A trip on the Train des Pléiades

I had intended to visit Lausanne today, but got caught up with writing a document for Ashley until lunchtime, and that discouraged me. Then I decided I should arrange to pay a pastoral call to one of the Villars church musicians, Brigitte aged 82, who's been hospitalised for many months due to advancing osetoporosis. I heard that she'd recently moved to another elderly people's residence in a hamlet on the mountainside above Blonay, overlooking Vevey, but wasn't sure which, as there are three in the commune. 

I called her mobile, and a few minutes later she answered on the landline in her room. Once I know which residence, I was able to hunt for it on Google Maps, and plan how to get there, as I was confusingly offered several different routes. Fortunately, Brigitte said that there was a train from Vevey which stops close to the residence, at gare Les Chevalleyres and the CFF train app was more helpful in revealing the rest of the information. This station is just within adjacent zones of the VMCV Public Transport network.

Les Chevalleyres is about 900m above sea level, in effect 500m above Vevey gare. There's a branch line with a modern narrow gauge train cremaillere, which ascends hourly to the Préalpes resort of Les Pléiades at 1,361m. The train climbs through modern suburban housing estates, then vineyards, pasture and woodland. I was fortunate to catch a connecting train to Vevey in time to arrive at the residence before sunset. I had an hour and a half with Brigitte before my return train. We talked in French for the entire time, even though she speaks English well. It's not the first me I've conversed about theology and spirituality in French, although not for many years. I enjoyed the challenge, as it really does concentrate the mind.

I couldn't buy a return ticket, and should have got a carte journaliere. If the visit had been a short one, a standard time expiry ticket would have done. I needed another such ticket for the return trip. There's no ticket machine on most of the request stop stations on this line, just a hotline phone. A brief call advised me to inform the train driver and when the trained stopped at Blonay, the driver told me to get one from a ticket machine on another platform. Easier said than done in the dark. First find the often uncooperative machine, then persuade it to deliver the ticket you want, all in four minutes. A nerve wracking experience, but I made it back on to the train with seconds to spare.

Back at Church House again an hour later, I switched on my Sony HX50, and was surprised to find that the live screen display blemish had disappeared. Whatever spec of material caused this may have been subject to surface static charge inside the camera, and that doesn't last, or behave in a consistent manner, but for now, it's gone.