MONT BLANC, FRANCE TO CHUR, SWITZERLAND

What a magical day. The weather forcast said we were in for rain which was disappointing considering this was to be the one and only chance to see the Alps.

 

 

Our first glimpse of Mont Blanc in France. Clouds were to prevent a clear view of the summit.

 

We had to trick our navigator Beryl by selecting bits of our journey at a time as she kept trying to send us back to Geneva about 130kms and around the North side of Lake Geneva to get to Chur and our next nights accom.

 

We were to find out why later on!

 

Our map of Switzerland showed us that a major road existed from Chamonix the French ski resort to Martigny on the Swiss side of the range and then all the way West to East across Switzerland via the valleys of the mighty Rhone and Rhine Rivers.

 

This should be interesting because there must be section of flat land at the headwaters of the two rivers dividing the sources. The Rhone flows into the Mediteranean via France and the Rhine into the North Sea via Germany and Holland.

 

This is Chamonix and me practicing "The Luge"!

 

Cathy clutching a posie of Miguet (Lillies of the valley) we bought in Geneva. They are a symbol of May Day in France.

 

This is the early stages of the Rhone River which flows into Lake Geneva. It exits at Geneva itself to eventually empty into the Mediteranean Sea.

Looking down on Martigny. Grapevines clad the slopes. It all looks unreal. The downhill road was a bit unnerving I was worried my brakes might overheat and we'd have none by the time we reached the bottom (We were reminded of a previous trip years ago when we met an English bloke on a similar hill who said manufacturers of cars used that hill to test their brakes - we were in a Bedford van and the brakes really did start to fade - not a nice feeling!)

Next step we had to tell Beryl we were going to Brig as she was still determined to send us, what we thought, was the long way round.

 
The road got less and less important looking until eventually we were told to get "On the Ferry!". Here, up in the mountains, there is no lake on our map? The Ferry turned out to be a car train which went through a tunnel which felt like 20km long with us sitting in our car and only minimal lighting on the train. The pass was blocked hence the reason Beryl kept telling us to go back.

 

As we passed through the tunnel I was thinking - up there somewhere are the sources of the mighty Rivers Rhone and Rhine which I had been hoping to see.

 

And out the other side