I was looking forward to a return to the Auberge du Vieux Châteleu with Mary, so I regretted that her recent illness (from which she is recovering well) kept her at home. Anyway, I enjoyed the comfort of the place – and those potatoes again!
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Leaving Villers-le-Lac this morning, I walked past a park that was the site of the campground in 1989. We've learned of the closure of several campgrounds where we camped in 1989: Aubure, Giromagny and now Villers-le-Lac. A disappointing pattern...
There was a lot of road-walking under another blazing hot sun this morning. The rolling, bucolic countryside was, however, beautiful.
No shaded (or even unshaded) picnic table on today's trail – but I did find a comfortable tree stump for lunch.
The highlight (and high point) of today's hike was a ridge that forms the border between France and Switzerland. As always, I was interested in the border stones (bornes), which reflect interesting bits of history. The stones here were dated 1819 – five years after the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. The coat of arms of the Canton of Neuchâtel was chiseled into the Swiss side of each stone. A few of the stones still had a fleur-de-lys visible on the French side, but most of those symbols of the Bourbon monarchy had been chiseled off (without, however, being replaced by an F, as was done elsewhere).
On this stone, the fleur-de-lys was very carefully chiseled out:
A great place for a break while hiking along the ridge: shaded, with a magnificent view:
Thirsty Montbéliard cattle:
There was a lot of road-walking again at the end of the day's hike.
The appearance of the Auberge du Vieux Châteleu on the horizon was a welcome sight as I trudged up that road!
Tonight's main course at dinner (following a rich mushroom soup and preceding a delicious tiramisu):
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