Le Grand Bornand

Market day in Le Grand Bornand

This is both a beautiful and intriguing place. Set in the mountains of the Haute Savoie, Le Grand Bornand is really a station de ski with a summer season for walkers and cyclists. The market was full of colour, noise, and smells; really atmospheric. I went in early before breakfast intending to buy baguettes, but instead bought a huge pain de compagne from a guy on a stall. It lasted more than two days!
The village is also known for the Tour de France. The famous Col de la Colombiere climbs up above the village. It has started or ended stages many times with that well known druggie Lance Armstrong winning a stage in the village in 2004.
There is a memorial plaque in the village centre to the local Resistance and to those locals killed or deported for helping the resistance.

Memorial.

A few years ago I bought Matthew Cobb's excellent book on the French Resistance and I remembered that Les Maquis were active in this area and that a famous incident had happened here but I couldn't remember the details. So I went into the Maison du Tourisme and asked if they had any information on the local history of resistance in the area. They hadn't, but when I asked about bookshops they directed me across the road to the Maison de la Presse. So I returned to where I had just bought my morning paper and euromillions ticket (I didn't win) and bought a slim volume," La Resistance en Haute Savoie." It seems that LGB has two events that happened in 1944; one very honourable and one less so, but understandable. This was an area of strong resistance both to the occupying forces and to the Vichy government. The Maquis controlled much of this mountaineous region for great parts of the war. The first occupying force was the Italian army, but when they withdrew from the war in September 1943 they were replaced by the more professional and ruthless German army.
Just above LGB is the Plateau de Glieres. At the time, it was a desolate and isolated place and there the Maquis received allied parachute drops of arms and equipment. In 1944 more than 150 young resistants came to the area from other parts of France. They were fleeing forced labour in Germany which the Vichy government has just introduced. These young men were welcomed and hidden by the villagers. The Vichy government was determined to track them down and sent their own militia - the Milice. They surrounded and laid seige to LGB. Two young men of the village were captured by them as they tried to leave the village for the Plateau. They were shot. Other villagers were arrested, their chalets burned and deported. The Milice then turned their attention to the Plateau above. The snow was deep and their attacks repelled. The Germans wouldn't wait and sent 10,000 troops. The Luftwaffe also bombed the plateau and the Maquis were defeated. Although more than 300 escaped, 120 were killed and more captured. The cruel treatment, torture and murder of the prisoners as they were readied for deportation to camps was carried out by the Milice and this fact explains what happened in the second incident.

Le cimetiere de Miliciens

The surviving Maquis were rearmed by allied drops and in August 1944 they liberated Haute Savoie before the arrival of Allied troops. Then they rounded up a hundred Milice from in and around Annecy. They were brought to LGB and a court martial was held. It was something of a parody of a trial. Coffins had been ordered before the trial was complete. 79 Milices were condemned to death and taken about 3km out of LGB and shot. As often in war, they were buried at the spot were they died. Amoung those shot, three young brothers aged 16, 17 and 18. Not so honourable, but understandable.

I decided to find the place and set off walking to the hamlet of Bouchet, but could not find it. I asked for directions in the small village and was told I had to walk into the forest and turn left on a forest path. I found it. It is the lost cemetery; it has no legal status or sign. The upkeep is carried out by the families of those shot seventy years ago. It was a very moving occasion, but I was not there alone!

My walk to Bouchet to find the lost cemetery.

When I arrived near the spot, there were two french campervans parked across the path and I had to squeeze past them and excuse myself to about half a dozen french people of my age who were having a picnic! They didn't know the cemetery was there, it is so well hidden. Then I had to give them a little lesson in french history. They were amazed and came round the cemetery with me. Back at their picnic site, I was offered food and wine, but only accepted the wine. It would have been churlish not to! It turned out that they were from Toulouse and, of course, we then talked about rugby. They had heard of Sale but didn't seem impressed. I took my leave and walked through beautiful mountain scenery back to LGB thinking all the time of all those events seventy years ago.

Two Walks, and Lovely Lake Geneva.

