Most of the first two days out of Lausanne were spent walking along the northern and eastern shores of Lake Geneva before heading up the Rhone Valley toward the Great St. Bernard Pass. It’s incredibly beautiful, but it doesn’t offer much to a pilgrim or a walker that isn’t readily available to any tourist.
We never know someone’s story.
Mid-morning, I was walking along the main road into a large village. In a stretch where there were homes between the lake and the road, I walked by a house with a couple of luxury cars outside when a man walked out the front door. Several thoughts ran through my mind:
- How did he earn his money? Was it doing something he loved, or did he take a path that only offered money? Did he inherit the money?
- Is owning such a home a significant status symbol in that community? I assume that it is.
- Wouldn’t it be just as nice to have a home in the hills just above the lake with a great view and a much lower price?
- Do you grow blind to the view after you’ve had it for a while, or do you stand in wonder every morning with your first cup of coffee or every evening with a glass of locally produced wine?
All of those thoughts were swirling through my head as I walked on, but I then heard someone yelling behind me. I turned around, and it was the man I had just passed. At first, I wondered if I had done something offensive, but when I walked back toward him, he was only trying to tell me that I had missed a turn that would allow me to get on the trail through the vineyards on the hillside rather than remain on the busy street. We ended up walking together for a few hundred yards because he was headed to the local train station, which was in the same direction. I learned that he had been to Austin a couple of times where he was recruiting a professor to come teach in Switzerland. His career (or, at least, part of it) had been as a business professor in entrepreneurship and leadership. He couldn’t have been a nicer guy, and he quickly dispelled all my imaginary negative assumptions about him.
The terraced vineyards east of Lausanne
The Romans grew wine in this region, but in the 12th century, Cistercian monks brought Chasselas vines to the hillsides above Lake Geneva to take advantage of what they called the “three suns” – the sun itself, the heat radiating from the stone walls of the terraces, and the sunlight reflected from the lake. The wines are extremely good and very popular, but the production is limited, which their prices reflect.
Vevey
My first stage out of Lausanne ended in Vevey, an ancient city that houses the headquarters of Nestlé, the largest food company in the world. From 1952 until his death in 1977, Vevey was the home in exile for the British-American actor, Charlie Chaplin. It now houses Chaplin’s World Museum.
The “World’s Largest Fork” can also be found just offshore from Vevey where it signifies the Alimentarium Food Museum that is housed in a beautiful neoclassical-style building that was the original corporate offices of the Nestlé company.
From Vevey to Aigle
The Via Francigena continues along the shore of Lake Geneva passing through Montreaux, best known for the annual Montreux Jazz Festival. The 2026 festival will run from July 3 – 18, but dozens of workers were already busy along the waterfront promenade setting up booths and stages. Montreaux has also been the home of numerous, famous ex-patriots such as David Bowie, Noël Coward, Vladimar Nobokov, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, and Freddy Mercury.
Chateau de Chillon
A couple of kilometers past Montreaux, you encounter the Chateau de Chillon, an impressive castle that has occupied a tiny limestone island for more than one thousand years.
A couple of kilometers beyond Chateau de Chillon, the Via Francigena finally departs from the lakeshore of Lake Geneva, and it begins to follow the course of the Rhone river up the Rhone Valley, with a couple of diversions over small mountains along the way.
Aigle
It’s been a long time since I …
After leaving Aigle, the trail takes you up over a mountain, which provides spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and the village of Ollon in the valley below. On a road along a ridge-top, someone has graciously installed a sturdy tire swing in a tree adjacent to the Via Francigena. I started to shoot a photo and then walk on by, but that seemed like a waste of a perfectly good tire swing, and I was in no particular hurry to get anywhere.
The trail then drops off the mountain and cuts through a vineyard before entering the village of Ollon.
Crossing the Rhone River and Into Saint-Maurice
My room for the night was in the Abbey of St. Maurice, where I had a perfectly comfortable room overlooking the town plaza with a view of the mountains beyond. It is documented that monks have said daily prayers at the abbey since 515 AD.
Next Up: Meeting fellow pilgrims in St. Maurice and Martigny and then on to some serious mountains!
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16 Responses
Charles: The drone view of the path through the vineyards suggests that the upcoming hiking will be challenging. Good luck as you work your way through it. Dave Miller
Thank you. My trail today is from Martigny to Orsières, with a net elevation gain of just under 500 meters, so it’s about to get real! I’ve read that many pilgrims consider the first 12 kilometers to be the most difficult part of the Via Francigena due to very narrow path and a daunting suspension bridge, but there is only one way to find out!
This edition is especially beautiful. Seeing a Roman era vineyard still operating and staying at a church that started 500 AD is unique. No wonder Chaplain, the professor recruiter and the others settled down in this town. Take plenty of photos in the mountains , but do not lose your drone in the trees. These reports make my day. We get coffe then we search for your messages. I hope you put all of these reports together into a book when you get home. Can’t wait to see photos of a high elevation village. Be careful in that thin air portion of the trail. Are Swiss mountain folks different than Swiss flat landers?
