Geneva to Onex and beyond - a wet and windy 34km

What a difference a day makes (or two if we are being pedantic). A couple of days ago, the weather was beautiful, rushing towards Spring with glorious sunshine. Lac Leman resembled a millpond. The blue sky contrasted beautifully against the crisp white mountains. Heck, I even got a bit if a tan on the old schnoz.

But today, one word; damp.

In fact, at one point I had to pull over for a banana-break, not because I was tired but because I couldn't see a thing.

Going to have to sort me out some contacts, methinks...

The route today was a little higgledy. I wanted to head out of Geneva and get myself on the road to France. The only thing stopping me were the trams.

Everywhere I turned I ended up running parallel to them, wanting to get to the other side of their tracks. The Austrian wife, however, has regaled me with so many stories of getting your wheels stuck in the tramlines that I've developed quite a complex about crossing them. This'll have to be addressed because the bloody things [read: wonderfully efficient public transport solutions] are everywhere.

Eventually I got on the Route du Rhône heading West. Travelling along the river you get to see some great sites, but my favourite today looks to be a diving platform straight out of a Eastern Block training camp, adorned with terrible European graffiti.

However, the cycle path at this point quickly becomes a dirt track.

Rain + Slick Tyres = A Change of Plan

I ended up heading out of town and towards Lancy and then later Onex. The beauty of this country is that the cycle paths lead you all over town, and give you a shed load of options in the meantime. 

I took the route towards France, but changed my mind at the last minute when a cycle path went off at a tangent and heading in towards the mountains. For a few miles I cycled over agricultural land, without a soul in sight, before cutting down into a charming little village on the outskirts of Bernex. 

From there, I came back on myself, past little allotments and summerhouses which I'd not noticed on the way through. By this point, however, the rain was coming down pretty hard, and I decided to head for home. 

This was the point that I realised the Swiss have missed a trick. Although their cycle paths are awesome (and I do promise to get over this one day and stop banging on about it), the material they've selected for the lines and markers is ridiculously slippery. I had a couple of braking situations that almost ended badly because of this. My best advice is to avoid cycling on them wherever you can - sadly it's not always possible due to the sensible way the authorities have laid out the junctions. Damn well thought out cycle solutions! *Shakes fist*

I left the countryside and the solitude, and ended up smack bang in the middle of town without much effort - the Jet d'Eau was still going, even in the pissing rain. It really shows you that you can take a couple of hours out to go for a ride, and end up in the middle of nowhere. Because of that I think I'm really going to love living in Geneva.

So all in all, a nice 34km to get the legs moving and to learn a bit more of Geneva. Next stop, a warm cup of tea and a dry out...