Tanay et Grammont

 Yesterday Emilie and I hiked up to Lake Tamay and Mount Grammont, which are just south of the eastern edge of Lake Geneva near the border with France. Here's the view as we began our ascent.

The first part of the hike towards Tanay took us mostly through forest, though there were a few open areas with nice views.

We got turned around a couple of times and had to backtrack a bit, but we eventually made it to Lake Tamay. The lake is relatively tiny but very picturesque and there were a couple of families camping there.

At this point I was already tired and casually asked Emilie where we were going to stop to eat the lunch that we had brought. And that's when I learned, unfortunately, that we wouldn't be stopping for lunch until we reached the peak of Grammont.

On the other side of the lake is the village of Tamay, which is very small and has a lot of tiny alpine cottages like the one pictured below.

The next stage of the hike was exhausting, as we had to cover a lot of vertical ground with the midday sun beating down on us. Plus, part of the trail consisted of loose gravel, so it was a bit difficult to get proper footing at times. Here's a view looking back down at Lake Tamay after only a small portion of the incline.

Fortunately, the view was very nice so we could at least enjoy that despite the exhaustion and hunger that continued to build.

The final incline consisted of a narrow path up a ridge with a relativly steep drop on either side -- a perfect setting given that my hunger was driving me towards delirium.

But I ultimately was glad that we waited to eat given the panoramic view that we had at the top of Mount Grammont. It was a perfect spot for a picnic.

After finishing lunch and extending our break a bit to recover, we began the trek back with Emilie leading the way.

The extra rest didn't help much, though, as the hike down was also exhausting. Plus, we had to basically cover the same route that we had taken up, so there was a clear understanding of exactly how far we still needed to go to get back to the car.

I more or less gave up on taking pictures by this point in an effort to salvage the limited energy that I had remaining. I made an exception, though, during a brief stop at Lake Tamay -- here's the view from the other side of the lake and a picture of a tiny alpine church nearby.