Day 51-52: Orbe to Lausanne (and rest day in Lausanne)

June 3 and 4, 2019

Today was going to be the longest day M had experienced thus far (and that I had had in a while). But, I think we were both excited about descending to the lake and having a rest day in Lausanne, so we were up at 7:30 to have breakfast in the hotel and to get on the road.

I’d be remiss I didn’t record for posterity the hilarious event breakfast turned out to be. There was a cafe on the first floor of our lodging, and breakfast was included, so we headed down around 8 and had a seat at our pre-set table, already waiting with a croissant at each place and an assortment of jams and spreads. The hostess brought over a carafe of orange juice. M poured his, and as I poured mine a fly came out with the juice. Much to everyone’s horror I grabbed my knife and fished out the fly, putting him on my napkin in hopes of resuscitating him. Actually, M, more familiar with my shenanigans, was more amused than anything, but our stern server did not seem to be pleased. To her credit, she was probably partly embarrassed about the appearance of the fly in the first place, but -eh– things happen. The place was clean…it was just a fluke. (also, after some recovery time, the fly was restored and few away! I took it as a good sign for the day 😉 ).

The rest of breakfast was odd. People from outside kept coming in to the cafe and standing around and then leaving. The manager man and the hostess woman sporadically yelled at each other for indiscernible reasons. Our hostess kept randomly bringing things to the table at odd times. M commented it felt like an 80s-style British comedy, and I had to agree. Again, this isn’t to complain. Quirkiness can add flavor to an adventure. Overall, we were comfortable there. It just wasn’t a typical breakfast. 🙂

Anyway, after breakfast, we packed up and were out on the road. Like many of the villages where we stay, I rather liked the vibe of Orbe and would certainly come back to explore it some more. It was a bit busy on main roads out of town for the first km or so. We passed a Nestle plant and some major construction. There were a lot of old houses in disrepair that were seemingly being used for other things–such as the donkeys grazing in the picture below.

However, the busy bits of town soon gave way to a more manageable walking path. It bears repeating: Switzerland is amazingly accommodating to walkers and bikers. You could walk or bike the whole country if you wanted. Look up the routes if you are interested! Most of them are paved even…and few we’ve encountered share a road with traffic.

For example, we could see the next village in the distance, but we were on a designated walker’s path the whole way up to the village.

Switzerland is also very concerned about their hedgehog population. We kept seeing signs to warn people about being careful of the little nuggets when driving at night.

For about 6 kms we were walking through villages, so I stopped taking pictures, but I did wish I’d snapped a shot of M’s first ‘pilgrim magic’ (i.e., the fortuitous happenstances that one encounters while walking): right when we both needed it a free public bathroom appeared out of nowhere! That never happens! We were both grateful.

Then we started making some steep climbs (only to eventually lose all the elevation at the end of the day in a steep descent to the lake.) They offered beautiful views along the way, though!

Things leveled out for a bit to rolling hills through villages that reminded me a bit of Tuscany.

About midday, I was starting to feel serious foot pain. We stopped in a village for me to tend to injuries and switch shoes. M pointed out a thunderstorm was in the distance, so we also brought out the pack rain-covers and our rain jackets in preparation.

I have to admit, I was kind of looking forward to the rain. Though it has its burdens, the air got so cool and crisp. It felt good to have a relief from the sun. It also added some extra drama to the already pretty views.

We ended up missing the rain–it went around us. We continued to weave our way through the farmland that connected villages for the rest of the afternoon.

The last 4k was walking through the outskirts of Lausanne, through suburban parks, etc. into town. My feet were on fire here and I was not in the best of moods, though the scenery was beautiful!

We checked into out lodging and M went foraging for food while I tended to my feet. We enjoyed our rest day in the city. It was really inspiring to walk to look across the lake and see so close the mountains that were just a far away outline on the horizon just a couple days ago and know that we walked here.