On our last couple of days at Lauterbrunnen, we went for two walks, both of which were lovely but the second one was more spectacular. On Sunday, we took a cable car and train up to Murren, a car - free village in a dramatic and beautiful setting high up in the peaks. On the way, we spotted a lovely walk, and decided that we might try it the next day.

Murren.

After we had explored the village, we went down to some waterfalls inside the mountain, which were not really up to much. Then we decided to walk back to the campsite. It was gorgeous. The sun was shining, and we passed farmers working in the fields. The farms are a bit like they used to be at home years ago, quite small affairs. You often see people in the fields raking up the hay.  To us, it seemed quaint. As I have said, the wild flowers were beautiful. We really enjoyed that walk.
 

Views from the walk.

The next day, we went back up towards Murren, but we didn't get the train; we walked to the village instead. All the way, we had the spectacular mountains on one side, and beautiful flowers on the other. Quite a few of the flowers were local to the region, and unknown to us, but really lovely. It was stunning. We were very sorry to leave such a wonderful place.

The stunning view on our Alpine walk.

Now, as you will know from Facebook, we are staying at Morges by Lake Geneva. Life is more sedate, although the campsite is absolutely packed with young families. The town is quite pretty, with not much to see, but we have been to two markets, and bought our fruit and veg, which has been very enjoyable. The Grande Marche on Saturday was full of atmosphere, and I have included a photo of one of the clowns.

Clown festival and market.

Most days we have our lunch by the lake, where we watch the Black Kites swooping down for fish. We've had some great views of them. It's quite good for birdwatching here.
In the evenings we can walk to a picturesque spot and have a drink at an ice cream stall. It's much nicer than it sounds! It has small tables right next to the lake. It feels like a little bit of heaven.

Lake Geneva.

A view of the Lake.

Old town, Geneva.

We have taken two train trips while we have been here. The other day we went to Geneva. The old town was small, but quite nice, but like everywhere else here, it was very expensive. I hope you like the bike pic, Kathy!

Lausanne Cathedral.

Today we went to Lausanne, again to the old town, which was very small and disappointing. However, the cathedral was impressive, with its soaring, Gothic ceiling. Now that I've read "Pillars of the Earth" and watched lots of old episodes of Time Team, I'm more impressed by the staggering achievement of cathedrals, and a lot more interested than I used to be.

We are heading for France on Tuesday, where we will relax at a nice campsite (we hope), and then head for home. Our adventures are over for this time, so this will be the last blog post for this trip. Looking forward to chatting and Skyping when we get home.

The Top of Europe

Being at the top of the Jungfrau felt like being at the top of the world, never mind Europe! We were at the station at 6.30 a.m. trying to beat the crowds. We took the first train, which was full, and we met a lovely American couple, who were very well travelled.

When we got to the connecting train, it was a scramble to get on board for a seat, in spite of it being the earliest train of the day.

On the way up, we stopped twice at windows cut into the Eiger wall to provide view points. It was quite an experience. At the second stop we were at the bottom of the Aletsch glacier, so I took a photo, of course!

We were so lucky to get a good day! Everywhere you went, the views were spectacular. We started at a viewpoint looking over the glacier. Because it was our first stop, we were overwhelmed by the beauty. It was nice that the snow was still there. The sun was out, the sky was blue,  and the snow was blinding!

The next stop was "snow fun". The toboggan run wasn't ready but there were people flying about on a zip wire, and lots more getting ready to go ski-ing, walking or climbing. Our bit of fun was sitting in some nice seats and having a cup of tea outside in the snow!

 There was also an ice palace with some great ice sculptures. Below is a pic. of Tony walking in the ice tunnel.

We ate lunch inside, overlooking glorious views, then went to the final outside viewpoint, where we had the best views ever of the the three peaks, the Eiger, the Monch and the Jungfrau.

I could have stayed there all day, but we had forgotton our sunglasses, and we were a bit dizzy because of the height. Also, the crowds were becoming unmanageable at this point. We manged to get down without facing a crush, relecting on what a great day it had been. We have been wanting to do this for some time, and we are both glad that we decided on this for our last trip of this kind in our trusty van.