A Busy day
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I did not write today, because I was busy.
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Stormy Skies Near Nyon
The weather was finally dynamic today. The storm warnings were flashing towards Hermance, on the French side of the lake. This gave a nice contrast between the yellow of the Colza fields and the dark threatening clouds behind.
At moments I thought that rain would begin to fall but luckily the doppler radar, and my instincs were correct, so I did not get drenched in rain or pelted with hail. At one point it did feel as though hail could be a possibility.
In the last week or two I have cycled around 150 kilometres, which isn’t bad. It could be better but single rides are around 49 kilometres. Once the ride was 49 kilometres but I saw that I could easily get an extra few meters to make it 50 so I made the effort. The second time I skipped.
My only trips into Geneva this year have been by bike, but only up from the lake, up the Via Appia and then back towards Vaud. No stops in Geneva itself so far. We are still in a pandemic and I am not going to play Pandemic Roulette, as I like to call it. I am not taking risks that are not worth taking.
If you are so inclined you can now listen to Germinal as podcasts via France Culture. Each episode is 28 minutes long so easy to slot into your day, either commuting or doing other things.
During the pandemic I spent a lot of time reading swiss news, to keep up with current affairs. Now that the Swiss government has decided to pretend that the pandemic is over I have stopped reading the RTS info site. There is not much value when they do not provide relevant news and information.
I will update this blog erratically because it’s hard to know when I will or will not be inspired. Today’s blog post is mainly as an excuse to share photographs.
Enjoying A Rainy Day
Although unfamiliar to most, there is pleasure to be felt from a day of rain. A day of rain, in a place where rain is rare is welcome. It provides a break from the daily walk. It provides an extra one and a half hours in a day. I have been impatient for such a day for months and it has finally arrived. Who wouldn’t want a day a rain. The rivers are happy. They were looking naked, with their rocks showing, and trees that are sometimes at river water level hanging high and dry. It will be good for the trees and everything else too. Rain cleans everything. That layer of dust that had accumulated over the weeks and months can finally run away, to flow into the lake, and from the lake down a river, towards the sea. It is also a break from the pressure of walking. Although walking is pleasant, and although it is relaxing, it is also a workout. You’re walking, deciding on a route, avoiding people and their dogs, and trying not to be yelled at by car drivers. You walk by one village and you hear a piano being played through a window. You wonder whether it is every day at the same time, whether the person is learning. Maybe it is simply someone who likes listening to music.
I Considered A Twitter Break
This morning I considered taking a twitter break after I saw one or two tweets that either seemed toxic or made me have a negative response. I take social media breaks, not because of negative opinions of social networks, but because either the people, or the conversations are not as pleasant or positive as I would like. I want to have fun, not be negative.
Not Drinking Enough
During this pandemic, after taking the habit of shopping for drinks once per week I find that my drinking habit declined. Instead of drinking two to three litres like some applications and journals recommend I drank one to one and a half litres. Recently I have started drinking more water and I see a change. In particular I am two to three weeks in. I am happy just to drink water now.
A forest walk by Chavannes Centre
When I cycle towards Geneva i often pass by a forest near Chavannes centre. Usually I only skirt the exterior of the forest but I have twice passed through it on a bike on my way back from Geneva. Yesterday I drove the scooter to Chavannes centre and parked it where scooters and bikes can be parked.
I walked from there towards the roads that are closed to traffic and at first i tried going downwards towards the motorway and found a path through the woods but it was blocked by a sign saying, forbidden entry, danger etc. I don’t know whether it was put there by children or whether it was serious so i turned around and went back up the road, towards the jura. I passed by a road but skipped that path. I then found a path cut through the forest overgrown with vegetation so I pushed through.
I am curious about the origins of this path. It is wide enough for vehicles to go through but it is so overgrown that you need to go from one side of the path to the other. There are plenty of fallen branches, twigs and other things to watch out for. The other thing to pay attention to are the sounds.
I could hear cuckoos in at least two parts of this forest and I could also hear another exotic bird. I caught a glimpse of it but no more. Another sound that I heard was the sound of rustling before something large ran away from me. As I was barely into the forest i questioned whether to continue. I think it was a deer or doe.
So far this spring I have seen three deers or does, a hare and plenty of birds of prey. I’m obviously walking where people are not having conversations and scaring away the animals. It’s funny to hear rustling and see an animal run away.
As you can see from the GPS trace I could have walked twice as far. It would be interesting to see whether there are smaller trails that we can walk along. What I’m looking for are small trail paths that we can walk along, without driving too far. If you do the walk I mention then make sure to have jeans, as there are thorns and tall grasses at moments. Also be aware that some sections are waterlogged so you need to walk on the side of the path.
Signs of Drought
Today as I walked I could see clear evidence that Switzerland is now dry. As you walk by the side of the road you see that it is yellow, and that there is no growth. Crops are withering away and water gauges are now filling with dust, rather than rain.
We now go for weeks without rain. If I wanted to pick up the soil it would crumble in my hands and blow away as dust. I see that one of the local rivers is drying up again.
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A dry water meter – There is very little rain -
View of Grass and the Alps -
Dry grass by the river side -
Dry grass by the river side
La Suisse bientot à court d’eau
Malgré la pluie, la forêt valaisanne est déjà en danger d’incendie
A Walking Decline in the US Since 2019
According to streetlight data walking in the US has declined over the past three or four years. The decline was by up to thirty six percent from 2019-2022. The clearest reason for this is that 2019 and 2020 were walking honeymoon periods. By this I mean that for the duration of lock down and “work from home” people had more time to walk since they spent less time commuting, but also because the natural habit of getting into a car to do something had declined., thanks to the pandemic.
