Horological Meandering

Watch Valley SlowUp

This Sunday, July 1st, was the SlowUp Vallée de Joux.
What is a SlowUp?
Take an approx. 30km circuit of road in beautiful countyside, close the roads to all motorized traffic for the day and let the people go.
Any and all forms of non-motorised transportation allowed - bikes, roller skates, roller blades, baby carriages, walking, jogging, etc.
There are about 10 such SlowUps in Switzerland each year www.slowup.ch h
What does this have to do with watches?
This is the SlowUp Vallée de Joux,
the Vallée de Joux otherwise known as Watch Valley, home of Jaeger-Lecoultre, Breguet, AP and others.
We, my wife and I, started out in Le Pont, the northern tip of the lake, driving in by way of Vallorbe.
As the roads all end at the lake for the day, they make long parking lots

For those that don't have their own bike (or weren't too sure their bikes would survive 30km as in our case) there is Rent-a-Bike.

Leaving Le Pont towards L'Abbaye. The bike riders can expect to be done in 2 to 2.5 hours, the walkers somewhat longer.

Entering L'Abbaye, the home of Breguet. (Hmm... pedestrians use the sidewalk?)

And here we are, it looks like there is no-one at work on a Sunday morning

But the adventure playground just by the lake is well frequented. (picture taken from the same spot as the picture above, 90° to the left)

In the village of L'Abbaye

A fisherman on the lake

ETA Factory 27, it doesn't look like anyone is working here either

Some animation along the way, a rock band that could be heard for miles.

Here we are in l'Orient, the world is on it's feet in front of a "Manufacture de Haute Horlog...".

This picture doesn't say all that much, but the parcourse doesn't go through le Brassus so we can't see if anyone is working at AP. In any case AP is in that direction a couple of km.

Now we have rounded the southern end of the lake and are starting back north. Unfortunately it has clouded over too and we felt one or 2 rain drops. Having passed through Le Sentier we see another sleeping watch factory.

In spite of the clouds there is vacation feeling all over

A small traffic jam in front of a tent where they are distributing refreshments, the Dent-de-Vaulion in the background

The kids wiz by so fast they are impossible to catch!

I missed taking a picture of the turn-off to Le Solliat, where Philippe Dufour lives and works just after Le Sentier.
Rolling into Le Lieu, Bienvenue, Willkommen

The countryside with the Dent-de-Vaulion in the distance

My trusty Mido Commander on the arm today

This guy who probably made the most steps going around the lake, he will certainly sleep well tonight!

Back in Le Pont the clouds do look forboding, but this is somehow part of the unusual charm of this valley

Of course with all these people up and about the restaurants in Le Pont were over-full and we couldn't really warm up to the idea of just a sausage and bread or similar "eat while standing" food from one of the many grills along the sidewalks.

So we headed back home on a road I had never taken before and stopped at the first opportunity to eat we saw.

No, it doesn't look like much, but we were hungry...
A tiny menu as in every chalet, cheese, ham, etc., cozy ambiant, friendly people.
I forgot to take the camera in with me, but the croute de fromage aux jambon was wonderful for hungry me.
My wife had a mushroom croute with all kinds of fresh mushrooms, excellent.
The salad that preceded was also from the best.
That with a simple white wine from Ollon, on the border between cantons Vaud and Valais, just right.
Coming in I saw how they cut and served the still slightly warm raisinee pie for some other guests.
There was only one piece left, so I reserved it for myself immediately when we ordered. A local specialty worth fighting for (or at least making sure some one else doesn't get the last piece).
All in all another one of those eating experiences that remind me that I made the correct decision to live here in the Swiss Romande.
Where ever you go, here in canton Vaud, be it finest haute cuisine restaurant to the simplest chalet in the mountains, good food, well prepared, you are rarely disappointed.
Time is too precious to measure with a cheap watch.
Life is too short to drink bad wine (or accept less than the best food).
I hope you all have had a good Sunday too,
Don