THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS!
We took the train back to Lausanne, and walked down to Ouchy quays, searching in vain for the Tourist Office.
There was only an empty glass office where it had been, so we obtained a stamp from the CGN ticket office.
We followed the promenade from the Chateau d'Ouchy and the ship harbour to the Place du Général Guisan.
There is one magnificent garden after another along the quayside: the Olympic Park, the Elysée and the Parc du Denantou.
We continued along the shore, enjoying the cool breeze and the lapping of the waves, passing through the occasional village.
At Villette, we came across a church with amazing wall paintings. From there, we climbed up the steep slopes into the vineyards..
In the 12th century, the Cistercian monks built many kilometres of stone walls to form terraces, which are still cherished and maintained
by the winegrowers today. The grapes flourish on the sun-drenched slopes, with the sun reflected from the lake,
and the residual warmth of the walls at night to nurture them.
There is an incredible view across the vines and Lake Geneva to the Alpine chain on the other side.
We stopped at Cully railway station for salad bowls from the local supermarket, and continued on past Epesses,
followed by Rivaz and St. Saphorin.
St. Saphorin is a charming wine village with narrow streets and Gothic church (16th century), nestling on the hillside between the lake and the vines.
We should have stopped at St. Saphorin and taken the train home from there, because the heat and the concrete paths were getting to us,
However, we went on, and when it was clear that we couldn't take any more climbing the hillside,
It became clear that Sue had a case of heat exhaustion, so watch out for the symptoms: sweating, weakness, shivering, headache,confusion, etc.
This can be very serious: luckily Sue had a special cooling cloth for her neck, and we still had sufficient liquids with us.
We abandoned the climb on the vineyard trail, and instead took a short cut on a cycle path and a main road drectly into Vevey,
where we arrived exhausted at the railway station just in time to take a train home.
The next day we were still exhausted, and the effect of walking all day on concrete paths also took its toll!
