It was a hot restless night in our hotel in Montreux, but it was bearable watching the scenery from our lakeview balcony - see photos @night & @dawn.

We set off along the Rue du Lac before the traffic got going 👍🏻.

We paused at the very scenic Château Chillon (“Switzerland’s most visited tourist destination”).

Then on and through Villeneuve and across the mouth and delta of the River Rhone as it enters Lake Geneva. When the Rhone finally enters the Mediterranean, the large delta area is called the Carmargue. Here, the delta is called Petit Carmargue. It too is a bird reserve and a protected wetland. We spent some time up a high bird-watching hide using the small binoculars that Alistair has been carrying optimistically all the way from Norfolk 💪🏻. (“Told you”).

Then we crossed the Rhone. Oh my! 😳😱, it is big, very full and very fast, with swirling eddies and water “boiling up” as it rushes under the bridge. Full of glistening glacial silt. Makes you want to clutch the handrail of the footbridge.

Then on into a village at the mouth of the Rhone canal which hosts a large marina, acquapark, miniature steam railway museum and other holiday attractions. Great place for Morning Coffee.

Then a swift satisfactory ride on a wide tarmac track along the Rhone for miles up the valley (it is surprisingly flat and not uphill). However the mountains on our right (West) were getting progressively higher and more precipitate. We are getting anxious about how to cross them.

And so we reached a pretty village called Saint Maurice (random choice, not researched) for lunch at an EXCELLENT Italian restaurant. Following which we both felt faint and 🥱😴 very sleepy. Not a good move during a cycle trip 😬.

And we filled in time and waited for the stupor to wear off, by visiting the abbey.

We discovered 😳, that this is a working monastery, not some historical ruin. It is the oldest continuously active monastery in the “western world”. 😲😲😲Wow! They’ve been saying prayers there every day for 1,500 years. Oh my!

By this time the tourist office was open and we got our pilgrim passport stamped 👍🏻.

Then onwards to Martigny.

Big Explanation #1

The road from Martigny to the top of the Grand St Bernard Pass and through the tunnel is a Major Road. The Italians have it designated as having motorway status. But it does not meet motorway design criteria. Too narrow lanes, single carriageway, too steep, too bendy. But it illustrates the traffic using it. Streams of trucks, coaches vans and cars in both directions. Jostling for road space with a queue of irritated lorries trying to creep past you despite oncoming traffic…..😱. Scary stuff. The Swiss cycling guide to the Via Francigena, because of “dangerous trucks” advises cyclists to take the train and bus right up the pass to where the “motorway” goes through the tunnel and the quiet road goes on and up to the pass at the top. We met two young “proper cyclists” a couple of nights ago who live near by and advised that the traffic was bad and the best time to cycle was Sunday morning when there were no trucks but still lots of cars. They were not encouraging.

So we decided to follow that advice. So on reaching Martigny, lovely Swiss railways whisked us up to the end of the line at Orsières, in an air conditioned train with step-free access for bikes 😍🥰😘.

This is where we are spending the night. And we will take the bus further up tomorrow morning. We have booked bike space.

Big Explanation #2

Now we have researched the gradient of the pass after the tunnel. It is steeper on the Swiss side. It is an average of 9.2%, with a peak kilometre of 9.8% and peak of 10%. For seven kilometres. Before the tunnel it is shallower. Now the steepest hill in Norfolk is Gas Hill in Norwich at 9% for 400 metres. We have both cycled this on unladen bikes in our lowest gear and just made it to the top. Alistair was seeing stars at the top!

But the pass is steeper and much longer and our bikes have about 18 kg of extra weight.

So we reluctantly decided we probably couldn’t cycle over the pass from the Swiss side. Could we push them up? It would be like pushing two max weight airline suitcases uphill for 7 km. We were not enthralled by the prospect.

We decided to test ourselves after getting off the train in Orsières. At this point the gradient is 6.5% and the road going up from the village to the main road was a bit steeper at around 7.5%. So we cycled up this in our lowest gear successfully but were peaking out. We turned off onto a slightly steeper road and after three pedals we ground to a halt. So 9.2% - 10% looks beyond our capability with laden bikes 😢.

So we will take the bus to the very top tomorrow. Ah well 🤷🏻‍♂️.

Fortunately, on the Italian side, the cycle route does not use the main road as there is an alternative.