Cycling From Haute-Morges To Nyon Along the Top

Yesterday I cycled from Haute-Morges to Nyon along the top. I did this because I was curious to see what route the GPS would recommend. The natural thing to do would be to cycle downhill towards Rolle and the lake. 

Trees and a meadow in a road bend

The Route

Instead I cycled upwards towards Montricher. From there I cycled west vila Mollens to Bière, and from there, down and across towards  Saurraz, Marchissy, Le Vaud before Bassins, Le Muid and then finally down from Genolier towards Trelex and from Trelex down through Grens before heading down towards Nyon. 

My expectation was to cycle uphill for a little bit, and then to cycle downhill for the rest of the journey home. In reality that wasn’t the case. In reality I did a lot of climbing. I had to climb over 450 metres. 

Although it felt flat when I was cycling from Nyon, towards these places, when you’re cycling the other way you get to encounter all the climbs. Despite wanting to go down the hill, if you follow the Jura, you end up on a roller coaster. If I had been knackered I could have just followed the road signs that would take me to the lake road, but I didn’t. 

Avoiding Rush Hour

I was cycling from 1500 onwards so I was cycling when parents, and people who work short days were commuting. If I had gone down to the valley of the Lac Léman I would have been pestered with cars and annoyed drivers. By staying at the top I burned a lot of energy, and it depleted my “battery” as Garmin calls it, but I had a pleasant ride. 

Armour and Books

During this ride I was amused to see the armours in the windows of one shop. I always stop to look at them. I find it interesting to look at them. I also passed by several book lending libraries. One was sheltered with a fountain, the second was in an old phone box. The third was the library of Le Vaud but I didn’t enter. It’s nice that on such a ride we can look for books, should we desire to do so, 

Some of the books I saw

Books in an old phone booth

And Finally

The route is nice but I am not sure that I would ride it again. If I had gone up and around the Vallée de Joux I would have had a harder climb initially but then it would have been quite flat until St Cergue and then it would have been an easy downhill. If I had headed down, from Haute Morges, rather than up I would have had an easy ride to the lake, and then it would have undulated a little, but nothing like the Alpine route. I made it, within two hours, as expected, but it was more energetic than planned.