Colin Churcher's Blog for 2015: Wednesday 9 September

We have been pretty busy ever since we arrived here a week ago and decided that an easy day was necessary. We are pretty much over jet lag now but I am still fighting a cold I picked up in the plane on the way over.

A line of cloud formed around the mountains opposite. The day became hot and very hazy. A good day to laze around

The weather was promising when the sun rose and we woke up slowly and enjoyed the view.The first order of business was to go into Montreux and make a reservation on the steam paddle steamer "La Suisse" for next Tuesday.

While waiting for Mary I went to the Territet station to watch the trains. There is a plastic box which makes a good seat from where I can see the signals in both directions. As soon as the light turns green I have to be ready with the camera. From 1000 until 1032 I saw three westbound (a fast passenger, a stopping passenger and a freight) and four eastbound (a fast passenger, a regional and a stopper and a train of tanks hauled by double headed BLS brown locomotives). The SBB train graph for this line (table 211) can be found at http://www.fahrplanfelder.ch/en/archives/graphic-timetables/

A short westbound freight headed by SBB Re 4/4 11248

The eastbound BLS tank train with BLS Re 4/4 "Stadt Bern" 179

The S1 hourly stopping train to Villeneuve

After visiting the steamer office we wanted to check out the two mountain railways out of Montreux for places to visit. We first took the shuttle to Sonzier which filled up at the first stop with noisy schoolkids going home for lunch. It turns out the turnround time at Sonzier was just a minute so we quickly returned to Montreux. The views are great on this Golden Pass Line - and they are free with the Montreux Riviera card.

The next mini-excursion was to Glion. The regular train was full with a large tour group but there was a later train going up the rack only to Caux, again for the school kids. The view from the station platform at Glion is spectacular and the weather was just perfect. We had a short walk around the small village which is either up or down. A short funicular ride brought us back to Territet and the apartment. Once again, this was free with the Riviera card.