Hike to Barrage de Brassilly & Nant de Calvi
Last spring, I went on a hike near Annecy: I reached Barrage de Brassilly, a dam on the Fier river, and walked along Nant de Calvi.
dam
Vidange du Rhône 2021
A few weeks ago, the Vidange du Rhône (or Chasses du Rhône, meaning Flushing of the Rhône) took place between Barrage de Génissiat (Genissiat Dam) in France and Barrage de Verbois (Verbois Dam) in Geneva. Both the CNR (Compagnie Nationale du Rhône), which manage the dams on the French side, and the SIG (Services Industriels de Genève) cooperate on this operation: It is performed every few years in order to purge sediments brought into the Rhône river by the Arve, which accumulate and increase the risk of floods.
For a few days, the dams in the area are opened and their reservoirs emptied, in order to increase the discharge rate with the goal of flushing the sediments from the river bed. The river then turns gray, just like the Arve. Another side effect is that the level of the Rhône is lowered, almost as low as before dams were built along the river so it becomes quite the view. One other, less happy, consequence is that it is a bit of a fish apocalypse, with many of them dying because of the increase in solids suspended in the water.
I went to see this phenomenon in the area around Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, first in Éloise near Pont de Grésin, as part of a hike. Then a few days later, I visited Bellegarde itself just for this purpose and walked along the Rhône. Because of the the Corona restrictions on border crossings, unfortunately, I couldn’t visit the area upstream of the Verbois Dam in Geneva.
Hike to Barrage de Génissiat & Berges du Rhône
As my last outing of 2019, I went on a hike to Barrage de Génissiat, a large dam on the Rhône, then followed the river north to Bellegarde-sur-Valserine.
Hike to Barrage de Chavaroche & Centrale Hydroélectrique de Brassilly
At the end of 2019, I went on walk in Poisy, near Annecy: From the center of Poisy, I went down towards the Fier river and Barrage de Chavaroche then walked along the Fier until Centrale Hydroélectrique de Brassilly.
Hike to Lacs de la Tempête
At the end of summer, I went on a hike to Lacs de la Tempête in the Beaufortain mountains.
Petite France in Strasbourg: Barrage Vauban, Ponts Couverts, Old Town
The Petite France is a historic quarter of Strasbourg. It is located at the western end of the Grande Île, which contains the historical centre of the city. Just upstream of Petite France, the River Ill flows through the Barrage Vauban, a defensive structure built at the end of the 17th century. Downstream of this, the river splits into the Canal du Faux-Rempart and four channels which flow through the Petite France quarter. These four channels are spanned by the Ponts Couverts, an earlier defensive structure of three bridges and four towers that, despite its name, has not been covered since the 18th century.
Lake Okutama / Ogouchi Dam in the rain
After completing the Otama Walking Trail, I took the bus to Lake Okutama. My goal was to walk the Ikoi trail to the floating bridge but the path was closed for repair. It had also started to rain very hard on the way there so I cut the visit short.