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We are up as light starts to creep down the mountains on the south of the lake. Several hundred cormorants and grebes sweep past a hundred metres off shore. We are camped 20m from the water and it was a pleasure to cool off in it yesterday. A group of cyclists arrived and camped around us like a flock of birds alighting. They filled a lot of spaces and the team felt quite at home. Just like Glastonbury.
Walking through Vevey we spot Charlie Chaplin’s statue and a sculpture of a fork in the lake courtesy of a food museum. Just some of the random bits of public art around the lake, some better than others, but all providing a photo opportunity with an awesome backdrop.
We wander happily around the lake. Amazingly the route stays at lake level. Walking though Montreux where the Jazz Festival is in full swing we pass the food and drink tents that will be swinging tonight! We are heading for Villeneuve at the end of the lake. On the way we see Freddie Mercury, Igor Stravinsky and a host of other people associated in one way or another with Montreux,well their statues anyway. We also met a lady whose husband makes mechanical sculptures that we see later as we progress.
The lake ends at Villeneuve and just before it there is the Château de Chillon, the ultimate fairy tale castle built out to into the lake. Betsy wonders which turret she should let her hair down from!
It is now midday, we eat some lunch by the lake and try to work out what to do next. A grebe sitting on it’s mother’s back gets a huge ah! And many electrons are inconvenienced to achieve a good shot.There are problems with campsites up the valley . Too many in wrong places and big gaps. We decide that more train journeys are needed to shuttle back and forth and so get a train up to Martigny. First we have to go back to Montreux both the trains leave from Platform 3B ,given previous experience we are very careful! We say goodbye to lovely Lake Geneva.
As we hurtle up the valley on a Swiss supertrain we feel we could but shouldn’t get used to the efficiency of Swiss public transport. The campsite in Martigny is very pleasant and we need to remember that we are not here yet, as we need to walk it over the next two days.
It’s getting confusing again!