Day 26 Romainmotier to Montreux

• Day 26 - day 05 for 2023
• Wednesday, 13 September 2023
• Romainmotier to Montreux
• 621 km to yesterday
•   54 km today   (14 walked + 40 by train )
• 675 km on my Via Francigena

I start early and make good progress along the official Via Francigena route 70 to La Sharraz for café au lait and some pastries.

I decide to leave the 70 route in favour of the road.  The official route is much much longer and I feel much safer on the roads.

Several km on a driver stops and offers a ride to the next town, Cossonay: I accept and the distance is soon covered. I stay for a while to drink water and say the morning office in a protestant church, mainly because they have a Via Francigena stamp for my credential. 

I continue to Penthalaz and stop at a Vietnamese restaurant in the station for a bowl of soup.

It has begun to consistently drizzle and I continue to Lausanne by train. 

The Lausanne Information Office can only find a bed at 200 Swiss Francs (NZD 400).  But a possibility of one near Montreux look interesting. 

I train to Montreux and the Information Office there makes the booking. 

Another occasion where my long time map lets me down.  While good with the big picture, on a route like this it decides many changes of direction are necessary in an attempt to save distance.  I try to straighten it out but the planner says some bits aren't walkable. So off I go, and while I get there the constant changes take a mental toll.  Also the drizzle at Penthalaz has firmed up and I put on the parka.  I'm feeling hotter than I would like,  but it is only 30 minutes or so.

This is a Youth Hostel, having a centenial celebration this year. The receptionist is a joy and finds a room with a vacant lower bunk.  In return I tell the story about Maui and his fish (as I did with the receptionist at the Romainmotier Info Office).

I then head off to explore La Grande Rue and find a meal.  There are some marvelous, but very expensive shops.  Subway provides the salad dinner. I return by bus and see S John's Anglican Church right alongside.  The door is open,  so in I go, intending to say the evening office. While open, the furniture is be re-ordered and John, the parish priest hailing from Liverpool and a group are about to start a parish council meeting,  After some pleasantries I am off.

One of my roommates, Henrietta, says she has a beer outside before turning in for the night. She is from lower Austria and, for my sad ear, has a good command of English. We have a longish conversation about nothing and everything.

 

And so to our own beds.