Searching for narcisses at Les Avants

Clancy and Georgia are visiting Europe from Australia and came past Lausanne for a couple of days. Our original plan for a day in the hills was to walk from the Col de Jaman to Cape au Moine up a scrambly ridge. But it snowed 20 cm overnight, and as we started up it was clear the snow was wet and heavy and we could hear avalanches coming down on the steeper other side of the valley. So we bailed back to the car park to decide what to do instead!

What we did instead was the Chemin des Narcisses, around Les Avants. Narcisses are an alpine daffodil that, in spring, grow in such numbers in the fields around Les Avants and Les Pléiades that they get called the neige de mai (may snow). The flower is symbolic of the region and there is a narcisses festival every year, amid concern over the fact that the numbers of narcisses are declining. In very Swiss style there is a narcisses forecast for any given date in spring! We walked the signposted narcisses path around Les Avants, which looped through beautiful misty forest and flowered fields.

Sure enough there were many narcisses flowers out. Rain came and went as we walked, the mountains hid in the fog, and cow-bells rang across the valley. After a false start in the real snow, walking amongst the snow-coloured narcisses delivered a great day outside.