La Jonction is a place in Geneva where the rivers Rhône and Arve join with each other. The rivers have different colors and, when meeting, their waters mix together into the one final river, Rhône. For a good view of this phenomenon, there is a viewpoint next to the water, as well as a bridge (Viaduc de la Jonction) 40m above.
The Promenade des Pertes de la Valserine in Bellegarde-sur-Valserine is a short and easy walk that follows the Valserine, a river that takes its source in the Jura mountains and empties into the Rhône. Starting near the train station in the city, the path goes upstream to the Pertes (French for “losses”), where the river disappears in natural canyons dug into limestone rocks.
The Promenade de Jean-Jacques Rousseau is a short and easy walk in Chambéry that follows the footsteps of Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. It starts in the Old Town of Chambéry at Parc de la Calamine and goes up to Les Charmettes, a house where Rousseau lived with Madame de Warens between 1736 and 1742. It then loops back by passing through the Parc de Buisson-Rond and the Château de Boigne.
I didn’t actually walk the whole loop: It was getting late and dark so I went down to the city directly once I reached Les Charmettes.
Parc du Bois Vidal is a large park in Aix-les-Bains. It has multiple forest paths, lawns and a viewpoint (belvédère) with a good view on Lac du Bourget and the surrounding mountains.
After Vallon du Fier, I continued walking and, after a detour through a trail along Nant de Calvi, I reached Poisy, a village northwest of Annecy. My goal was to cross the Montagne d’Âge, a small mountain that is part of the Jura mountains, from the north to the south on the way to Château de Montrottier and Gorges du Fier in Lovagny.
The Vallon du Fier is a large park and nature reserve in Annecy, located between the Fier and Viéran rivers. It has many paths suitable for walking or biking.
After I reached the Passerelles neighbourhood in Cran-Gévrier and the end of the path along the Thiou river, I kept walking on the road until the start of the Parcours Nature Fier et Erbe (Fier & Erbe Nature Trail). It is a path in the forest that follows the course of the Fier river at first, then the Erbe, a brook that flows into the Fier. Here is a map.
The Thiou is a short river (3.5 km) that flows from Lake Annecy to the Fier, which is itself a tributary of the Rhône. Starting from the Old Town of Annecy, built in the middle of canals formed by the Thiou, there is a series of paths along the river that go all the way to Cran-Gévrier, slightly before it joins with the Fier.
Last summer, a few weeks after riding my bike from La Féclaz to Albens, I came back to the Bauges mountains. This time, I rode from the Semnoz plateau to Saint-Pierre-d’Albigny in Savoie.
