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Switzerland 2: Lausanne to Fribourg

Posted on 21 June 20247 July 2024 by Rob Ainsley

UEFA, WTO, IOC: this French, western part of Switzerland is home to the HQs of various globally important abbreviations. Something, no doubt, to do with its stability, neutrality, and ability to satisfy expense accounts.

Give me a ring: IOC HQ in Lausanne

Yesterday we passed the Union of European Football Associations, sporting a giant football alerting us to the current Euros, and the World Trade Organisation, not sporting a giant dollar sign. Today we swung by the International Olympic Committee, right there in central Lausanne, sporting a mammoth set of rings, perhaps alluding to all those zeroes on the expense accounts.

Flat… for now: Lakeside path east of Lausanne

Anyway, we left Lausanne along the lakeside path before climbing up into the vineyarded hills.

A climb that requires bottle: Wine country on Lake Geneva’s northern hillsides

We got up to a funicular station and enjoyed the hilly scenery, and took a lunch break in a park in St Denis that was lively with kids on their break.

Point of view: Looking down on Lake Geneva

It was all blue skies and thirty-degree temps, and I needed my sunnies and hat.

It soon got Wetter

And then, in the space of two minutes, it wasn’t. It was cloudy and cold and rainy and I needed my waterproofs and fumigation equipment for rapidly stinking, sodden trainers.

Are those rainclouds over there…?

I sat out a torrential downpour in a village station bike shelter. But after twenty minutes it became obvious that it wasn’t getting any less torrential any time soon.

Good signs: Swiss bike paths are well labelled

I had little option but to head out into it. It was like being sprayed by a fire hose from the front, above and below. I made the mistake of going on the main road thinking I would get less wet by going a shorter distance, but of course the passing traffic hurled even more water my way in the form of spray and wash.

Not that it mattered much after five minutes: I, my clothes, and everything in my panniers was wringing wet and could get no wetter. Ach, dieses schlechtes Wetter.

After the rain: More lakey views en route to Fribourg

Eventually we got to the sanctuary of Bulle, where a welcoming McDonald’s was happy for us to drip all over the floor while we used their wifi and warmed out hands on mugs of coffee-coloured liquid.

At last, some time around four, the rain stopped, and we could set out to Fribourg; specifically Ibis Budget Fribourg, our target for the night.

Time to dry out: Fribourg

There were some pleasant back lanes through hilly country, but we just wanted to get warm and dry, so I took the main road much of the way.

Fribourg proved quite imposing, with its striking old buildings and abrupt hillsides. But we weren’t in the mood to explore much beyond the sandwich and beer counters of the supermarket en route to the Ibis.

Miles today: 59
Miles since Chancy: 117

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