On a calm morning the lake off Morges is as flat as polished pewter, with the Savoy Alps on the far shore and Mont Blanc floating above them, and it is hard to believe that anyone ever had to fight for this view. Yet people have been living right here for millennia. Just off the shore, in the shallow water near the town, lie the remains of prehistoric villages built on piles, the Stations de Morges, one of the Swiss components of the UNESCO Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps. Divers and archaeologists have mapped wooden posts and objects from the Bronze Age, but from the shore you will see only water, swans and the occasional paddleboarder.
Morges itself is a cheerful little town on Lake Geneva, between Lausanne and Geneva. Its squat lakeside castle, built by the Savoyards in the thirteenth century, now houses military museums, and the lakeside park next to it hosts a famous tulip festival every spring, when hundreds of thousands of blooms turn the lawns into a riot of colour. The Polish pianist and statesman Ignacy Paderewski lived in Morges for decades, and Audrey Hepburn spent her last years in nearby Tolochenaz, where she is buried in the village cemetery.
The riding along the lake is beautiful but often frustrating. The main road through the towns of La Côte is busy, with roundabouts, traffic lights and strict speed limits. Better to climb into the vineyards above the lake, where narrow lanes wind between the vines and villages, with stunning views over the water. Further up, the roads cross the Jura foothills to the Col du Marchairuz and the Vallée de Joux, with long, flowing curves through pine forests and pastures. In summer, the lake breeze offers some relief from the heat; in winter, fog can sit on the water for days.
Morges, with fourteen thousand inhabitants, has everything: fuel, supermarkets, cafés and restaurants along the lakefront. Try filets de perche, fried perch fillets from the lake, with chips and tartare sauce, or malakoffs, deep-fried cheese fritters from nearby Vinzel. Chasselas from the slopes of La Côte is the classic accompaniment, though only when the riding is done.