From Moutier to Tavannes

August 1st is the national day in Switzerland. It remembers the birth of the country in 1291 when three cantons united against imperial rule. And so August 1st is also a public holiday. The weather forecast was good, so I had decided to take the next stage of my walk along the Jakobsweg that goes southwards from Basel. I left Moutier as the sun was just peeping over the peaks of the Jura. There was daylight, but only just.
Moutier merges into the smaller town of Perrefitte. There, even though it was still quiet, with no one in the street, the evidence of Swiss national pride was evident.

Then the route goes into the woods. The trail goes through the forest for quite a distance before emerging briefly into sunshine again. I then came to an interesting feature in the slopes of the Cote de Montaigu. An amazing cwm has been hewn out of the rock. There is a pool at the base, and it is clearly a popular setting for picnics. I suspect that it is natural, but I don’t know for sure. By the way, the little guy is my new avatar and walking companion. His name is Charly.

And then I came to the village of Souboz. Souboz is a delightful quiet colourful little village. It was still quiet, early on a public holiday, with not much happening, and so I went on.

The route went on through fields and up and down small hills to come to the village of Sornetan. Sornetan is not as colourful as Souboz, but it has an interest onion-dome church, though unfortunately it was closed.

From Sornetan, the route continued westwards, passing through the tiny village of Moron, to reach Bellelay. Bellelay is the site of a large monastery, with attached hospital, now a psychiatric clinic. The exact details of the founding of the abbey are somewhat vague, but it was recognised by Rome in 1142. The abbey prospered and grew, but the good times ended with the reformation. The abbey was spared the worst of the religious wars that racked Europe in the 17th century, particularly the Thirty Years War. But when France invaded Switzerland at the end of the 18th century, the abbey was ransacked by French troops. After being used for industrial purposes in the 19th century, the abbey became the property of the Canton of Bern. Today it is an officially listed Swiss heritage site. It is no longer used for religious purposes, but the space is used for exhibitions and performances.

I took the time to wander around the abbey, going to the top of the tower, and down into the old crypt. And then it was time to go on. After Bellelay, the route starts through the fields but mainly follows the road southwards to reach the village of Le Fuet.

From Le Fuet, the trail goes back into the forest, and I came across a pond offering near perfect reflections of the surrounding vegetation. It was an almost perfect mirror.

I was near my journey’s end by then and soon emerged into the sunlight on the ridge above Tavannes. It was just a short descent to the town and train back to Basel.
And as always, my step count for the day: 52,522.