My Lake Geneva bike ride

Day 1 Vevey to Thonon les Bains

We took the train to Vevey, travelling first class for once as a bit of a treat. We quickly picked up the bike signs and headed out of Vevey (it’s pretty) and onto Montreux. In Montreux, we played a game of guess the sculpture in the park opposite one of the posh hotels. There were statues of Quincy Jones and other jazz icons plus an old guy who had presumably complained about the racket! (Or perhaps he’s the dude who set up the jazz festival). After Montreux we got a close look at Chateau Chillon, which is the most visited historical landmark in Switzerland, apparently. We stopped for a restaurant lunch in the small town of Villeneuve opting for the fish and chips. The waiters were bonkers – singing to the guests and flirting with the elderly ladies – it was all rather enjoyable.

Once we’d crossed the border into France, things went downhill, albeit not in a literal sense. There were fewer signs and we ended up having to do a stretch on the main road with cars zooming past us at 70km/h. Not nice.

Not at all agreeable in fact, as some fellow cyclists with yellow panniers pointed out to us (en Francais!). At the first opportunity we turned off the main road to take the quieter route to Evian, again spotting the same cyclists from earlier in the day. The quieter roads were hilly but at least we found a place to stop for a toilet and to fill up our water bottles.

Evian is lovely – a great place to stop for a raspberry tart and drink of Orangina. Refreshed, we were ready to continue our ride to Thonon les Bains.

After 65 gruelling kilometres we reached our hotel and headed straight for the pool. Dinner in the restaurant was memorable for all the wrong reasons – huge portions and terrible desserts but despite this I really liked the hotel and staff. They just need to serve some better puddings and we shouldn't have bothered with a starter.

For our post-prandial walk we headed in the the town and were surprised to see what a party vibe it had. There was some kind of arts festival so we caught two guys doing some ballet encircled in a cage of sorts, watched some juggling and enjoyed a gorgeous light show projected onto the front of the town hall, featuring Harry Potter style windows and columns taking a bow. All very special. Returning to the hotel we were almost locked out for the night but luckily rescued by the waiters from the restaurant.

Day 2 Thonon-les-Bains to Versoix

The cycle ride from Thonon improved, taking the quiet road that hugged the lakeside rather than the quicker main road, and featuring one really special highlight, the medieval town of Yvoires – with gorgeous buildings and everything a tourist could dream of – crepes, French clothes, crystal glasses and ice-cream.

Our lunch was sourced from Leclerc. I’d requested ham, cheese and pineapple on a baguette but had to settle for ham, cheese and peach. Let me tell you, it is not the same. We dined in a lovely park, making the most of the shade, glad to get away from the temperatures on the open road which were in excess of 30 degrees.

During the day we were overtaken not once but twice by the French couple with the yellow panniers, who recognised us and greeted us with a torrent of friendly but incomprehensible French – they obviously assumed we were a bit more proficient than we actually were. Our bike ride continued along quite roads and we crossed back into Switzerland where I immediately took the opportunity to fill up my water bottle from the village fountain.

The charming village of Hermance was hosting a jazz festival. Not exactly Montreux but I’m sure it would have been good if we had stayed. Instead our journey continued into Geneva (loud and ugly) and beyond to our hotel in Versoix. After checking in we quickly popped to the beach opposite for a refreshing dip in Lake Geneva. Dinner in the restaurant was good, in particular, my virgin mojito was the bees knees.

The highlight of the evening was our moonlit boat trip from Versoix to Geneva, a trip that sadly wasn’t included in the complimentary Geneva cards we’d been given by the hotel.

Day 3 – Versoix to Lausanne

The biggest day yet. More hills and more kilometres. We got caught up in an amateur triathlon around Nyon meaning we couldn’t go on our planned route. The best part of the day was my swim at the Plage de la Falaise – a chance to really relax before the cycling began in earnest.

We had lunch at a bakery in Rolle, a quick stop in Saint Prex and cycled through the forests around Tolochenaz. After that we took the scenic routes close to the lake, as quickly as two fifty-plus-year-olds could in the searing summer heat. This part looked lovely but we didn’t have time to really stop and enjoy it as we had booked tickets for the train at 5pm from Lausanne.

With about 15 minutes to spare we reached the station in Lausanne for our journey home – I was so relieved that when we climbed the final hill and could coast gently down to the railway station.

All in all, it was a lovely trip with lots of good memories for me. If I did it again, I’d want to do the whole lake (rather than the 11/12ths that we managed) and maybe I would do it over four days rather than three.

If you’re thinking of doing something similar make sure you know about taking your bike on the trains. You need a ticket for your bike – the day ticket costs 15chf but if your journey costs less than that you can just buy a point-to-point ticket for your bike. For some train journeys, you will need to reserve a space for your bike. You can find more information on the SBB website here.

Language Tips

This blog post contains a couple of idiomatic expressions.

To go downhill means to get worse. I can’t imagine it was a cyclist who came up with that expression as going downhill is lovely on a bike.  I guess if you think of a graph, a downward curve often suggests a deterioration in the item being measured.  

The bees knees is used to describe something that is excellent. Do you have similar expressions in your first language?

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