Urban Walks

Urban Walks

Byrichard

I have walked in London, Paris, Rome, Geneva, Lausanne Florence and other cities for many hours at a time. I would often walk in London until I got too tired to continue, and then I would catch the tube back to somewhere I knew, and then I’d walk some more.

I did the same in Rome and Paris. When you take the tube, or the Metro in Paris or Rome then it’s easy not to know how close places are. If you walk though. you do. That’s because you generate a mental map of the places you walk to and from. You don’t get that on the tube.

What is far, on the tube, is a five minute walk above ground.

Today I went for a morning walk, rather than an afternoon walk. I walked down to Nyon and the lake. The lake was flat as a pancake, so less interesting than at other times. It was also lower, in anticipation of snow melt.

I am walking into Nyon, at the moment, rather than the countryside for a simple reason. The roads that I like to walk are either too dangerous, due to drivers not respecting cyclists or pedestrians or ripped up for road works. I could walk alongside the road works but that would involve walking in long grass, which I do not want to do. I used to, but recently that hasn’t appealed to me.

By walking into Nyon I got to notice changes. I noticed for example that Place Des Marrioniers is now green, rather than covered in small stones. I noticed that the lake is low, ahead of the spring melt, and to allow for cleaning. I also saw the new buildings behind L’Usine à Gaz and more.

In the end the loop I walked was around 8.8 kms long over two hours. It took two hours because I stopped to take a few pictures. This walk, illustrates once again that we don’t need to get into a car to go for a walk. We can go for a walk from the comfort of home.

And Finally

I went for a morning walk, rather than an afternoon walk because I saw that Galaxus are not using the Swiss post as they usually do so a delivery that would arrive by 0950 normally might arrive at the last possible moment. Other carriers than the Swiss post load packages into their trucks at 07:35, but don’t deliver them until 16:35. That’s why I hate when carriers other than the Swiss post are used.

In 2024, with all of the tech at hand, delivery companies are still awful at allowing people to know when something will be delivered. There was a day and age, where half a day’s precision was fine, but in 2024, with the way that everything is scheduled, and GPS works, we could get an estimate to within half an hour or less.

There is also the matter of carbon footprint. The Swiss post uses trains and electric scooters, whereas all of the other carriers use fossil fuels and trucks. The carbon footprint becomes huge, as a result of not using the swiss post.

I went for a morning walk because I knew the carrier company would keep me hostage for the entire afternoon. I walked an urban route, because the rural routes I loved are now either too dangerous, because of cars, or unpassable because of road works. In a week or so I will revert to my normal walks, once again.

The Daily Walk Re-Routed

The Daily Walk Re-Routed

Byrichard

A year or two ago there were road works along a bit of road. Now the road works are back, on the same bit of road. Due to it being spring, and due to rain being quite enthusiastic this year, the route (pronounced root, not grout), is impassible. It’s not impassible because of mud, but because of long grass. In the past I would have walked through the long grass to get from A to B, or I would have walked along the river side walk, but because I wear different shoes than before, and because I don’t want ticks, I no longer walk that route until the works are finished.

My frustration with these works is that they’re working on providing better drainage for a road that already has a fallow field and trees to the side. Water has a river, and fields to drain into so drainage is not essential. What is essential is a safe path for people to walk and cycle. In this area rainwater has more rights than pedestrians and cyclists.

You don’t encourage people to walk if there are no safe walking paths between villages.

I also tried a proof of concept ride yesterday, with the electric foot scooter. I went to recycle PET bottles using secondary roads that are for agriculture, rather than normal traffic. They’re in an awful state. One of the paths as degraded due to hundreds of trucks filled with gravel rolling along. The concrete that had been quite fresh is now ruined, so riding a foot scooter along that route is now likely to destroy the wheel connector. I can roll along the path but the lifespan between services will be greatly diminished as a result of this.

The Silver Lining

There is silver lining. The first one is that although I can go to the recycling centre for my village, if I am cheeky I can go to the ones that are permanently open, at Portes De Nyon or two or three other places. The other silver lining is that I found James Bond books at one of the lending library so I took them all. I know that I have read most so my aim is to confirm that I have read the books I have read, and then spread the books I have read, among various lending libraries during walks.

If it wasn’t for the road works then I would be walking into the countryside rather than towards, but not into the centre of Nyon. Thanks to the road works I picked up two or three language dictionaries and the James Bond books.

The road works should last for another week or two, and then I can return to the route I walk daily. It’s the last route that I have for walking. Every other walk has become too toxic and unsafe for me to walk along.

