Ecublens – Gland

The tower of St-Sulpice Church with Lac Léman beyond © Ricky Yates

 

 

 

After a good night’s sleep and an excellent breakfast, we bid farewell to the Jordan family and walked the 1.5km back from Ecublens, to St-Sulpice Church, in order to rejoin the Chemin de Saint-Jacques. En-route, we were able buy bread for our picnic lunch. After the rain of the previous afternoon, the morning of Sunday 17th August was fine and sunny. Not that we knew it then, but the previous day’s rain was the last wet weather were to experience whilst walking together.

From St-Sulpice to the larger town of Morges, the Chemin is almost exclusively along the shore of Lac Léman. Just occasionally, the path goes slightly inland, where somebody long ago managed to claim ownership of the lake shore, or to avoid a lakeside . . . → Read More: Ecublens – Gland

Curtilles – Lausanne – Ecublens

Moudon Church © Ricky Yates

 

 

 

 

After a splendid breakfast provided by Frau Luder at her home near Curtilles, we set out on a grey, but at that point dry, morning, to walk five kilometres along the La Broye valley, to the town of Moudon. As we reached the town centre, it started to rain, so we sought shelter in the Swiss Reformed Church.

As I remarked in reply to a comment on an earlier post, although pilgrimage is not really part of the Swiss Reformed Church tradition, I was many times impressed by the way their Churches which are located on the Jakobsweg/Chemin de Saint-Jacques, seek to make welcome pilgrims who visit them.

 

 

 

 

 

St. James Chapel, Moudon Church © Ricky Yates

The Church in Moudon illustrated this . . . → Read More: Curtilles – Lausanne – Ecublens

Froidville bei Posieux – Curtilles

The French is slightly longer than the German ‘Wanderweg’ 🙂 © Ricky Yates

When we left the ‘House of Angels’ at Froidville bei Posieux on the morning of Wednesday 13th August, the sky was cloudy and grey. Within in a few minutes of setting out, light rain began to fall as we climbed the path through the woods, heading towards Posieux. After walking for about forty minutes, we reached the beginning of Posieux and shortly afterwards discovered a most pleasant surprise.

In the front yard of a house was a refreshment point for passing pilgrims. There was hot water in a flask, together with tea bags and a jar of instant coffee. In a sealed plastic container were various nibbles. All of this, together . . . → Read More: Froidville bei Posieux – Curtilles

Schwarzenburg – Fribourg – Froidville bei Posieux

Signposting the Jakobsweg © Ricky Yates

Once more there was thunder, lightning and rain as we stayed overnight in Schwarzenburg. And unfortunately, unlike the two previous nights, it didn’t stop as daylight broke the next morning. We ate breakfast slowly, packed our rucksacks slowly, accepted the kind offer from our hosts of a further cup of coffee, all whilst we waited, hoping the rain would stop. Eventually the rain became very light so we finally decided to set out, but an hour and a half later than our usual start time.

After around three kilometres of walking, we crossed the River Sense, and so passed from the predominantly Protestant Bern Canton into the predominantly Roman . . . → Read More: Schwarzenburg – Fribourg – Froidville bei Posieux

Einigen – Schwarzenburg

My pilgrim wife observing the local livestock © Ricky Yates

After a night punctuated by further thunder, lightning and rain, we awoke to grey skies the next morning and heard the pitter-patter of rain falling once more whilst we were eating breakfast. But just as we were resigning ourselves to a wet day, blue sky began to appear above the hill behind where we were staying. Our host assured us that where the blue sky was appearing, was the direction from which the weather always came. Fortunately, her forecast proved true and we enjoyed a dry and increasingly sunny day.

We first walked three kilometres back to the main Jacobsweg at Gwatteg, passing along this interesting path which traverses a low ridge with wonderful . . . → Read More: Einigen – Schwarzenburg