"Col de Bretaye" to "Col de la Croix"

Sunday June 18, 2017 -- After our Saturday hike along the steep cliff face on the Irrigation Trail "Bisse-du-Torrent-Neuf" above Sion, we spent the night in a B&B room near the train station and were off early to meet friends from Belgium who are vacationing on Lake Geneva.

We met in Bex to ride a special cogwheel train (Bex-Villars-Bretaye) up the mountain to the pass called Col de Bretaye. Both Urs and Etienne are fans of the railway, so excursions with them revolve around.... railways. The little train shares the road with vehicles through the little residential areas (mostly vacation getaways) on its way up the pass. Up in the lush green hills of Canton Vaud we had a yummy lunch and a lovely, too short, time to visit.

But with the weather as nice as it was, I let the others ride back down the mountain without me, and I did a short 1.5-hour level hike from the Bretaye Pass to the Col-de-la-Croix Pass, only 6 km, but fairly level, with great views of the Dents-du-Midi mountains and Mont Blanc (located in France near Chamonix), which at 4,808 m above sea level is the highest mountain in the Alps. From there I took a bus back to Villars-sur-Ollon and rode the cogwheel train back to the Rhone Valley.

Our excursion started in Bex with a cogwheel train to Villars, then another to the Bretaye Pass

A dream come true: Etienne gets to ride up front with the locomotive driver.

View from Gryon

In Gryon is an old tram (from Zurich?) which has been standing here since at least 1980!

Looks like everyone is enjoying this train ride.

At the Pass, the train takes off again while I am trying to get a photo for Etienne!

View South toward the French Alps. Bretaye is a popular ski area for this region.

The train heads back down the mountain. Stunning Mont Blanc looms in the background. (4808m)

Before lunch we went for a short walk to Lac de Bretaye

Lac de Bretaye

Fancy (and yummy) lunch at Hotel du Lac

Salty and Sweet (I had yummy thick fries)

Etienne, Françoise and Urs went back down by train, and I did a little hike, because the weather was so great.

It was 13:30 when I started. The bus at Col-de-la-Croix was due to leave at 14:51. I walked fast and just made it to the bus!

My hike from Col de Bretaye to Col de la Croix. 6 km in 1 hour 20 mins. From here I took the bus back to Villars-sur-Ollon

First I had to navigate through this cow herd.

This was my view for most of the hike: Mont Blanc at the center back, Les Dents du Midi the prominent ridge in the forefront.

View eastward in the direction I was walking.

The first Alp Roses

There were several of these newts in a water trough where I refilled my water bottle.

Some vacation cabins along the way.

Last view South before arriving at the pass

Zoomed view of Mont Blanc.

Col de la Croix. I made it to the pass with about 5 minutes to spare before the bus came.

After taking the bus back to Villars-sur-Ollon, I had to wait for the little train to come up from Bex

On the way back down into the Rhone valley, this is another glimpse of the view at Gryon.