Some views of Aigle and its peripheries

Dwight Peck's personal website

Some views of Aigle's outskirts

Springtime walks in the neighborhood

Since earliest times, Aigle, about 10km south of Lake Geneva, has been a carrefour for traffic to and from France, the north from the Pays d'Enhaut, and Italy over the Grand St Bernard Pass. Once the home of the bailiff of the government in Berne, the Château d'Aigle passed to the city government in 1804 and, until 1976 (like many surviving Swiss castles) served as the local jail.

You may not find this terribly rewarding unless you're included here, so this is a good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.

First (recent) glimpses of the Château d'Aigle

We're off to photograph the Castle of Aigle, 7 April 2014, walking over the hill from Ollon. This is the Ollon hamlet of Verschiez.

Verschiez

A little parting of the ways around the headland of La Plantour

Out of the forest to the Ormont valley, extending from the Rhône valley at Aigle up rightwards towards Château-d'Oex, Les Diablerets, Gstaad, the region called the Pays-d'Enhaut, or 'Highlands'. The resort of Leysin is up behind that big lump in the centre.

"Dig we must". It looks like a water-works project.

The Château d'Aigle amongst the vineyards of the ancient part of Aigle called Le Cloître, or The Cloister, . . .

. . . zoomed. Downtown Aigle is behind the castle.

The local baron had a small fortification here by 1179, to cover the Ormont passes over the Cols des Mosse and du Pillon, but it was in the late 1200s that the feudal overlords of Savoie permitted the baronial Saillon family to construct the basis of the present castle. The donjon or keep was added in the French style in the late 15th century.

No more today -- we're turning up the hill to walk back to Ollon. This path looked pretty good on the topographical map.

Still quite nice

A little cliffier around here, but a very nice path. Fingers crossed.

Down a little now . . .

. . . and then up again.

Is that a path or a pile of dead leaves?

Onward and upward

Topping out soon

Now they tell us. 'Beware of the Vipers!'

It was all a big mistake. We've got to go back down again.

Vineyards below Verschiez

Le Plantour

Lost in the vineyards

Home again in Ollon

A subsequent closer look

A few days later, Kristin's back from the USA, and we've got to show her the Château d'Aigle as well. 10 April 2014.

Back down through the forest

The château

My version of the photo that appears on about a quarter of all landscape jigsaw puzzles sold in Europe.

The courtyard outside the castle, and the Maison de la Dîme, with its museum of wine labels.

The donjon

The castle gate

The courtyard within, and its Musée de la Vigne et du Vin, or wine museum

Walking out through the Le Cloître district of the Prieuré, or priory

This didn't work out as well as hoped. There are no ground level walking paths between Aigle and Ollon.

Ollon

We're preceded by a herd of cows blocking up the road.

Another walk in the outskirts of Aigle

The Château d'Aigle and medieval church, 3 May 2014

Today's flirtation with Aigle involves a walk out the Grande Eau, the mini-river that tumbles down the gorge from the Pays-d'Enhaut, passes in its rigorous channel around the north of downtown Aigle, and joins the Rhône river just to the west. We're starting from the upper town, not far from the castle and old church.