Hiking From Le Pont to Marchairuz

If you're ready to use buses and trains opportunities for walks and hikes open up. Yesterday's hike, for example, was possible because we parked the cars in Marchairuz before catching a bus to Le Pont. That's where we met another part of the group before hiking from le Pont, to the Col de Mollendruz. From here we saw the defensive Toblerones before heading back down.

I didn't expect that the path would take us back down, lower than the road, through the trees for a while, before getting to a clearing and a parking where the smell of barbecue was present. It's at this point that we headed westwards and through more trees. Now we were heading towards Mont Tendre.

We stopped half an hour to an hour from the peak and had lunch. My lunch was different to usual. In the morning, before leaving home, I had prepared Ravioli. I had carried them with me, and when we stopped for lunch I had a warm meal. I also had warm tea.

Aside from raviolis and warm tea I also had two bars of chocolate, and I could share them with the other hikers. For years I have walked by the fortified toblerones and thought "I should have toblerones for this." Finally I did. I was surprised to see that I had enough.

The walk up to Mont Tendre was completely different from last time, because snow was almost gone. This time I could see the rocks, and the contours. It was not just a duvet of snow hiding away most of the details. It was also overcast, rather than in cloud, so I could see the landscape. The last time I was at Mont Tendre we had white out conditions.

From Mont Tendre to Marchairuz the path was familiar. Despite walking along this path in deep snow, at moments, last time I could recognise the hills, the climbs, the buildings. I could also feel how different the ambiance was. By this I mean the feel of the places we passed. Not the people.

In winter conditions, with the strain of walking through deep snow, and in clouds, places felt remote. In contrast, with the snow melted, and grass and rocks visible it felt connected to the world.

Despite the lunch I had, and the easier conditions, this hike was still tiring. By the time we had completed the 22-23 kilometre hike I was happy to see the Col De Marchairuz, and to be able to drive home, after dropping a group off in Gland, before heading home.

I had considered taking the train, before considering which car to take, finally setting on the C3 rather than the Fiat 500. With the C3 I could transport up to four people comfortably with hiking gear. In the end this paid off, not financially, but logistically for others.

I enjoy doing this type of activity every weekend.