Three-Day Trip to the Swiss Jura Mountains, DAY 2

For the overview of the Jura Mountain Range and story of Day 1, Click here: 

Mt.Tendre

Monday May 18 -- After about 12 hours (!) of sleep in the Hotel at the Col de Marchairuz Pass (waking often because it was cold and the blankets were thin... but still!) we hurried to breakfast at 9 a.m. to find that the other two parties who had spent the night were already finished and long gone. (The hotel is officially closed Mondays, so they left breakfast for us and we helped ourselves to coffee). 

We started on our hike at about 10 a.m., not particularly early, but it was still cool with a cool breeze, and most of the 17 km section of the Jura Crest Trail from the pass to St.Cergue was through forests, or open pastures surrounded by forests. There were really only three short windows for views over Lake Geneva, but the air was just as hazy as the day before, so we didn't miss much. The trails were soft and comfortable, not lots of ascents this day, and there were very few other people on the trail. Mostly it was peaceful with lots of bird-song, especially the haunting sound of the cuckoo. As on the day before, the entire stretch was criss-crossed with the fabulous dry-stone walls, and of particular note, not a single bench on the trail, and no water fountains to fill up our bottles with. Water is a scarce commodity, as the karst (limestone) ground causes rainwater to sicker away quickly, so any water is guarded carefully...

Highlight of this day was our accommodation for the night: After ending our hike in St.Cergue, a 15-minute train ride took us to the French border to the town of La Cure, where there is a very unique property which straddles the border: Half the hotel is in Switzerland, and the other half in France, with the restaurant (currently closed) in France. In two of the rooms you can sleep in both countries at once! Our wonderful room was in France. So a trip to a neighbouring country after all, as borders are still not open for tourist purposes!

Early morning light at the Hotel Marchairuz, before heading off on Day 2 Hike. We were all alone at this point

Finally getting down for breakfast at 9:00 a.m.... the other people had already finished and were gone, so we also had the restaurant to ourselves! Coffee was chicoree-based, though, probably on purpose to make sure we didn't help ourselves to more...

Yesterday we came from Mont Tendre along Trail no.5, and today we are heading to St-Cergue via Crêt de la Neuve. This trail is apparently also something called the "European Long-Distance Trail"

The hit of this day was the many dry-stone walls which we had to climb through!

More walls. Also, it was cool but comfortable to walk

Much of the 17-km hike was through such wide meadowed sections with forest on either side

There are not a lot of buildings along the way, and almost no benches, and certainly no fountains (the water reservoirs are protected by those circle-shaped walls). At this barn at "La Neuve" we found a bench and had a lovely coffee break.

Break is over, time to head up the hill to Crêt de la Neuve, which is a ridge which was one of only three spots where we had a view, if there had been anything to see, really.

Crêt de la Neuve, about 1/3 of the way to our destination from Col de Marchairuz to St.Cergue

Crêt de la Neuve look-out point

"Great" view over Lake Geneva, and still no sign of Mont Blanc or any of the other beautiful French Alps across the lake

But to the North we can see the peak of Mt.Tendre where we had been the day before

Our main company this day were the birds! Including several cuckoos from various parts of the forest. These two are the Common Chaffinch (more common than the sparrow) and a Eurasian Jay

Another rock-wall ring. Many of these also had a single tree in them. Not sure if there is a meaning to that. This one was next to a small mountain restaurant that serves beverages, but was currently closed

Another interesting way to scale one of the rock walls

The karst rock is close to the surface and the water sickers through quickly

There was only one short stretch of asphalt that we had to walk on, the rest of the trail was all soft grass or forest trail

Right about here we had our lunch. We looked for a long time for a bench, but had to sit in the meadow grass

A small window with a view to the South. The ridge at the very back is La Dôle, which we climbed from the back the next day, and walked to the tower and down...

A steep descent through the forest toward St.Cergue, there was this one single spot with this one beautiful view

VIDEO:

Panorama view over Lake Geneva 

on one of only two places where we actually had a view

Someone had fun!

These are the ruins of an old Carthusian Monastery, founded in 1146. "Notre Dame d'Oujon"

Down off the hill and out of the forest we come to some actual pasture lands, and this final view of the lake

Walking through this meadow was tricky, as the cows had babies and watched us VERY carefully, as we made large detours around them!

A particularly pretty property

It was very hot in St.Cergue and we were glad to get on the train to our hotel at La Cure, after buying a few groceries for our dinner

Map of DAY 1 (14 km) and DAY 2 (17 km) of our 3-day hike. DAY 3 is a climb to the summit of La Dôle

It was very hot when we got to St.Cergue, where we fortunately found a small grocery store where we bought cheese (having taken along our bread from our breakfast in the morning) for a picnic supper, knowing that the restaurant at our hotel for the night was closed.

It was quite fascinating as we got to the final train station on the railway line Nyon-LaCure: The little village is on the border between Switzerland and France, and the hotel we stayed at, called Hotel Franco-Suisse Arbez, is unique in that it straddles the border, half of the rooms being in France and the other half in Switzerland, with a couple of the rooms also straddling the border! We entered the hotel on the Swiss side, were registered on the French side, walked up the stairs to the Swiss side before getting to our room "in France"! (This might be our only international trip this year!). 

A couple of anecdotes:

1) The original owner of the land purposefully build the house this way when he found out where the borders were going to be laid, and built a shop on the Swiss side where his guests could buy goods and "smuggle" them into France through the pub on the French side.

2) During WWII, the family of the current owners smuggled British spies into France through what had meanwhile been converted into a hotel, while German soldiers socialized in the pub on the French side. They also saved hundreds of Jews in the same manner.

3) The hotel was declared a "Principality" in 1958, and the current owner, who checked us in, told us he was the "Prince" of Arbézie

4) He also told us that Swiss Television had been there that day to do an article on the hotel and its role during this pandemic, when borders are closed. He told us that couples living on either side of the border would meet at the hotel to spend the night in the half-half rooms!

5) Electrical sockets on the Swiss side are Swiss, and on the French side are French...


More information and details can be found here in Wikipedia: Hotel Arbez

Hotel Franco-Suisse Arbez. This is the Swiss side (main entrance) with the border crossing from Switzerland into France.

We had a very lovely room in France! The rooms in the middle are actually half in each country

View of the border crossing from out of our bedroom window 

We found a little corner of the hotel on the French side to have our picnic supper, as the restaurant was being renovated and not opened for business yet.

In the reception area of the hotel, which is on the French side, are direction markers toward the restaurant, the toilets, and Switzerland // Also, our room with the Swiss and French Flags, and the coat of arms of the "Principality of Arbézie"