A Trip to Denens

With the weather forecast a bit on the dodgy side for this afternoon, I took the initiative and headed out on a morning walk in the neighborhood.  As a destination, I selected Denens - a village a mile or so southwest of Monnaz.  The route first took me down the long flight of stairs that lead to the valley between Monnaz and the castle opposite.  And then up the long flight of stairs past the cows with the bells that I had heard yesterday.  The weather was fine.

I semi-circumambulated the castle and found a walking sign that pointed the way to Denens.  As you can see, it says 30 min.  The times on these yellow walking signs (that are everywhere) are rumored to be set by retirees in hiking clubs that do the various walks and then set the times to match their efforts.  From my experience, these must be cybernetic retirees - I rarely come within 150% of their estimates.  So I figured it might be 45 minutes or an hour for me.



The route went through the vineyards that are everywhere in this area.  Row after row of grapes just starting to put out their first vines.  I was following some of the one-lane "farm roads" that they use to get to the grapes.  These roads are paved and run through the fields - very convenient for morning walks.

The walking routes in Switzerland are very popular and I met others out for their morning walks.  I chatted with them in French before continuing on.  OK, maybe "chatted with them in French" is a bit of an exaggeration - I'd say "bonjour" with my no-doubt thick American accent in reply to their perfect French greeting...  People are very friendly and everyone says "bonjour" when meeting others.

I found Denens after about 45 minutes (retirees!) and wandered
around a bit.  Since it's a national holiday today (Ascension Day of course!) not much was happening.  I did spot the bakery and hope to make the trip again for baked goods.

The trip back was by a different set of farm roads and uneventful - though a lot more interesting than my usual morning bus commute in Seattle...