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| Chandolin, Switzerland |
We broke camp near Lyon after our Andorra-to-France run and pointed Shehzadi and Chetak toward a day of silk, Swiss valleys and one travel writer whose route would echo much farther east. Lyon came first. By nightfall, we would be back in the Valais after visiting Chandolin high above Val d'Anniviers.
The distance was manageable; the subject matter was less so. Roman Lyon, Canut uprisings, Charlie Chaplin, glacial earth pyramids and Ella Maillart all wanted a seat in the truck. Fortunately, Shehzadi has a CrewMax cab.
Lyon to Chandolin Overland, France to Switzerland: Silk, Ella Maillart & Matterhorn — Post Summary
From Faramans near Lyon, we drove into the city for La Maison des Canuts, then crossed into Switzerland through Vevey and the Valais. The Pyramides d'Euseigne led us into Val d'Hérens, while Chandolin in neighboring Val d'Anniviers brought us to Ella Maillart's story before the overnight at Camping Molignon in Les Haudères.
| What's Covered | |
| 🧭 | Route at a Glance — Faramans → Lyon → Vevey → Valais → Chandolin → Les Haudères |
| 🧵 | Lyon — La Maison des Canuts, Jacquard looms and Canut history |
| 🎬 | Vevey — crossing into Switzerland past Charlie Chaplin's final home |
| 🏔️ | Val d'Hérens — Pyramides d'Euseigne and Camping Molignon |
| 📚 | Chandolin — Val d'Anniviers, Espace Ella Maillart and her Central Asian journeys |
| ➡️ | Next — Simplon car train, Lake Como and Venice |
From our campground at Faramans, we drove into Lyon with Shehzadi and Chetak, the Odyssean Journey's Toyota Hilux Invincible-X, for La Maison des Canuts. After Lyon came Switzerland: Vevey, the Valais side valleys, Chandolin and an overnight at Camping Molignon in Les Haudères.
Main destination: Chandolin, Switzerland
Overnight: Camping Molignon, Les Haudères
Distance: Approx. 500 km including the Lyon approach and Valais side trips
Vehicles: Shehzadi — 2024 Toyota Tundra; Chetak — Toyota Hilux Invincible-X
Key stops: Lyon · Vevey · Sion · Pyramides d'Euseigne · Chandolin · Les Haudères
Route at a Glance
- Faramans → Lyon — La Maison des Canuts
- Lyon → Vevey — cross into Switzerland along Lake Geneva
- Vevey → Sion → Euseigne — Val d'Hérens and Pyramides d'Euseigne
- Valais valley roads → Chandolin — Val d'Anniviers and Espace Ella Maillart
- Chandolin → Les Haudères — overnight at Camping Molignon
Lyon: Silk Weaving at La Maison des Canuts
Shehzadi and Chetak rolled into Lyon with the Vagabond Couple and the Odyssean Journey aboard. Lyon began as the Roman colony of Lugdunum in 43 BCE and grew into an important political and commercial center. Its historic fabric is now part of the city's UNESCO World Heritage listing, but our target that morning was more specific: silk.
Lyon's silk industry developed across roughly five centuries. In Croix-Rousse, generations of Canuts worked the looms, and the Jacquard system turned punched-card control into a practical way to weave complex patterns. The Canuts were not merely decorative-history people, either. Their uprisings in 1831 and 1834 made labor conflict part of Lyon's silk story as well as its fabric.
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| La Maison des Canuts, Lyon, France |
At La Maison des Canuts, the old machinery made the process easier to understand than another paragraph about thread ever could. Demonstrations on historic looms showed how pattern, tension and patient mechanical repetition produced elaborate cloth. The clatter was a useful reminder that luxury fabric begins with industrial noise and somebody doing very precise work.
The visit also created a chronological itch. Ella Maillart had crossed Central Asia decades before us, and months later our own route would reach Samarkand, Bukhara and the Kyzylkum. Lyon's silk history did not make the city a stop on the Asian Silk Roads, but it did give this European stage a real connection to the trade in silk and to the route still ahead.
