. We didn’t intend it, we were following someone else’s gpx track that had been named as the official route. Bummer.
What I liked most about this hike was the constant presence of Dents du Midi. Most of the hikes we do here are more in vicinity of Mont Blanc. It’s funny because every time I see Mont Blanc it tempts me to climb it some day. And when I was close to Dents du Midi it made me wanna hike them again since last time we were there we didn’t have perfect conditions and it’s this kind of mountain that you wanna see crystal clear all around you.
Back to Pointe de Bellevue – our route there was pretty easy and as soon as we left the grassy steep hill behind us, we equipped our snowshoes and continue along the slopes straight to the top. From there we had a really nice view around the valleys and to the surrounding tops. Although there was no sunshine, we could see as far as the Italian mountains.
It was pretty windy up there so after a couple of photo shots we continued our hike down the marked trail to the ski station, where we took the already known off track path. It was a nice walk but made me want a bit more.
Stats: Max altitude: 2041m; elevation gain: 800m; Length: 7.3 km; Duration: 3h 40min
Our last outing with CERN Ski Club took place in Avoriaz. We skied to a beautiful, blue sky with almost no clouds, in abundance of snow and in good moods. It’s amazing how much progress we did thanks to these five days with instructors. I mean, I put my skis for the first time this year and now I am able to go down a red piste without problems.
We both got into skiing but I have to admit I miss hiking. I feel like going snowshoeing soon, to have a bit more contact with mountains. With the skis everything is fast, there’s not that much time to take in the vastness of mountains. I guess ski touring would be sport for us but that’s maybe for the future 🙂
(That’s Dents du Midi on the left – our biggest trophy so far):
Last day of autumn is past and calendar winter has begun. Although it not always feels like winter, I am happy for the colder days that are to come. This year I am going to explore winter mountains like never and I am looking forward to it. But for now – a couple of autumn photos from this year.
Broc:
Gruyères:
Challex:
Gstaad:
Nyon:
Salève:
You can find more autumn photos in my latest post here.
Christmas is coming. I really can’t hide my excitation, I am like a child when it comes to celebrations. And Christmas is like the queen of all celebrations to me. I just love this time. I love everything about it – Christmas songs starting early November, lovely decorated cities all sparkling with lights, choosing gifts for family, sending postcards… And the time spent with family and friends during Christmas is just magical to me. I really wait all year long for this period (and although it sounds like I am exaggerating – I am not!). Christmas markets are a part of the charm and I try to attend at least one of them. The one in Coppet is really nice, situated in an old castle in a little village close to Geneva.
Having tried vin chaud (widely known as Gluhwine or mulled wine) and having bought 3l of it, we entered the castle chambers to submerge ourselves in Christmas spirit. Wow, so many inspirations – for gifts, Christmas decor, dishes… I really had to limit myself and we ended up buying truffle cheese which is the best cheese I have ever tasted, some smoked ham and formerly mentioned Gluhwine.
My first weekend back in France. First observations: it’s warmer and it feels good to be back. We went out for a lazy walk in Alpin Jardin in Meyrin. It’a autumn undoubtedly. All those lovely colours, leaves scattered on the ground, fresh air letting us know hot days are over… I really like autumn especially when it’s nice and sunny like it’s usually here.
Jardin Alpin is a rather small square so it didn’t take us long to make two loops around. Nature seems to be going to bed now before its final winter sleep.
Nyon is nothing new to us so I’m showing just a couple of photos from this day.
This is an event we missed last year and I was looking forward to it this season. La Désalpe takes place when the cows come down from their grazing fields and stay in barns for winter. Yep… it means summer is definitely over.
We headed to a small village of Saint Cergue, already high up in Swiss Jura mountains. Cows were undoubtedly in the spotlight but other attractions included mountain shepherd dogs, long musical tube-horns (I’m pretty sure I once knew their original name but it’s gone now), and lots of countryside goodies like cheese, ham, liquors etc.
Did I mention the goodies? 🙂
There were lots of people, lots of cows, lots of noise and lots of sunshine. Such a nice day to say goodbye to summer.
