21st of July we were happy to have some cash with us, because a lightning had probably interfered with the internet system of Lons as no-one was able to pay by card anymore, neither at the restaurant nor at the hotel and we had no access to WiFi anyways. We left Lons-le-Saunier after a typical French breakfast at the “resto” à la place called “Mjiam”, which was exactly the right expression for how yummy the “pain au chocolat and raisins” were. We were lucky to continue on the old railway line with the “voie verte” for our next leg to Chalon-sur-Saone. It was very windy and clouds moved fast and…

20th of July our breakfast showed already its French side. There was no more Birchermüesli from Switzerland, but Gilles and Isabelle offered us self-made yoghurt and jam with the croissants and Morbier cheese. Gilles was a bike and motorbike fan. He admired my special check rail for my bike which I use to fix the GoPro. I explained him that Robert didn’t want to see me with a GoPro on my helmet which looks in his eyes more than ridiculous. Gilles agreed and said it was very reasonable not to fix it on a helmet as it probably had caused the cerebral trauma of Michael Schuhmacher during his ski accident.…

19th of July we could still have our breakfast outside in the sunshine, but a dark horizon already started to grumble with some thunder. While we were packing it started to rain heavily and the thunderstorm rolled over Lake Geneva causing white capped waves. It was reason enough to postpone our continuation of the Tour and wait some hours until the rain was over. It was a well-used gained time slot to work on the journal and to pack carefully our bags. Elisabeth still offered us lunch and Wolfram wanted to help us out with our luggage to gain time for climbing up the Jurassic mountains. We finally left at…

18th of July I got up with the first rays of sunlight on the Mont Blanc by 5:30 am, because Wolfram explained me the tradition of their Rotary Club of Lausanne lunch meetings allow only a ten minutes flash presentation. So I started extra early in the morning to select the “Less-is-More-Essence” of my “Less-is-More-Presentation”. It took me quite some time on such a complex subject and the early morning was faster over than expected. By 11:00 am we had to leave the house to drive to Lausanne. The Rotary Club Lausanne will count next year a hundred years old history and holds its meetings in the Lausanne Palace. Therefore…

17th of July the sky cleared after some rain showers overnight and there was no haze at all blocking the view over the complete Lake Geneva. The motto of Less-is-More is each time put into question when we load our bikes with our bags. Today one more item was added, because my cousin Julika had a Garmin which never got to be used and my cell phone for navigation started to suffer in the heat. So I had something new to learn and drove crazy with all the possibilities of installation last night. When we started together with Nicolas on the bikes I thought I was able to manage this…

16th of July we felt really honoured being hosted by family de Lavallaz. Their family estate dates back to the 16th century and appeared to us like a castle. Even the entrance to the courtyard was already very impressive and Jean-Marc had sent me a photo way before our arrival not to misinterpret it as a museums entrance. It is very impressive when you can see the family tree and the ancestors from the 16th century look at you in the great room and the year 1643 is graved in soap stone of the furnace. Even a wall panel had a painting of the important passage at Châteaux de Saint…

15th of July started a bit cloudy, but after the 30°C from yesterday we were happy not to be under the direct sun again. Our first goal was already seen from the beautiful little lake, where we had dinner with our Rotarian friends from Sierre yesterday. The whole landscape of the valley was shaped due to a huge landslide, when the Rhone glacier pulled back after the ice age 10.000-15.000 years ago. It left a mixture of hills and little valleys filled with lakes in a kind of disorder to the common main valley of the Rhone. A perfect place to settle since the Bronze age and even Roman ruins…

14th of July was the 90th anniversary of my uncle Werner and we celebrated it with a performance of my cousin Julika and Nicolas on their violas and me spontaneously with singing “Fahrradfahrn” by Max Raabe. It was very touching to have this family moment together, while outside the rain clouds moved away. We were packed and ready to leave by noon. We were lucky to be able to catch the cable car just three minutes before it left Riederalp. Once you step out of the gondola down in the valley you can already feel the temperature change immediately and with the humid air it felt nearly tropical compared to…

13th of July after a little rain shower had passed in the morning it looked like we will be lucky and experience no rain around noon, so we took the risk to make another bike tour towards the Riederalp and continue to the Riederfurka. Our trail followed along the Bettmer lake and we discovered my uncle Werner with his sister Erika and my aunt Friedel sitting up on a bench looking over the valley. At the horizon you could already see our destination la villa “Cassel”. It was in 1895, that Sir Ernest Cassel got the recommendation by the court physician of Queen Victoria to stay up in the high…

12th of July the sun rose while the full moon set crystal clear above the most iconic and famous Swiss mountain peaks, like Fletschhorn, Dom, Matterhorn and Weisshorn. The weather was so promising, that I was ready to repeat a part of the tour from yesterday to show Robert around the beautiful landscape. Biking along Fiescheralp to Märjelen lake was a must see. From there we climbed close to the Aletsch glacier with splendid views. You could read the middle moraines stretching through the whole length of the Aletsch. They were created by the different glaciers joining at Concordia place. High above we were able to see the Sphinx of…