Col du Marchairuz and Col du Mollendruz plus Tour de Romandie

A fun day with Philipe and Xavier cycling in the Swiss Jura mountains and watching the Tour de Romandie.

Our Simple Plan: Cycle up to Col du Marchairuz, watch the pros go past, then cycle up Col du Mollendruz and through some picturesque Swiss country-side. Very nice weather, except we were poured on for both descents ….. localized mountain showers – brrrrrr.

Neither Col du Marchairuz or Col du Mollendruz are particularly steep, but they are both very nice climbs with great views of Lake Geneva below.

After climbing Marchairuz, we enjoyed the Tour de Romandie festivities at the top. This race continues to have a brilliant pre-race publicity caravan. T-shirts, hats, etc. But also a local vineyard stopping and pouring glasses of wine, followed by a bakery driving by handing out rolls, and – of course – the Gruyère car handing out cheese. Nice.

I really didn’t have any good race photos. However, it was fascinating to see just how many of the stragglers were “assisted” by cars as they tried to stay ahead of the broom wagon.

I must admit, after a chilly and wet descent from Marchairuz I could have been talked into just calling it a day.

Luckily, Philippe was more ambitious and convinced us to visit Mollendruz. After, we reached Mollendruz, I put on a jacket for the descent but commented that it was sunny. Literally 10 seconds later, it rained on us again for the downhill.

But once we reached the bottom the ride through the Swiss country side was wonderful:

Moo!