A shady park and garden provide respite from midsummer heat
My tours thru the alps tend to be dominated by talk about passes, summits, glaciers, and scenic vistas. Still, it is not all high elevations in the alps: Lac Leman, a basin in the Rhone river that straddles France and Switzerland, caters to thousands of tourists each year who ply its calm, blue waters and visit Geneva, Montreux (famous for its jazz festival), and this town here, Evian les Bains. While traffic is heavy, funneled against the narrow shoreline, under the brilliant noonday sun one can find gardens, fountains, cafes and restaurants; all of which cyclists are entitled to enjoy from time to time! On this bench I had a rather pedestrian peanut butter sandwich.
I recommend the south shore, which has better views of the western end of the Bernese Alps, arising like wraiths out of the mists of midsummer as you proceed eastward along the roadway. The summer sun is bright on your back, and the breezes are friendly as you head eastward. You leave the lake and turn south into the narrower Rhone valley, where the terrain suddenly closes in, and the massive plates of the Dents de Midi guids back to the high country. But not, I hope, before you have savored some of what these Lac Leman shores have to offer.
