On our last day in Switzerland we will head to Lake Geneva, where we plan to visit the Rochers de Naye peak. In the evening we will return to the Czech Republic via Zurich by night train.
Rochers de Naye
We pack up the tent and all our stuff and leave the camp around 10:00. We get on the tram for the last time and leave for the main station. Since there's a closure at Fribourg, we have to take a detour through Biel. For this train we take a bit of a nap, because we arrive at the station ten minutes before departure and our departure is from the platform at which the sign shows a distance of 500 m. Tongue in cheek, but we make it in time. In Biel we change trains to the IC from Zurich towards Lousane. The journey goes quickly, because the line goes around lakes Bienne and Noychatel. Also the architecture here is already visibly French.
We get to Lousane around 11:30. We will not stay here, but we have to hide our backpacks here, because we will return here and continue from here to Zurich. We are not too pleased with the luggage in Lausanne. They were "only" 9CHF, but you could only pay with coins, which of course we didn't have. So Janet was sent with a banknote to change somewhere. Once the mission was accomplished and the backpacks safely stowed in the box we could take the train on to Montreux. There is the terminus of the cog railway at Rochers de Naye. The train departs once an hour, so we still had half an hour to spare. So we go for a walk on the promenade to Lake Geneva.
Montreux - Lake Geneva
Montreux - Platform for the cog railway to Rochers de Naye
Before one, we are already tap dancing on the platform, eagerly awaiting the cogwheel. She has a pretty sharp turn, so she arrives about 5 minutes before departure and sets off with us up into the clouds. The journey up the mountain takes an hour and the cogwheel covers a considerable elevation gain. It starts at 450m and ends at 1950m. At the beginning the tubing passes through a lot of buildings. For this reason, it has quite a few stops. Rare are the platforms, where the edges are either per carriage or even exactly per door. Some stops are on signal and you have to report to the engineer to stop.
Climb to Rochers de Naye
Station Chemin de fer Glion-Naye
The climb was really steep in places
Jaman stop
Rochers de Naye terminal station
We're on the mountain at two o'clock. I originally thought that we wouldn't be here for long, but we ended up spending two hours here.
Rochers de Naye - View of Lake Geneva
Rochers de Naye terminal station
So at four o'clock we go down. There's not much time left, because we need to leave Lousane at six. That's why we get on the first train right away in Montreux, which is no problem given the importance of the town, and something stops every ten minutes at Lousane. In Lousane we just manage to buy a snack in Coop and pick up our backpacks. We spice up our last Swiss train ride with a little miss, as we get on the rear unit that doesn't go to Zurich and disconnect at Biel. Luckily the conductor alerts us to this and apparently we weren't the only ones. We arrive in Zurich around eight o'clock. The last task is to buy chocolates to take home. The Coop offers the best and cheapest ones, but the station one has quite a limited range. So I head to the Coop city on Banhof strasse to find that they are closed at eight. So we had to take what was at the station. At nine we went to the platform to look for our night train to Prague. Thanks to Corona, the Czech Railways sleeper train was half empty and we had the whole compartment to ourselves.
Czech Railways sleeper train from Zurich to Prague
A nice bonus and the culmination of a successful trip to Switzerland was the shower, which is located in this type of car. I fall asleep on the border with Austria and wake up in front of České Budějovice. In Prague, we make a nice run through Switzerland to catch the train to Mlada Boleslav and by one o'clock we are home. We unpack, throw our stuff in the washing machine and tomorrow we continue towards Bulgaria.
Switzerland did not disappoint again. Once again, it has shown us how we are twenty years behind the monkeys in public transport, and not only in public transport. In addition, the coronavirus absence of mass tourism made our trip much more enjoyable due to less occupancy.
Useful links:
Czech Railways
Swiss Railways
Swiss Saver day pass
Camping Eichholz in Bern