The Return of Driving Post lock down
As pandemic lock downs came to an end so the nightmare of people using cars revived. When people are free to range further, out of lock down, they drive to do things, like shop, go to cinemas and go to indoor gyms, rather than enjoy the outdoor world. Imagine if, during the pandemic, you went for a one hour walk because the indoor gym was closed. Imagine if you walked locally, because it made sense not to drive far from personal toilets, and other conveniences.
The Pandemic Walking Options
I am not in the US, so my experience is irrelevant to the US situation. In my experience I walked up to three hours per day, and enjoyed my walks, until the habit of driving became a problem once again. Plenty of walks that were probably pleasant due to lock downs and fewer people driving, were destroyed by the return of cars and their drivers.
For two or three years I would walk down towards the lake and along farm roads that were narrow. During the honeymoon these roads were quiet. They were a pleasure to walk along. With the return of normal life people started to drive along these narrow lanes again, without being considerate of pedestrians.
The Loss of Safe Walking Paths
I went from having three hour walking loops that were empty of cars, and a pleasure to walk along, to paths that became a nightmare. When you have a car going at 50 to 80 kilometres per hour half a meter from you, every few minutes, every day, for years, you get fatigued.
That fatigue results in people, including me, choosing to walk less, and even to consider not walking at all, and getting into the accursed cars.
Attention On Cars Rather than Walking
No one addresses the elephant in the room. We have made a landscape where walking between villages on foot, or cycling, have become dangerous. If it’s dangerous to walk along pandemic walking paths, due to the return of people in their cars, then it makes sense that there would be a 39 percent decline in walking habits in the US. Why would you walk, when to walk is to expose yourself to dangerous drivers?
The Need for Rural Walking Paths Between Villages and Towns
That’s why I argue so often that instead of making towns and cities pedestrian friendly we must make it safe to walk between villages, and from villages to towns, and from villages to cities. Why would people walk along dangerous roads, rather than take a bus, or car?
Awful for Walking
I see that efforts are being made to make towns and cities more walker friendly but in my opinion it makes more sense to connect villages with walking loops. I want to be able to walk from Crans to Céligny to Crassier to La Rippe to Borex to La Rippe and plenty of other villages without having to walk along busy car roads. I want to be able to walk on walking paths where cars are banned. There are plenty of agricultural roads but villages like Eysins are scary. There is a bridge from Crans to Eysins where cars drive fast, playing chicken with each other despite pedestrians crossing. On another road people speed along at 80 or more kilometres per hour, without showing consideration for pedestrians. On a road between Arnex sur Nyon and Crans there are agricultural roads where drivers speed, without being considerate of pedestrians.
It’s fine and dandy for Nyon, Geneva, Lausanne and other towns to say that they want to increase walking, cycling and other forms of movement, but they won’t increase those means of transport if you can’t walk from villages around Nyon, into Nyon, or cycle from Nyon to Geneva without being thrown into parkings or onto busy roads where car drivers park in cycling lanes in summer.
I often walked to Crans and Céligny, until I grew tired of walking along agricultural roads with cars that were driven too fast and too close to me. I don’t want to stop every time a car is close to me. I want cars to slow down and overtake at slightly more than walking speed. That’s what I do when I am driving a car. I want cars to respect pedestrians.
Discouraging Cars Without Providing Alternatives
When Geneva changed traffic systems to discourage drivers, I stopped going to Geneva, and when Nyon made the same mistake I stopped going to Nyon. When I lived in London I once drove from Switzerland to London, saw the price of petrol and left it parked. If public transport is good, from villages to towns, and from towns to cities, then people will not use cars. The problem with Switzerland is that the policy makers live in towns and only see the journeys between towns, rather than villages. It used to take 45 minutes to drive from work home, and one and a half hours by public transport. You encourage people to walk, cycle, and take public transport when trains or buses are every five minutes, as with the London underground.
Walking Rather than Driving
If it was pleasant to walk from Arnex sur Nyon to Nyon, or from Borex to Nyon, or from Signy to Nyon people would have the opportunity to leave the car, and enjoy a pleasant walk instead. The problem that I see, every single time I go for a walk, is that whilst towns and villages try to discourage driving within them, they do nothing to encourage walking and cycling from outside.
I have a really healthy walking habit, but when I am made to fear for my safety on every single walk I seriously consider getting into the car, to walk somewhere, where I feel safer to walk. The paradox is that I would drive far, to walk a smaller distance. I would be part of the problem, by getting into a car, to go for a walk.
Think of that paradox. I have to get into a car to go for a walk, because the local walks are too dangerous because cars do not slow down enough, on roads that are meant for agriculture, not cars.
And Finally
During the pandemic honeymoon, especially during lock downs, I got to experience the great potential of walking locally. During the honeymoon of lock downs I could walk from Nyon to Founey, and from Founex to Crassier, and from Crassier to Tranche-Pied, and from Tranche Pied to Gingins, without fearing cars. I could even walk along the motorway because it was quiet and pleasant.
So many efforts are being made to discourage the use from within towns and cities, but they forget that the place from which people are most likely to drive, is villages. If people can walk between villages safely, then the need for cars is diminished. It is futile to make towns and cities pedestrian friendly, and more village like, if villages require people to use cars.
For me there is no mystery. People walk less because it’s more dangerous to do so, now that roads are filled with cars again. Global society should bring back the habit of people walking between villages, safely. Cycling suffers from the same issue. If it is dangerous for children to cycle, things need to improve.