It would be interesting to see how previous generations feel about walking paths becoming more and more unfriendly to pedestrians. I really do think that farm roads should enforce that only agricultural vehicles are allowed, because if they don’t, then we need to become part of the problem, by getting into cars, to enjoy our daily walks.

The Half Fare

As I write this blog post I am very seriously considering getting the swiss half fare again. I see that every trip I do costs about 58 CHF. If I had the half fare I would pay half of that price. The other advantage is that if I have the half fare then I could gain a lot of freedom with my walks.

Instead of walking around in big loops around the villages nearby I could range further and do linear walks, for pleasure. I could do the Toblerone walk, for example, starting in Arzier and finishing in Nyon. I could also walk from home to Coppet and catch the train back.

No Busy Roads

One of the most alluring aspects to taking the train is that I don’t need to think about parking, and logistics do become simplified. If I don’t drive then I don’t need to think about how to get back to the car. I also don’t have to worry about traffic on the A1 around Morges or other places. It also gives me a chance to converse with people on the way to and from events. For loop walks the car makes sense, but for linear walks it makes sense to take public transport.

The Social Aspect

One of the reasons for which I am tempted to take the train for group activities, rather than the car is social. When people go by car we often stop for a drink before driving home, but with trains we have a tendency to run onto the train and whoever came by car is left behind. Having this experience twice was enough for me to consider the train. That, along with complex logistics.

And Finally

Growing tired of local walks, after six years of walking the same paths almost every day is natural. It’s good that I want to range, once more, and explore new places. I bought the half fare ticket while writing this blog post. The half fare train ticket makes the cost of taking the train comparable to taking the car, so it makes the car rational, when travelling along routes where the train is comparable to the car.

If people do not stop for a post hike drink, then I am happy to head to a hike, and back, on a train.

The half fare costs 190 CHF and if we assume that we save 30 CHF per trip by using the half fare then it is amortised within 6.3 hikes, so it is amortised within six to seven weeks.

Time to explore new walks.

The Cow and Pheasant
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The Cow and Pheasant

Byrichard

Today I went for my daily walk and I came across a couple of pheasants. One was female and the other was male. I was actually standing right next to the female and didn’t realise until she flew away from me. I was startled but no more. I was more focused on the male pheasant.

A pheasant near cows
A pheasant near cows

I walked closer, to try to get a clearer photo but didn’t succeed. Instead it went into a field with some cows and when one of the cows noticed it went up to investigate. I thought it was chasing the pheasant and eventually it was. It was an amusing sight to see. A cow running after a pheasant.

it got better. When the pheasant went into the next field the rest of the herd came across to look at the pheasant.

A herd of cows looking at a pheasant
A herd of cows looking at a pheasant
Cyclist Sightings

Cyclist Sightings

Byrichard

Yesterday I went for a walk, during which I listened to two podcasts via AudioBookShelf, but that’s not the point of this post. The point of this post is that the seasons have changed. The snow has melted and there was a brief interlude in rain so plenty of people went out for bike rides. So many in fact that I seemed to be one of only two or three people on foot.

This makes me happy. I like crossing people on bikes because they usually don’t have big dogs, and they pass by within seconds rather than longer. They also tend not to take up the entire width of the road.

For some reason when couples walk they take the entire width of the road, as do families, and other groups. They’re not morbidly obese. they’re average. They could take as little space as cyclists and I do.

I should be cycling too but my bike lives half an hour from where I live at the moment, by car. It lives there because that’s where I went for bike rides several times and I felt that by transporting my bike, back and forth, in the car, I was damaging it, so I left it there. I never repatriated it because winter was coming so it made little sense. Now that summer is back it could make sense to repatriate it.

In reality I should prepare it for Spain. I should dismantle it, and take it to Spain, for a Spring service, before coming back to Switzerland, and use it, freshly serviced.

The difference in service price between Spain and Switzerland is 70 euros compared to 300 CHF. I could also take advantage of the slightly better weather in Spain to go for bike rides.

I have a few days to decide.

Walking in Rain – Not Singing

Walking in Rain – Not Singing

Byrichard

When some people see that it’s grey or rainy they don’t want to go for a walk. They don’t want to get rained on and they don’t want to experience the discomfort of being in a wet environment. I don’t mind the rain. I don’t mind wearing a rain coat and rain trousers, and waterproof shoes, and ensuring that I don’t need to fiddle with the phone when my hands are wet with rain.

