As one emerges from the timbered gorge, one is confronted at once by the jagged mountains of the chain of the Grand Muveran; not as they appear in summer, with bare, forbidding precipice and scree, but as they can appear in springtime only, clothed about in winter’s dissipating snows and gladdened by an immediate foreground of glistening crocuses on the brown orchard slopes of Frenière. At this point, looking back, one has a splendid view of the giant hill that carries Villars upon its breast; but the village that one sees with its old church tower clinging to the side at a height of 1133 metres, and seemingly in difficulty to restrain itself from slipping into the gulf, is Gryon, where Juste Olivier, one of Switzerland’s most tuneful poets, spent his last years and sang imperishable songs—songs that have found a place in the heart and life of the people, particularly when the theme is the mi-été festivities at Anzeindaz and Taveyannaz. These midsummer fêtes are held annually in connection with the cattle and cheese industry: they are delightfully typical of old-world custom, and the poet has done much to render them impervious to the destructive note of modern sophistication. Both pasturages lie on the mountains between Villars and Les Plans, and are easy excursions from either of these places and from Gryon. Anzeindaz is the more wild and romantic of the two, its surroundings lending themselves admirably to these picturesque timeworn merrymakings; for the pasturage lies at the foot of the rugged Diablerets, at the foot, too, of a glacier, and at the base of a wild col which, although this is a closed district against hunters, is a spot that knows well the poachers of eagles. There can be little doubt of which way Juste Olivier would cast his vote with regard to the railway that it is proposed shall desecrate these fascinating wilds, dissipating their guileless, primitive associations. He would be on the side of the angels; and the angels are on the side of the Heimatschutz or League for the Preservation of Natural Beauty.
LES PLANS: AVALANCHE FALLING FROM THE GRAND MUVERAN
Les Plans lies snug upon a verdant, watered plateau surrounded on all sides but one by lofty mountains. To the west rises the steep glacier of Plan Névé and the massive form of the Grand Muveran, beloved of Eugène Rambert, famous alpinist-author-botanist, whose name, together with those of Juste Olivier and Jean Muret, is graven upon the Muveran’s sheer precipice at romantic Pont de Nant. At this latter place—only a brief walk from Les Plans—there is a most interesting Alpine garden belonging to the University of Lausanne; it is especially charming in spring, with floral gems of purest hues backed by the translucent ice and snow of the Glacier de Martinet and the Dent de Morcles.
We must now return to Bex and there take the mountain railway up to Villars. It is an exceedingly picturesque line, winding about through woods and pastures, and providing at each turn a changing, ever-widening prospect. The mountains to which we have become accustomed in the plain take upon themselves superior proportions, and their increasing majesty and mystery come as an inevitable, surprised delight. But, for the journey, I will confide you, without apology, to the tender care of a versatile and well-known devotee of this lovely neighbourhood, my friend Mr. D. R. Kelleher, who in his own quaint way will transport you to
VILLARS IN WANING SUMMER
“The incident occurred in a mountain train carrying slowly, as is its wont, up the wooded slope, a ‘conducted’ party of English tourists. A little grey-eyed man was sitting in the corner, opposite a prosperous-looking woman dressed in a black dolman and clinging with traditional awe to her umbrella. Both were manifestly thrilled by the scenes through which they were passing, and not a little bewildered by the profusion of wonders in Alp, tree, and sky. At last the lady, devastated by her curiosity, broke silence in the following scene:—
The Lady (looking anxiously through window at clump of pine trees rich with yellow cones): “John, look at yon trees with the fruit on.”
The Man: “Eh, but they look like bananas.”
The Lady (lighting up with a bright idea): “Ask guide, John.”