The Bicycle Adventure Club - Come Ride With Us!

Western Swiss Lakes, Bernese Oberland Lac d'Annecy

May 28th to June 12th

Ride Director: Lucy Glover
Ride Co-Director: Randy Glover
Ride Driver: Arleen Sakamoto
Report by: Robert Weaver

This trip started on the French side of the Geneva airport in Ferney-Voltaire. We arrived several days
early and enjoyed several beautiful rides with fields full of poppies and nice bicycle trails through and
around Fernley-Voltaire. Except for an odd glitch in Ride with GPS for a loop ride in Morges on the
second day, the ride with GPS routes from Randy and Lucy were perfect and easy to follow. We had
several light sprinkles but no real rain and no need to put on a rain jacket! The temperature was perfect
from mid 60’s to low 70’s. Most of the hotels were a 2 night stay with a loop ride the second day. It was
very nice to have all our stuff in the same place for several days and enjoy a loop ride the second day.
The first night we usually had a cocktail hour and a group dinner. A nice chance to meet the other riders
in the group. Dinners were in small groups giving us a chance to eat and meet with everyone on the tour
by the end of the ride.

The French word for lake is Lac. Our first ride took us from Ferney-Voltire to Morges along Lac
Leman to a beautiful lakeside hotel. The town had lots of nice shops and the lake was beautifully
landscaped with crews working on the landscaping around town. All in all Switzerland and adjoining
France had amazing gardeners everywhere, both private and public.

Next, we bicycled along Lac de Nuechatel with a boat ride across the lake to Nuechatel. Next we
bicycled past Lac de Morat/Murtensee and inland to Gruyeres. Gruyeres had a great castle to tour. Our
next stay took us to Bern across beautiful farmland and rivers and old stone bridges. The Alps were very
visible to South much of the time. After much climbing, with some steep short bits, the route leveled out
as we got into Bern.

The next segment took us to Lauterbrunnen, which was kind of like being in a production of
“The Sound of Music” Amazing mountains surrounding the town with 12 amazing waterfalls. We had
sweeping views of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau mountains of the Alps. Then on to Gstaad. The roads
were hilly, the scenery fantastic.

After Gstaad we headed up and over the Col du Pillon, then a dramatic downhill to the Rhone
River Valley. The one-hour Mont Blanc Express train ride was sensational, taking us from the
Rhone in Switzerland across the French Alps. After Chamonix, we headed through St Gervais, then along
Lake Annecy to the beautiful town of Annecy. Annecy to Geneva was very nice long gentle climb and a long descent to Lac Leman, along the waterfront and back to Ferney-Voltaire to end our trip.