Day 10: Saint-Blaise - La Sarraz: French Switzerland - From Munich to the Mediterranean and More

July 8, 2006

Day 10: Saint-Blaise - La Sarraz: French Switzerland

Last night when I first went in to the only hotel in St. Blaise, Hotel Cheval Blanc, to inquire about a room, I couldn't find a soul. I wandered through the halls and corridors, could have helped myself to one of the keys hanging at the reception and settled into a room without anyone noticing. Finally I resorted to dialing the hotel's telephone number and was able to rouse the hotelkeeper, where ever he was. I love the quaint spiral stone staircase leading to a small tower and I'm sure the dining room was once grand with its parquet floors and elaborate chandeliers, but now only a small part is used to serve the few guests their breakfast. The hotel might have been a castle in by-gone times, now it's a neglected and rundown hotel. This morning I'm afraid I discovered some flea bites on me.

We ride along the shore of Lake Neuchatel with the lake to our left and the Jura Mountains to our right and when the bike path stops we follow bike-route signs up into the hills between vineyards to avoid busy roads.

Lake Neuchatel: Part of the way the bike path stays close to the shore

Sometimes the bike route took us up some steeper hills between the vineyards on the slopes

After cycling the length of Lake Neuchatel we pass through Yverdon, an attractive and busy market town. In 1805 the remarkable educator Pestalozzi established his school here. I find his ideas as pertinent today as they were 200 years ago. A quote I found: "I wish to wrest education from the outworn order of doddering old teaching hacks as well as from the new-fangled order of cheap, artificial teaching tricks, and entrust it to the eternal powers of nature herself..."

After a lot of flat terrain we have a few steep ones to climb before we reach Sarraz where we find a B&B, a 'chalet' at the top of the hill, rented out by the farmers who live next door.

Without our bags we ride down the last hill back into town to get something to eat. We have our meal in one of the big tents which have been set up for this town's summer festival. Now that we are in wine country we also take advantage of the opportunity to try the excellent local wine.

Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 600 km (373 miles)

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