A Swiss 'Rest Day' Adventure: Lakeside Views, Forest Trails, and Fondue Rewards on Day Seven
We started the morning with another great Swiss buffet: cappuccinos, strawberry yogurt with fruit, and fresh bread buns with butter and jam.
Today was billed as a 'rest day', but the trail had other ideas. The morning began with a beautiful, flat stretch along a river and through dense woods. With the mossy rocks and towering pines, it felt exactly like the Pacific Northwest. We passed through a charming old Swiss village (possibly L'A Neuve or Issert) filled with traditional wooden houses that looked like they belonged in a storybook.
While our roommates Mackenzie and Caitlyn decided to take the bus because they heard this section was 'boring', we stuck to the path. After the flat start, the trail began to climb. Honestly, it was exhausting.
We stopped for lunch at a wooden table in the forest and enjoyed a total feast: two sandwiches each made with fresh bread, cheese, lettuce, and thin carrot slices. They were incredible!
The final push was tough. Our legs felt it, likely because we ate a bit too much at lunch! We took a brief wrong turn but quickly corrected course while chatting with a British family who had made the same mistake.
We finally reached Champex-Lac, a stunning lakeside town. We had planned to soak our feet in the lake, but as the clouds began to roll in, we ducked into a restaurant just in time to beat the downpour. We spent the afternoon sipping rosé and watching Olympic fencing on the TV.
Once the sky cleared, we walked to Gîte Bon Abri. We arrived at 2:30 PM, but since it didn't open until 4:00 PM, we spent the afternoon sitting in the sun trying to 'fix' our hiker tan lines. My phone automatically remembered the Wi-Fi password from when I stayed here six years ago, saving most of the people waiting from boredom.
By a stroke of luck, we ended up with a private room. Since the rain returned, we immediately turned it into a drying room, stringing laundry everywhere. After showering we settled in to read until dinner.
Dinner was a cozy affair at a circular table with a group of French speakers. The menu was quintessential Switzerland: thin vegetable soup, lettuce and carrot salad, cheese fondue with plenty of bread and potatoes, and cake for dessert.
Despite the 'rest day' lies the trail told us, ending it with fondue and a private room made it all worth it.