La Fouly [Switzerland]

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La Fouly [Switzerland]

This isn't really a hiking report because it was a mountainbiking trip.
I was thinking a while whether or not to post it because I wasn't sure if it's suitable for a backpacking forum.
I decided to do it anyway, just because I love that place.

La Fouly is a small village almost at the end of the Val Ferret in the french-speaking area of Switzerland.
It's very close to the three-country border between Switzerland, France and Italy.


View larger map.
Some nice houses near the campground
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The campground was one of the nicer ones. Not much infrastructure but with a nice view on the glacier.
After being on a busy campground at the lake Geneva the night before, this was like paradise.
At first, the kids complained about nothing going on there but soon they started to like it.

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After a quiet night (with the soft sound of the nearby glacier brook in the background), we decided to go for a bike tour.
We didn't do much mountainbiking before so it was a good opportunity to get used to it.
Most paths were unpaved forest roads with some single trails (which I liked most).

At a point, we had a good view on the glacier and the campground.
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The tour was easier than I expected and after a racy descent, we were back in the village quite early. We then decided to do an extra tour up the valley.
We followed the small river and found some nice places.
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After having lunch, we reached the last village of the valley.
My wife and the kids decided to stay there in a garden restaurant while I needed more challenge.
My goal was to reach the very end of the valley although I didn't know how far/high it is.
That's the good thing when going uphill by bike, you can go as far as you can, the return way is always easy.

So I set off alone to explore the end of the valley.
Steep sections alternated with less steep ones and the higher I climbed, the less people came across.
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Finally, I reached a plateau where I was alone.
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I was quite a bit exhausted and enjoyed the fresh air and the silence very much.
After a while, I remembered my wife and kids were waiting for me so I didn't make it to the very end of the valley but it was still a good experience.
The downhill ride back to the village was great fun. I stopped at an alpine cheese dairy and bought some delicious mountain cheese.
Back at the campground, we enjoyed a nice and quiet evening.
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Beautiful! Thanks for posting. Mountain bike trip reports are totally welcome here. BCP is more of an all around backcountry site then a backpacking site. :)
 
Your Switerland reports are beautiful. Another place on the bucket list. Very nice
 

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