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Switzerland: Moto Trip Switzerland: Day 5 - Château de Chillon and Interlaken

Yearly vacation started and with Nada we decided to have a motorbike trip, exploring Switzerland. On our 5th day we were back in the saddle. We left our camping Attermenzen in Täsch and started riding in the Mattertal valley towards the city of Visp, where we entered the Rhône valley. We followed it all the way to Lake Geneva, where we decided to make a stop and see the Château de Chillon. Hot day and motorbike gear don't get along very well, so we escaped back towards the hills. Easy riding brought us to Interlaken, city between lakes Thunersee and Brienzersee. Few photographs and the evening was here, we just needed a place to stay. Wild camping was again on our schedule and we found the right spot just outside the Innertkirchen.

Previous days of our motorbike trip to Switzerland: Day 4, Day3, Day 2 and Day 1.

 

In the morning we left Täsch and rode all the way to Lake Geneva / Lac Léman.

Chillon Castle / Château de Chillon is an island castle located on Lake Geneva.  It is situated at the eastern end of the lake, on the narrow shore between Montreux and Villeneuve, which gives access to the Alpine valley of the Rhône.

Chillon began as a Roman outpost, guarding the strategic road through the Alpine passes.

 

Lake Geneva's first recorded name of the lake is Lacus Lemannus (meaning "port's lake"), dating from Roman times. We met some swans on the shore of the lake.

 

Since the end of the 18th century, the castle has attracted romantic writers. From Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Victor Hugo via Alexandre Dumas, Gustave Flaubert and Lord Byron, the castle has inspired poets from around the world. Now it attracts many photographers too.

The oldest parts of the castle have not been definitively dated, but the first written record of the castle was in 1005. It was built to control the road from Burgundy to the Great Saint Bernard Pass.

From the mid 12th century, the castle was summer home to the Counts of Savoy, who kept a fleet of ships on Lake Geneva. The castle was greatly expanded in 1248 and 1266-7 by Peter II.

 

In 1536 the castle was captured by a Genevois and Bernese force. The castle became the residence for the Bernese bailiff until Chillon was converted into a state prison in 1733.

View to the Lake Geneva above Vevey

Thunder, Blue Horse, Tuši and Nada on the way to Interlaken

Berner Oberland (Bernese Highlands) with Gantrisch, 2175 m

Thunersee - Lake Thun is a storage of  at least 3000 tones of dumped munitions from Swiss army, that was dumped into the lake after World War II and up until 1963.

Brienzersee - Lake Brienz 

Nada - happy motorbiker

 

We rode through Innertkirchen and then we found a good free camping spot

Dinner time

Day 5: Täsch, Lac Léman, Interlaken and Innertkirchen - 327 km

GeoCaches found (all received a visit by trackable items "Siebasiach's Figure Eight Geocoin", TB735HE, "Gallotia Mystery", TB7372G and "Kljuc do casa in prostora / A key to time and space", TB2RCC3):
- Mattertalschanze, GCJC8W
- Château de Chillon, GCJF82
- Grand Tour #23: Château de Chillon, Letterbox Hybrid, GC6FBEX