Thursday 18th September: Overcast but warm: 15°C to 22°C
Chateau de Coudree to Chateau de Veigy: 30.1k. 8.10am to 4.40pm: 8hrs 30 mins
Accommodation: Chateau de Veigy
Across Excenevex and Coudree Bay to the Dents du Midi
Narrow streets of Yvoire
Coffee at the Port in Yvoire
3 tourist buses arrive in Yvoire
Entrance gate to Yvoire
Exit gate to Yvoire
Overcast day over Lake Geneva
Arriving at Casino at 2mins to 12
Lunch at Hermance
Chatting to fisherman in Hermance
All about Gamaret wine grapes
Vineyards near Lake Geneva
Arriving at Chateau de Veigy
Happiness is finding a supermarket
A cold beer after a 30k day
A long but interesting day walking around the GRP Littoral de Lac Le Man - the walking track around the edge of Lake Geneva. Through the old village of Yvoire, Nernier and Hermance, then skirting cross country through vineyards to Veigy and another chateau for the night.
Another long day ahead and breakfast isn't included so we have a quick meusli and yoghurt that Ian has carried all day yesterday, then leave 8am. There's a new housing estate built on the grounds of Chateau de Coudree reveals a sandy base and the village of Excenevex at the end of the Coudree housing estate has a sandy beach - the only natural white sandy beach along the foreshores of Lake Geneva.
It’s 2hrs to the walled village of Yvoire. And 3 bus loads of tourists have just arrived. Any wonder - the village was voted one of the most beautiful in France. The front entrance gate is adorned with an array of flowers and leads to a car free zone. The houses are really old and as the village is on a hillside, there’s steep narrow roads descending to the old port which is still in use by fisherman.
We were hoping to have morning tea here and to buy fresh bread and cheese for lunch as our food bag is completely empty. But the Rue de Boulangers has no boulangeries, and the only epicerie is closed on a Thursday - that's today - so we leave empty handed. A quick coffee at the port will do. Leaving by the old gate to the village, the track takes us to another old village, Nernier where we meet some Australians out sight seeing. Two of them are house sitting a place in Samoens for 3 months, so of course they have lots of friends and rellies visiting. There's no Boulangerie here either, so we continue on, looking for a little Frenchman with a baguette, indicating a boulangerie is nearby. Just before 12, we get to Messery. There's a bit more traffic, so a shop is promising, but as most places in France close at 12, we walk faster. We spy a Petit Casino - and rush in at 2 minutes to 12 to buy bread, cheese and tomato for lunch.
Following the GRP Littoral de Lac Le Man, we're walking on a mixture of quiet roads, farm tracks and forest trails. At 2pm, we arrive at Hermance, another old village on Lake Geneva, famous for the home of Percy Bysshe Shelley and his young wife with whom he eloped. It's a beautiful Swiss village spread over a hillside to the lake. After walking down the narrow streets, we arrive at a small esplanade on the foreshore where there's plenty of seats with a view across Lake Geneva. A good spot for lunch. We're so close to Geneva, we can see the tall water fountain in Geneva Harbour spurting above the trees.
We've already done 23k so time for a relaxing lunch watching the fisherman trolling up and down in front of us, and the planes landing at Geneva Airport on the other side. It's 3pm when we move on, heading inland cross country towards Veigy through vineyards and farming country, along gravel roads, busy with farm machinery. At an intersection with the motorway into Annemasse and Geneva, there's multiple car parking lots in paddocks, where workers in Geneva either park their car to catch a bus or do a pooled car.
Ten minutes later we're in Veigy. We've already marked Chateau de Veigy on Ian's Samsung IGN maps and it's easy to find. It's not as large as the previous chateau, but in magnificent gardens. The owners aren't home when we arrive early, which was OK because we knew it would open at 6pm. After waiting for 10 minutes, the lady turns up and welcomes us inside. Lots of nodding and hand waving and we're shown to our bedroom - a huge room at the front of the house overlooking the garden.
The internet has been so good for not only booking accommodation, but also for locating supermarkets and we already know there's a Bi7 about 500 metres down the road. You learn so much about French food by shopping and watching what the locals buy. Butter, cheese and bread are staples, closely followed by fresh fruit and veg. Junk foods like soft drinks, chips and sweets don't feature much at all.