Ouchy

When we first started walking pilgrimages in Europe, we were still working, and time was at a premium. We had to walk pretty long days to complete our pilgrimages in the time we had. We regularly walked 30k (18 miles) in a day; our longest day was 43k (27 miles). And we had a great time on those pilgrimages.

But, you pay a price for those long days. You don’t stop much to see things on your route, and when you finish, there isn’t much time to see what’s going on at your end point. Walking 24k (15 miles) at the 4k/hour pace we used to plan on can take as long as 8 hours after rest stops, navigation checks, lunch, etc. When you finish, you just wash up, do laundry, eat, and hit the sack.

These days, we generally walk shorter stages. Certainly, this is partly because we’re not as young, strong or fast as we once were, but it is also because we like to have more time to explore. Today was a good example.

The traditional stage of the Via Francigena out of Lausanne goes 21.2k (about 13 miles) to Vevey. We could certainly walk that far, and have walked further on this trip, but we broke it up over two days, walking the first 11k (7 miles) today and stopping in Epesses. The walk was glorious and we had plenty of time to resume our studies of the wines of Switzerland.

Most of the walk was along the shores of Lac Leman, which meant it was really flat. We walked through parks, along well maintained pathways and sometimes on the beach. The weather was perfect. We had plenty of time to stop at a bakery and have wonderful onion based tarte for lunch.

Towards the end, we climbed up among the terraced vineyards to our hotel. We were there long before our room was ready so we dropped off our packs and went exploring.

There are very well maintained pathways through the vineyard terraces, used to work the vines. We followed them up to a town high above the lake where we checked out a restaurant we had seen on the map. We had a glass of Calamin wine on their terrace overlooking the lake. When we asked where the wine was from, and was it local, the server chuckled and pointed to the vines directly below the terrace we were on!

We then descended back through the vineyards and checked into our room, where we did a few chores.

When it was time for dinner, we went back up through the vineyard terraces but instead of returning to the restaurant we went to a wine bar we had noticed, thinking this would be more educational. There, we studied 6 wines, all from the immediate vicinity, the Chasselas district, under the extensive tutelage of the bar owner. The wines were great and we developed a great respect for Swiss wines. They have some wonderful varietals and are doing some great things with them. The bad news is that none of the wines we tasted are available at Total Wine! It’s a small region and they don’t export much to the U.S. To drink them again, we’ll just have to return to Switzerland!

Anyway, the point of all this is that if we’d walked the full 21.2k, we’d have passed Epesses without a glance, never tasted any of the Chasselas wines, and probably wouldn’t have had much time to explore Vevey when we arrived. We’re really grateful we have the time to stop and smell the roses. And taste the wines!Read more