Mountains around Geneva

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After skiing, we had two and a half days before flying home. We used them to explore mountains and hills around Geneva. We stayed in a flat in the village of Mieussy.

The red, blue and green lines show our track in the first, second (Pont du Diable and Salève mountain) and third (Risse gorges and Reculet) days, respectively. The house icon shows our flat. Shift-click on the track link will open it in nakarte.me.

Day one. The Sommand plateau.

We visited Cascade du Saix, seen here in a distance. There are lots of limestone cliffs here, just like in Yorkshire Dales.

Cascade du Saix.	The path goes through a beech wood.

Here the path traverses a steep cliff. It is difficult to spot it until you get close.

Winter acrobatics.	It was actually very hot, around +25 °С, but up on the plateau there was a lot of snow in the woods.

Beautiful Mont Blanc. The visibility that day was amazing.

We are descending through a beech wood. The path from Grotte du Jourdy has 13 crosses on pedestals. This was probably a site of a cross procession. Sonya is touching a cross.

Day two. Salève mountain.

We stayed on the ground floor of an old alpine house which was converted into flats. It was very comfortable and nice. The top floor provided shelter for tractors and other agricultural vehicles.

Le Giffe river (very close to Mieussy) flows through several canyons. We are under Pont du Diable. The water is milky-green, an unearthly sight.

Mieussy: our house is at the very edge of the village, on the right of the church and a little higher. Yesterday we descended down the cliff seen above our house.

Viola reichenbachiana Jord. ex Boreau.	Crocuses.

We left the car in a car park and went on a path traversing the Salève mountain.

A cave on the cliff. Most trees are still bare, only willow trees are blooming, forming yellow spots on the mountain.

Geneva lies beneath our feet.

We descended into the valley and then started climbing back up. The path unexpectedly goes through Grotte d'Orjobet, a large multilevel cave.

Life cycle of a chicken...

A beech wood in Spring.

A red maple.

We climbed back up Salève. A view of Geneva and Lac Lèman. The fountain in the lake was visible from the mountain but has now been switched off.

Day three. Jura mountains.

On our last day, we drove through Geneva to the Jura mountains, opposite Salève mountain. This area resembles Yorkshire Dales, but the mountains are covered by patches of snow.

We are walking up la Reculet, there are lots of people here.

The snow is completely gone in some spots, but in other places it is deep and soft. It is very hot.

As soon as snow retreats, wild daffodils appear. They are only 10-15 cm high, but the flowers are large, just like garden daffodils. We have never seen yellow fields of wild daffodils in the mountains before.

We walked along the ridge and found ourselves on our own. All other people just go up la Reculet and back down again.

Crocuses breaking through the ground.

It was very warm, so the visibility was relatively poor. One can still clearly see Geneva and the fountain on the lake.

Daphne mezereum.	Scilla bifolia.

Victor is above the entrance to Grotte de la Marie du Jura, which is just under the ridge, on the other side.

Walking down through deep snow.	Grotte de la Marie du Jura.

A view point: one can choose which way to look.

We got down to the car, re-packed our backpacks and drove to the airport - time to fly home! The mountains around Geneva are beautiful and one can find really remote places. Just like last year, we had a double holiday: skiing and hiking.

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