April 25, 2023
The journey to the optical Mecca
Maubier to Pringins
After yesterday’s late finish we make a concerted effort to leave by 9am. We did manage that if you included a liberal margin of error and sped 2 kilometres straight downhill to the town of Moriz
It’s freezing cold and the intermittent early morning sunshine has given way to dark clouds and sleety rain. It’s forecast to stay like that until lunchtime so we find a bar and settle in there. The funny thing is that they serve you coffee but no food so can’t have a pastry with your caffeine hit. Sacre Bleu! With the rain easing off we go for a wander, find a boulangerie and demolish a pain au chocolat. Around the corner is a Musee de Lunettes which is a museum of spectacles. Unfortunately it’s closed on Tuesdays. I’ve always thought that there’s no better way to wile away the hours than visiting your local spectacle museum. Around the next corner was a mural on the side of a building depicting a French optical sweatshop.
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1 year ago
Not sure I’d want cabbage with cream
1 year ago
On returning to our bar for yet another coffee I googled the optical connection to this town and found that Moriz was the birthplace of the global optical industry no less. Quoting the English translation on their website ‘Spectacle frames were born from a single nail in Morez.’
By 11.30 the rain had stopped and we cycled out and up the first of many climbs of the day.
We climbed our way up Montee de Premanon in dappled sunshine and headed along a ridge line to the shorter climb up to La Cure, on the Swiss border. We got there just as it started lightly snowing! Lunch was at the Hotel Arbez which straddles the border. Room 9 is a binational room so you can sleep in 2 countries at the same time if that’s your thing. Personally I just want a comfy mattress. The restaurant is also divided and leads to some quirky rules when ordering. The Swiss dish of Tomme Vaudoise can only be ordered on the Swiss side of the restaurant due to to stringent European regulations affecting unpasteurised dairy products. On the French side you can have saucisse de Morteau a variety of sausage whose distribution is not allowed in Switzerland.
The Germans occupied the the French half of the hotel during WWII but since the staircase leading to the upper floors were partly on Swiss territory it remained off limits making them a safe haven for Jewish refugees and became known as the stairway to freedom.
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Just a little more climbing before our first glimpse of Lake Geneva and the snow clad mountains beyond, most notably Mont Blanc. It’s a sweeping 12 kilometre descent down to Nyon where John leaves me to catch a train to Lausanne. It’s 10 degrees warmer at Nyon than it was in La Cure. I manage to navigate all by myself the remaining 6ks to Pringin and take another 30 minutes to work out the weird numbering system before locating Gabor and Eniko’s apartment.
Eniko is cooking Palacsinta, a Hungarian pancake that was my absolute favourite when I was growing up. My mum would make about 40, half savoury and half chocolate. They would be filled, rolled up and coated with an egg wash and baked in the oven. I never worried about the savoury ones and just gorged myself on the chocolate ones. Eniko has made chicken Palacsinta and it really hits the spot.
| Heart | 7 | Comment | 2 | Link |
1 year ago
I’ve got 3 nights with Gabor, Eniko and their 3 boys before I meet up with John in Zurich on Friday.
Today's ride: 42 km (26 miles)
Total: 388 km (241 miles)
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