3rd August 2008

Vevey to Geneva to Clermont Ferrand

Up at 6.15am again to avoid the heat of the day.  Heinz served us a cracking buffet breakfast.  Buffetlicious!  Then we bade him and his lovely dog, Grégor farewell and we were on the road by 8amish.  Someone turned the heat up again and we visited Geneva in our sweaty motorbike gear.  We parked by a pretty church and heard a lone female voice singing inside.  It’s a beautiful town but full of banks it seems.  We paid to enter the private bathing area on the lake where, surrounded by brown bodies and topless women, we walked around in full gear with some of our luggage taking photos.  It felt slightly wrong!  I have begun my own study of the photographer at work using the point and shoot camera loaned to us by Canon and today was my best work I feel!  The photographer stripped down to his pants to clamber precariously over rocks, camera in hand, in search of the picture perfect.  Most entertaining.  I am thinking of sending some of my work into a gay men’s magazine although I have a feeling some of my photos will mysteriously disappear.  The photographer left his pants by accident drying in the hot sun like a flag flying from the lighthouse in the middle of the lake.  Unfortunately, whilst climbing over the rocks, algae had left a brown smear on the back so I pity the person that finds them.

Later we stopped for coffee before leaving the bathers in peace.  I decided to pop to the loo before leaving so I entered the women only area of the bathing park.  A picture of this would have been most entertaining as, fully clothed in biker gear, I picked my way through bronzing, semi-naked bodies laying outstretched in any available floor space.  There were women of all ages, shapes and sizes and it was difficult not to stare at the older ones with their shrunken breasts and elephant skin.  Breast Quest took on a whole different meaning.  Oh the irony!  I happened across a rather large woman in her 70’s wearing nothing but a thong and a thousand leathery wrinkles.  I didn’t know women of that age still went in for Brazilians!  Amazing.  Girl power in Switzerland!

As we left Switzerland in the midday heat, we swapped its many tunnels and mountains for the viaducs and rolling countryside of the Rhône Alpes and Auvergne regions of France.  According to our schedule we should have clocked up some 2539 miles by the end of the day but in reality with the planned changes to our itinerary, it will be nearer the 2800 mile mark.  Can we give up after 3000 miles?!!  Of course, I’m only joking.  I am torn between wanting to go home and wanting to travel forever, (hope my boss, Di, is not reading this!).

We made Clermont Ferrand in good time again as we were ready to admit defeat we realised we were actually infront of our hotel.  It was a disappointment after the Hilton with not enough room to swing a motorbike helmet.  Each time I went to the loo, I would bash my head on the door knob getting up.  We wandered around and ate a takeaway next to a bin.  We were too tired to catch the tramway into the centre and settled on a beer back at the hotel next door before bed.  Beer is our friend, we will have one each night as it takes the mind of the next day of travel and helps us sleep.  Thank you to Kev at Le Roc for this biker’s travel tip.

We set the alarm for 6am so we could escape early and visit the Puy de Dôme, the highest vantage point over the volcanic mounds of the Auvergne and swapped equipment around to charge it as best as possible with only 2 available sockets in the room.