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#borderwalk

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JulietJFall

I don’t think I ever shared that we walked the border stretch near Cara 🇨🇭/ Carra 🇫🇷 a few weeks ago, did I? (Clearly this is news that the fediverse has been waiting for with baited breath😛!)
I love it when the 2 countries can’t even agree on spelling for place names: the near-abroad is made subtly more Other. Several great border stones and border infrastructure to keep me amused on these last steps of our epic & mundane slow walking adventure. #borderWalk #border #geography #visualMethods

A Swiss / French border stone showing the Geneva shield of an eagle and key engraved next to a rusting barrier. A house is in the background.
A border stone in the foreground showing the wiggly line on top that indicates that the border follows the road (entirely in France here)
The other side of the border stone, showing the Sardinian heraldry, now part of France, with a large house in the background. This site was much used in WWII as a point for smuggling refugees- Jewish & others - into Switzerland.
One of the gorgeous early 20thC Swiss customs buildings designed by Marc Camoletti, now transformed into a private dwelling.
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JulietJFall

Today, for Ascension weekend, we walked to Spain.
Ok, not really! We actually scrambled in the woods in the Jura mountains looking for three elusive border stones, the oldest of which was laid in 1648 when there was a border between Franche-Comté that belonged to Philip IV, king of Spain & the Pays de Vaud (then part of Berne). Although this remained an international border until 1862 (Traité des Dappes) this area is now entirely within France 🇫🇷. #BorderWalk #geography #history #mosstodon

A person is partly visible sitting on a border stone, on which a carved shield is sort of still visible. It shows a very faded « lion rampant » that would have been yellow against a blue background. Some flecks of blue are still visible. It is the Lion de Franche-Comté dating from the Spanish period (1649)
The other side of the border stone was recarved in 1798 with RHUI (République Helvétique une et indivisible), that is to say the regime installed in what was then Switzerland by the fallout from the French Revolution. There is fabulous squishy moss in the foreground growing on rocks, part of an old dry stone wall.
A border stone stands alone by a footpath, in the woods, with the date 1752 on it. There would have been one or several Fleur de Lys (for France) on this side, but it has been wiped off. The stone is tall and thin, about 1.5metres high.
A border stone, very worn and wonky, lies in a field. A mountain meadow lies behind it, with a stone farm typical of the Jura in the background, and mixed woods behind. The number 24 is faintly visible on one side. Moss grows on it.
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JulietJFall

Hurray, we have secured access badges to CERN (European Council for Nuclear Research) to walk the short stretch of the 🇨🇭 🇫🇷 within the cross-border science site tomorrow, with two knowledgeable staff members. I am so loving this adventure along the borderline, taking us to many unexpected places large and small!

And, yikes, my comic book coming out of this project needs to be handed in at the end of the month! Almost there!
#borders #borderWalk #geography #history #borderstudies #cern #comics

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JulietJFall

We found ourselves in formerly Sardinian (!) territory as a splendid crested border stone across the 🇨🇭🇫🇷Hermance river reminded us that this was part of wider kingdoms in 1816, before the same stone was recarved when this area joined France, but maintaining the Sardinian royal flag. On the other side, the Geneva crest was spectacularly inaccurate, and as a result really rather cool. #borderWalk #history #borders

A border stone on a stone bridge
The Geneva crest of an eagle & key, but carved in such a way as to look like a scrawny chicken with a funny hat
Sardinian eagle crest, with the name France carved below it
The author squinting into the sun next to stone number 214
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JulietJFall

We then got into trouble traipsing across cross-border fields, ending up in someone’s garden, trying to accurately follow the line where it left the river. « We are just trying to follow the invisible borderline» not surprisingly comes across as rather odd to people who are wondering if the walkers wandering into their land are a) lost or b) burglars! To be fair, none of this really makes any sense, does it? Other than as geographical poetry of the absurd. #borderWalk #geography #borderlines

Modern border stone no. 212, with the dates 1816 and 1970 carved in the side.
Another trace of a WWII memorial (on the French side) marking the gateway to freedom during 1943-44, presumably meaning access to Switzerland, but manned by occupying forces.
Man standing at one border stone looking through binoculars at the next one, in a field
A border passage point that is closed with a gate at night, in front of yet another 1910 border guards building
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JulietJFall

We joined up with the border & continued upstream, along the river Hermance. The border now runs down the middle of it here (here it was formerly along the talweg, i.e. following the deepest bit of the river bed). It is a picturesque and languid river meandering in a rural landscape punctuated by the usual border infrastructure: border stones, disused border guard buildings and rusting signs and fences. #borderWalk #geography #switzerland #visualMethods #visualEthnography #walking

