Montreux to Bulle

June 10, 2019

Another soggy day

Last night we enjoyed a glass of wine with Archie and Jane and their daughter in the Hotel Tralala. The lobby of the hotel was quite a kick. The five of us sat on a raised platform and had a lot of laughs. They spent the day hiking in the rain and were equally soggy when they arrived.

We had to be careful remembering that step off our platform!

The lobby, bar and rooms were music themed.

Then ever so briefly it brightened up a bit and Keith and I went for a short walk to see the area. The hotel is in a fabulous location if you have the legs for the hike up the hill and the surroundings were beautiful.

This morning the weather forecast was for rain, but we figured it couldn’t be as bad as yesterday and it wasn’t although we arrived at our hotel just as wet. We enjoyed breakfast with Archie and Jane and their daughter and then we headed off in the direction of Bulle. There were some last minute things to attend to in the room first.

Keith’s last ditch attempt to start the day with dry feet. This was one of the European hotel hairdryers that only runs when you are pushing the button. We should have wrapped the thing in electrician’s tape.

We managed to lose each other within 30 seconds of leaving the hotel. You know the drill, back to the last place we saw each other. For me that meant a ridiculous climb.

I thought it would be nice to get a photo of Keith going down the steep hill. Of course by the time I whipped out my phone and snapped the picture and then put it away he was out of sight. No problem. I just sailed to the bottom, only he wasn’t there.

So here I am, staggering back up a one way street the wrong way while he snapped a picture. He was laughing which made me laugh. Sheesh!

Then it was off along the waterfront path, seeking Freddy Mercury. It took a little doing to find him, but we were ultimately successful. The waterfront path was busy this morning. Everyone was happy the rain had stopped, albeit temporarily.

The place to stay in Montreux if you want to really splurge.

Looking up through the clouds. It really has its own beauty, a day like today.

Ray Charles. This sculpture garden was magnificent. We were here two years ago as well. We really like Montreux.

And Freddy, lakeside in a place of honour.

Then we were off. We stayed dry for the rest of the morning and the CN had us on Swiss National Route 9. The Swissmobil app is an incredible resource to check out these routes. The ride was both beautiful and easy to navigate. Just follow those little red signs (me) and Keith is thrilled to announce he has Open Cycle maps back on Guru. It just magically reappeared.

We stopped briefly in Corsier-sur-Vevey and a delightful older man (by which I mean older than me) insisted we must go see Charlie Chaplin’s grave. He was such a sweet man that we did.

Keith was taking a picture of this church.

Here it is. He spent the last 25 years of his life just outside of Corsier-sur-Vevey.

Shortly after that we came across the Charlie Chaplin Museum. It looked fantastic, but the estimate was two hours to see it properly. We were both torn...we wanted to go through, but it was early in the day and given the weather we decided we had to carry on while it wasn’t raining. That turned out to be the right decision but it was a tough one.

The grounds of the museum. It would have been a perfect day to go from the look of the size of the empty tour bus parking lot.

Then we continued up. We had been climbing consistently since leaving the lakefront. A half hour later the rain started. We sheltered under a tree and were reasonably dry and comfortable as we waited for things to let up. When it didn’t we decided to use our time wisely and eat lunch. The most unlikely picnic spot of the trip.

It was a beautiful ride even in the clouds.

Our picnic spot. I had a mossy rock to perch on and there was zero traffic so was completely happy contemplating the rain. It was bucketing.

It did finally ease off and we had a pleasant ride to the next village, Châtel St. Denis pretty much rain free. We stopped there for Swiss francs and to book a room in Bulle. Châtel St. Denis had been our bailout spot. We continued rain free until Keith said “At least it has stopped raining.” Then deluge number two started. We had a slightly better shelter.

Shelter number two. The rain was ridiculous. This would have been an even better spot had the restaurant been open but Switzerland is closed today for Pentecost.

When it lightened up we decided to just go for it in the rain. It was a good decision because it hasn’t stopped raining since we left our yellow umbrella. We arrived at our hotel wet and ready to dry out. The hairdryer here doesn’t need a button held so we have our shoes propped up drying one at a time. On our short walk to dinner (we chose the closest place that was open) we got wet yet again. We can see that Bulle is beautiful and would have loved to explore, but it is just silly out there. Keith just said to me that it is raining everywhere! He is looking at the weather on his phone. That might be an exaggeration but this has settled in for a bit.

One more update. The thunder and lightening just started. I am not making that up. I am going to bed and pulling the covers over my head.

It was a beautiful ride even with the weather so imagine on a sunny day. This was the last picture of the day before the camera was put away for fear of getting too much water on it.

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Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 2,154 km (1,338 miles)

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