An Autumn walk at the foot of the Jura.
An Autumn walk at the foot of the Jura. It was earlier today as I was doing the later shift.
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St Hilaire du Touvet РVia Ferrata du Belved̬re
St Hilaire du Touvet is a place I have always thought of as one where in Septembre there is an adventure film festival. What I found out on Saturday is that it has two interesting via ferrata. There is an easier one which you can explore as a novice and a more challenging one you can try if you like to overcome your fear of heights and fragile looking rock ascent.
I tried the latter and enjoyed the challenge. At first you park your car at the summit before walking down for half an hour. You meet a fork and start heading back up towards the start of the via ferrata. The path is not as clearly marked as it could be so we ended up scrambling up what is a river when the rain is falling. It was dry on Saturday.
The first part of the via ferrata is easy. You have a vertical climb with some contact with the rocks. There is some loose material so wearing a helmet is useful. There is a split where you can choose whether to do the hard or very hard via ferrata. For the easy one you go down to where the waterfall has dug itself a small pool. Beware the slippery rocks. After that I don’t know what the via ferrata is like as I did not explore this option. As you go to the left so you start a more challenging bit of the via ferrata. You climb for a few minutes before getting to a beautiful crack in the rock at the base of which is an overhang. The overhang is a physically challenge. It’s also a nice way to overcome your fear of heights.
I passed the obstacle suspending myself from my arms. I might as well have a little fun right? My feet were floating in mid air. The next part is hard (extremelly difficult by Via ferrata norms). You’re at least 20 meters off the ground and you’re heading straight up. The rocks do not look that solid although there are a lot of hand holds and foot rests should you prefer to use these than the metal path. The ascent is hard and there are few places to rest. You go from one side of the crack to the next and back.
There is a nice resting platform at one point, to the side from the via ferrata. Here you can rest for a bit, gather some strenght before the last 30-40 meters of ascent. From here you traverse to the left and reach a ladder. It faces outwards so you’re looking at the landscape. As if this ladder wasn’t enough of a mental challenge you have the reveral to get back on to the rock. This is not a natural thing to do. From this point on the via ferrata is normal as you make your way up to the parapente take off point.
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Via Ferrata de Tière, first of the season
The weather was good today and spring is here. As a result I headed back to the Valais for the first Via Ferrata of the season. I felt a little nervous at first as I had not done any via ferrata for a few months but that fear soon left.
The walk up to this via ferrata takes up 30-45 minutes depending on your level of fitness. Once you get to the bottom of the ferrata you ascend with the river to your right. There are two bridges that must be crossed and the waterfalls are impressive. Today the amount of water was low due to the lack of rain. At this time of year it is better to go up a little later in the day to take advantage of the sunlight. I didn’t. The sun was on the other side of the valley.
It is a nice easy via ferrata without too much height, hardly demanding physically and divided in to three parts. The first part to the waterfalls is easy going, walking along a path. Once you get to the waterfalls you have your first via ferrata climb to the first of two bridges. You cross the first bridge and walk to the second bridge. From the second bridge you walk along for a bit, to the cave with teddy bears people have left there.
From this point the via ferrata starts properly. You have a traverse to the left, then up a bit, then to the right. Looking down you get a feeling of height but you are not that far off the ground. Chains are there for you to grab on to. After the chains you start going straight up again for a bit, traverse to the right again before the final ascent to the top of the via ferrata.
There is a walk back to the car from the peak through arcades carved in to the rock. You have two buvettes to chose from and a tree adventure park. I think that after via ferrata the tree adventure would not provide enough adrenaline to be fun.
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Geneva tweetup at the Bristol
After two years of online interactions I finally met certain Geneva twitter users. The tweetup took place at the Bristol Hotel in Geneva. There was a good group of people and they were what you would exepect from a tweetup.
It was organised by bristolgva and here is some of the related twitter conversation linked to the event.
Apple | flickr | mobile | observation | Swiss walks | travel
Flight to the Monzino Refuge and hike.
A short helicopter flight to a mountain refuge in Aosta, on the Italian side of the Mt Blanc.
Good fun, walk to the glacier and back. I also tested my Iphone 4 phone.
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Via Ferrata de Tière
In the valley close to Champéry there is a via ferrata. Via Ferrata are routes passing on rock faces thanks to the help of metal pedals, hand and foot pedals and bridges. On this Via Ferrata you climb up vertically and horizontally depending on the moment. Some obstacles are easier to get past than others but overall it’s good fun.
One of the things you should take the time to watch, especially on a rainy day is the way the water erupts out of the rock. The first waterfall reacts to what the second waterfall higher up spews out. It’s fun to watch how much power this water has.
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fun | lifestream | observation | Swiss walks
A walk through the Vaud countryside.
Every sunday I try not to use the car at all. As a result I went for a walk through the local countryside and experimented with the new camera. I was looking at the streams but they were quite low, not such a great opportunity to test the underwater part.
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A blog of interest and walking
When I started reading Made in England by Gentlemen the blog was about technology but over the past few months the subject of the blog has changed. It’s now a blog about walking, and it’s not just any walk. They had decided to spend several months walking the Continental Divide trail and blogging the entire trip.
What I’ve enjoyed are the images and some of the comments. It’s a picture adventure of beautiful lanscapes. It’s just two friends who walk, occasionaly teamed up by a GF or a brother and father before continuing on the journey.
It’s something I’d like to do. Every day I walk for an hour or two, covering about 12 kilometers. It’s nothing in contrast but it’s an important part of my daily routine. It’s been part of my daily routine for years now, since the IB. I love the solitude of the walk. It’s a moment where you’re in your thoughts and the only distraction is the music or podcast you’re listening to. It’s a moment when day dreams and dreams form and where other ideas come to an end.
It’s a point of refreshing the mind.
It’s also about pleasure and endurance. When you start walking every day walking jsut two or three kilometers could seem tiring, then 5-6. Eventually as you get more and more used to the walk you’re taking so the loop gets bigger and the more you need that walk. It’s one of those enjoyable things.
In London I missed not having kilometers of paths to walk down. In London I would walk through central London from one part to another and I’d get to know the whole city. I’d get to see places and how they were linked. I often joked with friends that when you’re in London you should get to a tube station and walk away from it for as long as you’re not tired. Once you’re tired find the next tube station, get back to somewhere you know and travel in another direction.
After living for years in a place you get to know every street and every corner. Every place has a memory and you might even burst out laughing… well not quite. It would look strange. It’s familiarity. It’s that thing that the main character in L’auberge Espagnole talks about when he’s fresh into the city. “at first all the streets are unknown and resemble each other but at the end ever one of them has memories”. that’s when you’ve lived in a place long enough.
Do many of you walk far? Do you walk fast? Is the walk part of something you do everyday?
lifestream | N95 | seesmic | Swiss walks
Seesmic from the mountains (via QIK)
Whilst the connection is unstable and slow I decided to take the phone and Qik some landscapes from La Dole in Switzerland. Here are a few streams. As more people enjoy streaming live video from interesting locations so this will become a more common site.
What I hope to do next is go to some of the higher peaks and stream from there too. Overtime we could have a nice collection of footage.
Mountain streams
Whilst some people are perfectly happy sitting at a desk chatting to others via webcams I prefer to be out and about streaming daily life. Today was one example of what I like to do. I went up to La Dole for a walk with the n95 and streamed a few landscapes for people following me on twitter to see.
We finally got caught out by some hail and thunder but my phone survived.
I want more people to do this type of thing. Come out and have fun, stream life as it happens. Show us what’s outside your living room or home office.