French walking signpost at the Pont de Crevy at border stone (“borne”) 216 in a strip of trees by the river. No leaves on the winter trees.
A border stone un the foreground, next to an old stone bridge. The Swiss old border guard’s house is visible in the background
The typical 1910 architecture of the Swiss border post houses, designed by Marc Camoletti
Border stone 2016b, in the mud by the river Hermance
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JulietJFall

It’s Sunday so off we go 🇨🇭🇫🇷boundary-walking, through fields & along the river Hermance. We walked from border stones 210 to 216 on the left bank, close to Veigy-Foncenex.
We started by stumbling upon a memorial in Crevy to some of the Righteous among the Nations, i.e. local people who helped Jewish refugees flee to Switzerland during WWII. (We reckon we’ve got about 5-6 stretches left to complete our tour, but we might stretch it out a bit!) #localHistory #borderWalk #geography #history #ww2

Sign about the Memorial des Sauveteurs de l’Ombre in a field
Stone monument that looks like wings
Context of the small monument in Crevy, that shows how it’s a little spot rather in the middle of nowhere, not really at the border nor in the village
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JulietJFall

We wore Wellington boots today, which was inspired, because it was muddy in places, we waded through the stream used to define the 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border for some stretches, and it was POURING with rain as we turned back to the car. Home for tea after another lovely walk seeing the superb and the mundane, following an (in)visible line. How much effort goes in to making us believe in the reality of the arbitrary territories we carve out!
#BorderWalk #geography #borders #borderlands #sovereignty

A smiling woman stands in the middle of a field exactly on the invisible line, with arms outstretched in each country. Clearly trespassing in someone’s field, but hopefully excusable because the field is harvested & left with stubble to overwinter
A sign by a fence saying Passage Interdit.
A large French road with the Salève mountain in the sun, before the skies opened. The border is along the trees on the left.
A person climbing through brambles and branches to reach border stone 80
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JulietJFall

Lots of lovely border stones to keep me happy along the way (left bank 72 to 85 today), large and small, old and new(ish). Some easy to see, some requiring a phone app with gps to find in brambles, some needing repair, and some behind private fences (ahem…). #BorderWalk

A small almost buried border stone numbered 73bis on one side, indicating that from here the border follows the middle of the stream. 73 is on the other (Swiss) bank, substantially larger on next photo.
Modern 1981 granit border stone, by a stream. Large S for Switzerland on one side.
A massive borderstone number 74bis at the tip of a triangle shape. The author stands behind it, looking happy but rather unfocused
Border stone 77 made of limestone rock in low undergrowth. It’s in a terrible shape, so damaged that only half of the number is visible. It’s close to a field so perhaps got hit by a tractor?
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JulietJFall

Another Sunday exploring. No snow on the mountains, so the family isn’t skiing as much as some winters. Time to border hop!
We connected back with where the photo above — showing a border that closes at night — was taken, and tootled on. I love spotting all the infrastructure connected to the 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border. I now have an official list of it all from the Office du Patrimoine but it’s usually pretty legible.
#borderWalk #geography #borders #slowResearch #visualEthnography

A road signpost for Route du Pont-de-la-Fin with stickers saying « back to Europe » added to it. There weren’t there last time I came in 2020 during lockdown.
Man tapping his gps watch at the exact border. A Swiss border crossing station is behind saying Douane de Croix-de-Rozon, 1960s architecture.
Phone map screenshot, from Swisstopo app, showing that the border follows a tiny stream along this stretch. The French side of the map is blank.
Former 1920s border post, now converted to private dwellings. Probably designed by Marc Camoletti.
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JulietJFall

Smile moment last night as we hopped into France to celebrate my lovely father-in-law’s 80th birthday, crossing by car at a place we have walked. I know all the slightest details of the borderline there, and the location of every stone. But politics also has daily rhythms that we forgot. When we wanted to go home, the border was shut. Ha! My daughter took one look at me and said “Ah, yes, Captain Geography…” 😂 I now have a new ironic title! #borders #geography #borderlines #politics #BorderWalk

A night photo with light from two street lampposts. The author is resting on a red and white metal barrier stretched across the road, locked shut to stop cars. Rest assured: other places are open to cross at night, further along!
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JulietJFall

Sometimes, my walks lead to unexpected marvels. It started out today as a quest to find old border buildings near Moillesulaz (🇨🇭) / Moëllesulaz (🇫🇷) but they were all apparently flattened & replaced with a shiny new (& super useful!) cross-border tram & modern blocks of flats or administrative buildings. So, a frustrating start if nostalgia is your thing. But what happened next will surprise you, as they say... #BorderWalk #geography #border #borderStudies #visualMethods #SlowScholarship

An old 1940s (?) postcard showing the French « Douane » building in Moëllesulaz (Note the French spelling of the name). The tram runs down the centre of the street.
The same location as the previous photo, in which the road has been hugely broadened with new tram lines separated from the road traffic
Same location, on the Swiss side.
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JulietJFall

