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.