Day 1: 13 miles walked and 1,100′ climbed.

The general plan for the day was to follow the lakeshore East by Southeast for about 15 miles.  Following a lakeshore should mean a flat profile,  which would be a good way to get into the groove of hiking again. That was the plan, and it started well.

Now, this area is a favored wine region in Switzerland, with the grapes grown on steep hills.

In order to appreciate these beautiful vineyards, the trail makers took us up steep paths to the vineyards, then back down, then back up …

Okay, it really was beautiful, so why complain?  We suppose because if we just filled these pages with superlatives, it’d be boring after a while.

We arrived in Vevey and noted two things:  Vevay is the world headquarters of Nestle. Now, their office buildings are right on the lake with a beach! Not a bad way to spend your lunch …

The second thing of note is that Vevey was the retirement home of Charlie Chaplin.

Charlie started his career making movies in the Niles district of Fremont (before there was Hollywood! ). That’s Bill’s hometown in Northern California.

Enough for now.  A demain!