The border first followed a stream, then a series of extremely muddy canals dug through the boggy forest. We walked very slowly, hopping from log to log, as the paths turned to brooks and the stones became islands, fired on by our delightfully pointless quest to find all the stones. Geneva felt like an island surrounded by boggy lands.
A lovely day in the sun with three of us walking for a change, fired on by biscuits and chocolates. #borderWalk #geography #riverBorder #mosstodon #visualmethods

Border stone 165 in the glowing sun, next to a very muddy stream. Beautiful moss growing on the limestone. The letter G for Geneva is visible on one side, and the number on another.
Another border stone by a path of water in the winter woodland, with number 168 on one side.
Yet another stone by a stream, with a large S on one side (Savoie). The stone is standing in water, as the whole landscape is boggy.
The border stone is actually surrounded by water on all four sides, as the river has carved around it. The border passes through the middle of the stream.
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JulietJFall

Yesterday, we got chased down the mountain we were staying on by a blocked toilet (not fun in an isolated chalet in a snowstorm!), so back to walking the 🇨🇭 🇫🇷 border. A lovely but VERY muddy walk today, back near Jussy.

First: a curiosity. A house built using recycled 1754 border stones, removed in 1798 (thank you French Revolution!) during the short-lived creation of the French Département du Léman. #borders #borderWalk

Screen shot of all the photos taken during the walk superimposed onto a map showing the border area
Photo a window in an old stone house using border stones, with the G for Geneva clearly visible
Facade of an old stone house, showing that all the windows are made from border stones, showing the G for Geneva or S for Savoie/Sardaigne. Lovely old golden stones.
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JulietJFall

This stretch of our long ongoing border walk saw us traipsing along paths, mostly on the Swiss side, and sometimes crossing muddy fields, digging in brambles looking for border stones and wandering in unexpected stretches of mossy woods as we traced our way along the 🇨🇭🇫🇷border. This was an old section of the border of what was the Mandement de Jussy, belonging to the city of Geneva before the canton was made into one contiguous unit in 1815. #BorderWalk #geography #borders #frontières #mosstodon

Borderstone 159, showing the sinuous line that indicates that the border follows the path of the stream, creating a finger of Switzerland jutting into France
Borderstone 154 seen in close up from above, with sinuous border line and the author’s hand resting on it.
Low sun on the horizon illuminating moss growing on trees
The borderline follows the brook, with sunny moss growing on fallen logs
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JulietJFall

My, my, guess what we’ve been doing today for a blissfully sunny & warm Boxing Day? Unseasonably warm, but just perfect for hopping across and along the 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border, this time near Jussy. Four hours to walk from border stones 120 to 155, and back to the starting point, with two extra bonus old ones incongruously moved from elsewhere & reused rather oddly to mark the entrance to a property. #BorderWalk #borders #geography

Border stone number 120 by a road, with the Voirons mountains in the background. Large G for Geneva on one side, with the borderline marked on the top of the stone.
Border stone 132 in a field
Border stone 137, sawn down to ground level to allow the road to be widened. Field next to it, Jura mountains on the horizon, capped in snow. Sunshine.
Border stone 147 by a brook the marks the border, low undergrowth. Sunshine. Moss covering the stone that is lit up by the sun.
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JulietJFall

Term-time is ended, the archives are closed, and we are back outside celebrating the beginning of the holidays by walking! Walking the wiggly borderlines along the Foron river, where the border is unusually not in the middle of the stream but along the right (Swiss) bank. France has full rights over the water. Interestingly, 🇨🇭and 🇫🇷 haven’t formally agreed on the exact location of the border here and discussions are ongoing. #Borderwalk #geography #borders #frontières #visualMethods

Map screenshot showing Villette and the border along the Foron.
Birderstone 99 on one side of a bridge, with a wiggly line on top indicating that the river follows the stream.
Information sign about the practical effects of the border on local farmers
French sign saying “Service Fiscal attention passage interdit” and assorted barriers stopping vehicular passage, but open to pedestrians
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JulietJFall

We wandered on along a charming path in the evening sun, enjoying the usual mix of contrasting landscapes on either side of the line: small villas on the Swiss side & rather charmless apartment blocks in France. I love spotting the immediately-recognizable former border posts, often now converted, built in the 1920s & mostly designed by Marc Camoletti: the architect who built the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire. #localHistory #architecture #borders #frontières #borderWalk #douane #visualEthnography

The author smiling next to borderstone 100 on another pedestrian bridge
A big G for Geneva on borderstone 100, on the Foron
Former border post architecture, now converted to a private house.
Borderstone 101 in a thick mess of brambles and trees, close to the river
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