I made it to Orsières last night after the toughest stretch of trail thus far, and my conclusion is that you had to be tough to live in the Alps because everything is either up or down, and nothing is easy. It is wonderful, though, to hear the cow bells ringing softly as the cows slowly graze, and I can see a snow-covered peak from my window this morning. The further I get into the mountains, the less it feels like France, and the more it looks and feels like traditional Switzerland, but I will keep you posted!
I salute Tim & Alfredo, both strong and tough. They deserve a good R&R for how far they pushed their bodies. I hope the both recover fast from that race. Send them my congratulations
I will!
Looks like you had a great day Charles. Getting magnificent as well as beautiful when you add the Alps in the background. Your video of the tire swing seems like a microcosm of your journey. It’s has an incredible view of the valley and the mountains framing it on a beautiful day. You looked completely relaxed! I also enjoyed the video of the vineyards, but I miss your commentary. You always remind us how friendly people are and how to appreciate each day. There is a story this morning in the Houston Chronicle about a young German who biked his way across several continents to get to the World Cup Game in Houston. He reminded me of you since he appreciated the kindness of the people that he met and the simple pleasures of life. He remarked that some of his greatest joys were a result of some of his most stressful days. Sounds like Charles!
By the way, did you find out what Lucky Luke was doing at the Chateau de St Maurice?
How did the young men do on the NY 100?
The heat hit them hard, I think. Tim finished 100kms, although he had hoped to go 100 miles, but you have to remember that it was only two years ago that he tore both his thigh muscles in a fall there during the run. It was incredible that he could continue running after that, but he just keeps going. Alfredo finished 50 miles, which was his longest ultra yet, I think. They both had incredible runs.
The tire swing was a genuine joy. I started to post the video with the original audio, which included a lot of my laughter, but it also included a lot of my grunting and heavy breathing as I tried to keep the tire swing moving. I decided to spare everyone that.
I’ll be telling more people stories in the next couple of days because I’ve continued to meet interesting and kind people, but the trail is exhausting right now, so I don’t have much energy left in the evenings.
As for Lucky Luke, they had some sort of an exhibit going on, which I would have loved to visit, but I didn’t have time. Our son, Collin, loved Lucky Luke, and we had a full collection of VHS tapes of the animated series. Apparently, he is still quite popular in the French-speaking countries.
Somehow, this response ended up as a separate comment (not as a reply to your comment), so I’m repeating it here to make sure you receive it:
The tire swing was a genuine joy. I started to post the video with the original audio, which included a lot of my laughter, but it also included a lot of my grunting and heavy breathing as I tried to keep the tire swing moving. I decided to spare everyone that.
I’ll be telling more people stories in the next couple of days because I’ve continued to meet interesting and kind people, but the trail is exhausting right now, so I don’t have much energy left in the evenings.
As for Lucky Luke, they had some sort of an exhibit going on, which I would have loved to visit, but I didn’t have time. Our son, Collin, loved Lucky Luke, and we had a full collection of VHS tapes of the animated series. Apparently, he is still quite popular in the French-speaking countries.
For some reason, when I replied to your comment, it showed up as an original comment from me, so I’m not sure you would have received a notice I replied. I tried to correct it, and it just happened again. The third time may be the charm!
The tire swing was a genuine joy. I started to post the video with the original audio, which included a lot of my laughter, but it also included a lot of my grunting and heavy breathing as I tried to keep the tire swing moving. I decided to spare everyone that.
I’ll be telling more people stories in the next couple of days because I’ve continued to meet interesting and kind people, but the trail is exhausting right now, so I don’t have much energy left in the evenings.
As for Lucky Luke, they had some sort of an exhibit going on, which I would have loved to visit, but I didn’t have time. Our son, Collin, loved Lucky Luke, and we had a full collection of VHS tapes of the animated series. Apparently, he is still quite popular in the French-speaking countries.
The tire swing video is such a joy to see that it brought tears to my eyes & I watched it twice. Tried to save it myself but was unsuccessful, oh, well. It depicts you with such a lightness of spirit & delight in the gorgeous natural world you’re experiencing. I expect you may be a wholly new person when you return home to your new (non-work-ruled) life there, & I also believe that will be a good thing. An endeavor of this magnitude is just so much to process, but day to day it’s mostly just the doing, I imagine. Amazing effort that we’re all marveling about! Onward!
For various reasons, I really needed that tire swing at that moment. It’s such an unusual adult feeling to laugh out of sheer pleasure, but that was one of those experiences. The setting was incredible.
I do hope that the walk is changing me in positive ways. I believe it is even if no one else will be able to see those differences.
You are right in that much of the day-to-day is just the doing: the logistics, the effort that it takes to keep walking, the soreness that creeps in, but that is one reason I’ve really appreciated having the blog, even if no one else were seeing it. I forces me to consider the day’s events and to think about what they mean to me. I am generally amazed by how many experiences there are in each day.
And I may be able to figure out how to send you the tire swing video. I’m so thankful that it touched you.
I hade no idea on Charlie Chaplin. Had to do a little research on why he left the US…i guess chased out during the Cold War by Hoover. Super interesting story of how he and his wife (MUCH younger) ended up in Vevey raised 8 kids there.
I need to read more deeply myself! I knew there was something about a much younger woman, but I’m not sure of the specifics, and I didn’t realize Chaplin was targeted by Hoover. Once again, though, I learn that real history is so much more interesting than the sanitized, polished, dressed up version we usually get.