Walking Along a Dry Lake Bed in the Vallée De Joux

Normally there is water where I walked yesterday. At first I walked along the stones, where it was dry. After a moment I decided to take off my shoes and begin to walk through the mud and sediment. In so doing my feet sank as deep as my ankles. The mud felt soft and squelchy, and cold.

I removed my shoes because I was wearing my cycling shoes, and because I have speedplay clips I didn’t want to get them filled with mud, which I would then have to make an effort to remove.

If I had been wearing normal shoes then I would have walked towards the spit, where it was dry, and crossed, but it was shorter, and faster to walk through the sediment.

I could see tracks left by others. I could see their foot prints so I knew what to expect. I also knew that it would be a squelshy mess because I have enough experience of being caught out by what I thought was solid ground.

In normal conditions you can see that the water is shallower here because birds like to land here and rest. I walked where it is often underwater. That’s why the soft clay or sediment is so squelshy.

Rain is falling today, and tomorrow, so lakes and rivers should benefit from the arrival of fresh water. It will take more than two days of rain to offset months, or even years of lower rainfall. Recent rainfall didn’t have much of an effect on rivers.

The precipitation deviation map should be less concerning by Friday, in light of recent rainfall.