Seythenex

Today I went on a trip to Seythenex – on my bike like my trip last weekend, although this time I took some lunch with me (partly because this trip was longer than my previous one, and partly out of my own common sense/suggestion from Sara).

Seythenex is a village just next to Faverges in Haute-Savoie, France. Faverges itself is a pretty village, with some attractive buildings and an interesting castle on top of the hill, but the main attraction in Seythenex (and the reason I went) are some caves and a waterfall. Faverges would probably be worth visiting, and I was tempted to do so on my way back but the weather was getting worse and with 2 hours of cycling ahead of me I didn’t want to tempt fate, so I headed straight home. On the left is the last view of Annecy before going round a bend (the lake curves slightly). About 40 minutes and 17km later, you get to a village called Bout-du-Lac, which literally means End of the Lake (the picture to the right shows the view of the end of the lake from the cycling track). Good thing they didn’t call Annecy L’Autre Bout du Lac (The Other End of the Lake) – personally I think Annecy has a nicer ring to it…

After many more kilometers of cycling track (although it’s a good quality cycling track, not even next to the road, with nice views of the lake and surrounding mountains), I finally reached Faverges. Down a side street I came across a very tempting, and typically French, shop.

Seythenex is then a few kilometers down the road from Faverges, but by then it was 1.30pm and I was feeling pretty hungry, so when a grassy field with a nice view presented itself, I took the opportunity to stop for a bite to eat. As added incentive, the last 2km of the trip are uphill (relatively steeply – I had a hunch this would happen, when I passed the sign saying I was heading in the direction of the Seythenex ski station) so the break was welcome! My lunch consisted of bread, cheese (Tomme de Savoie) and terrine. French enough for you?? Well, I suppose I’m still missing the bottle of red wine (see, I should’ve stopped at the shop in Faverges, just for the sake of this blog’s photographic evidence), plus I was a little lacking in choice (1 cheese and terrine), but hey, backpack space was limited, what with all the water I was carrying plus a sweater for the caves (which are year-round in the region of 10°C/50°F), although in the end I didn’t take my backpack into the caves with me, and I forgot about the sweater and left it in my backpack (that’s right, I took a sweater on a 56km round-trip for absolutely no reason).

Anyway, I eventually reached the caves and the waterfall (at that point I was so hot from the climb that I felt like standing underneath the waterfall, although to be honest that probably would’ve been a bad idea). The visit of the caves is done via a guided tour of 30-40 minutes and was quite useful. They were first opened in 1906, and the old metal ladders used back then are still in place today (although they aren’t used any more). I have to admit that after some of the caves I’ve seen in the US (in particular the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, which are an absolute must if you’re ever in New Mexico), these weren’t anything special (they’re relatively young caves, having been created by the river that now forms the waterfall about 18,000 years ago (around the end of the last Ice Age) – since stalactites grow by about 1cm every century, they haven’t had much time to develop…). When we got to this point the guide said “now, I need you to pay attention, close attention, to this, because I’m about to show you the largest stalactites in these caves.” He then turned on his flashlight and showed us… stalactites that were about 5cm long. The caves were interesting nonetheless, as they’re the only ones that are open to the public in Haute Savoie.

On the other hand the waterfall was more impressive. There are actually two parts to it, which together measure a vertical drop of 45m, although individually the largest is only a 30m fall. It’s still impressive to stand at the bottom though, listening to its roar and watching the water and the force with which it strikes the small basin at the bottom. If you climb the steps next to the waterfall, there’s a bridge over the top where you can look down upon the waterfall – just make sure you hold on to your camera tightly and that you don’t lean over too much with your sunglasses tucked into the front of your shirt like I almost did…

After the waterfall, the river calms down and eventually spills into the Lac d’Annecy. I leave you with a view of the entire waterfall, plus a staged shot of me next to it, looking at the waterfall using the camera’s timer function (pretending a friend took the picture of course).