Vevey: Crossing into Switzerland Past Chaplin's Home
From Lyon we headed east and crossed into Switzerland. The border was straightforward, and the roads quickly traded French motorway scale for lakeside Vaud and the orderly efficiency Switzerland has somehow turned into a national operating principle.
We passed through Vevey on Lake Geneva. Charlie Chaplin bought the Manoir de Ban at nearby Corsier-sur-Vevey in 1952 and made it his family home. Chaplin's World now occupies the estate, but we did not stop. This was a drive-through connection, not a museum visit, and the schedule had already developed opinions.
Beyond Vevey we continued into Valais toward Sion. Vineyards climbed the sunny slopes above the Rhône valley, and the mountains ahead stopped behaving like scenery and began behaving like route planners.
Val d'Hérens: Pyramides d'Euseigne and Les Haudères
From the main Valais corridor we turned into Val d'Hérens. Camping Molignon near Les Haudères would be our overnight base, although Chandolin in neighboring Val d'Anniviers still waited later in the day. Keeping the two valleys straight is easier on a map than on a day full of switchbacks.
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| Molignon, Evolène, Switzerland |
The road around Evolène and Molignon gave both trucks a preview of the narrower valley driving to come. Chetak looked appropriately sized for the Alps. Shehzadi looked like Texas had been asked to attend a Swiss planning meeting.
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| Molignon, Evolène, Switzerland |
Near Euseigne, the Pyramides d'Euseigne rise from glacial moraine left during the retreat of the last Ice Age. Rain and meltwater gradually eroded the softer material, while larger capstones protected columns beneath them. Some pillars reach about 15 meters. Geology had apparently discovered the umbrella before the rest of us.
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| Pyramides d'Euseigne, Val d'Hérens |
The formations sit firmly in Val d'Hérens, not Val d'Anniviers. That distinction matters because our next major stop, Chandolin, required us to leave this valley context and climb into its neighbor.
Chandolin: Ella Maillart in Val d'Anniviers
The road to Chandolin rose hard through Val d'Anniviers. Tight bends gave Chetak an easy chance to look smug, while Shehzadi climbed with the steady determination of a large American pickup that had not been consulted during the design of Swiss mountain roads.
Chandolin sits at almost 2,000 meters and looks across a broad sweep of Alpine peaks, with the Matterhorn among the distant mountains visible from the area. It is very much reachable by road, which was convenient because both trucks had arrived with us.
Ella Maillart settled in Chandolin in 1948 and spent part of each year at her chalet, Atchala. The Espace Ella Maillart is a separate permanent exhibition in the former Sainte-Barbe chapel. Keeping house and exhibition separate avoids turning one building into two simply because the story is good.
Maillart's travel record made the connection unusually direct for our expedition. In 1932 she traveled through Soviet Central Asia, including Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara and onward through the Kyzylkum. In 1935 she crossed western China with Peter Fleming, following a route through the Tarim region and Kashgar toward Kashmir. In 1939 she left Switzerland with Annemarie Schwarzenbach in a Ford bound through the Balkans, Turkey and Persia toward Afghanistan.
At this point in our own 2025 journey, those places still lay ahead. We would later enter China at Irkeshtam and continue to Kashgar, turning Maillart's biography from distant reading into an unexpectedly useful preview.
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| Chandolin and Ella Maillart Village views, the Espace Ella Maillart exhibition and a portrait of the Swiss traveler. |
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After Chandolin, we returned to Camping Molignon at Les Haudères for the night. The trucks cooled beside camp while the light faded across Val d'Hérens. No invented ghosts were required; Swiss mountains were already doing enough.
Lyon's silk history and Maillart's Central Asian journeys gave this European leg two very different links to the route ahead. The later 2025 expedition summary makes that pattern look tidy; from the cab, it was simply another turn east.
Next: Simplon Tunnel, Lake Como and Venice
Next we leave Valais for Brig, load Shehzadi and Chetak onto the Brig–Iselle car train through the Simplon Tunnel, then continue to Lake Como and Venice. The mountains are not finished with us, but at least the next crossing lets the train argue with them for a while.