I think tbat one reason for which I’m fine with walking in full rain gear on a rainy day is that I used to drive in a dry suit, and that at the end of the day walking in the rain is not much different from dry suit diving. In both situations you’re wearing cloths to keep warm, with a layer of protective gear over the dry clothes.

One of the problems with walking on a sunny day, after a day of rain is that shoes get extremely muddy, as do trousers, but that mud is just viscous enough to stick to my shoes. It’s the day after heavy rain that it’s awful, because shoes get muddy and when shoes get muddy I sit on the stones and scrape away the mud from my shoes. This takes several minutes. ¨

My shoes get muddy because whether I am on agricultural roads, on main roads car drivers will drive so fast and so close that I am forced to walk in the mud. During a drought this doesn’t matter, and it doesn’t matter when it’s raining. That’s because when it rains water soaks shoes. Mud doesn’t stick. My shoes look good as new, and that’s a great advantage of walking in heavy rain.

Rain also changes the landscape. What is a road, in dry weather, becomes a stream. What is usually an orchard with grass growing between the trees becomes a pond with trees, a mangrove. I might be pushing our imagination a little with this image.

There is one massive disadvantage to rainy days. My coat drains onto the tile floor and I need to keep mopping it up, to avoid stains from forming. I often have to mop the floor where the coat was hanging on the back of a chair. It’s hanging from a chair because if I let it drain on the coat rack it will soak the ISP device.

As I write this blog post I am struck by something. It’s the 30th of december and I’m speaking about rain, with barely a thought for snow. Facebook reminded me that 12 years ago we had snow on this day. According to the Apple Weather app the normal temperature range for where I am is from -6°c to 4°c. It’s 9°c today. At lease precipitation is 7.3cm above average, so that’s one plus. If it was cold we would have a nice snowy landscape.

And Finally

When it’s almost always sunny people like me get fatigued with the sun, and rain becomes a rare treat. In the same way that we used to think that it’s a shame to stay indoors when it’s sunny, I now find it a shame not to go out when it’s raining. At least when it’s raining the landscape changes, the walking paths are quiet, and my shoes are spotless when I get home. Usually the morning frost makes the ground muddy and I need to clean my shoes before entering the building.

Maybe I’m ready for the Camino Primitivo. If it rained for the entire time I might still be comfortable, especially if I sleep in a building every night.

A Walk During Cow Rush Hour

A Walk During Cow Rush Hour

Byrichard

Yesterday I decided that I would start my walk by going along a dangerous bit of road, at the start of the road. The idea behind this is to avoid being endangered by selfish car drivers when I’m fatigued. It’s better to put up with their dangerous behaviour ahead of a walk, rather than after it.

I Don’t Want To Give Up Walking Locally

I spent time thinking about walking, and avoiding cars, and I came to the conclusion that I no longer want to walk across a bridge. Every time I walk across that bridge I see cars driving too fast and to close to other people, as well as myself. One day someone will be injured on that bridge. The bridge is barely wide enough for one car to drive by, and cars often play chicken with each other, and play Russian roulette to see if they can get away with running the gauntlet without hitting each other.

there is a good bridge just a few meters away that pedestrians could use safely, but it’s made to look as if it’s on private property so I stopped using it. That farmer has a vineyard. He recently planted bushes to mark his land but in doing so he has forced people to walk on a busy road, rather than in the grass. We could cross the road but because the pandemic hasn’t ended, I prefer to be across the road from others.

The Safe Walk

I can leave the village I live in, on foot, along a wide road with good visibility. By walking along this road I can see cars coming from far away and they have plenty of space to deflect to the other side of the road, to show some respect. I can also flee into the grass without too much trouble, should I feel the need. I have a lot of room to get away from cars that are driven by people who never walk.

The rest of the route is nice. I walk up through a village, go slightly beyond it, and then I turn right, and then I walk along a weather worn road towards some fields where cows spend their days. Yesterday I counted up to 11 herons in the field with cows and another field nearby. The beauty of this route is that few people walk it. People like to walk along two paths, and I use a third. I walk right after lunch, on a regular basis, because that’s when the walks are quietest.

Blocked by Bovine Rush Hour

Yesterday I was blocked from continuing onwards by the cows. They were being transferred from one field to another and to do this the road was blocked. I could have pushed my way through but I didn’t mind having to wait a few minutes, whilst the cars were migrated from one field to another, ahead of milking.

Long Distance Walks

One of the challenges I face is that I don’t want a short 3-4km walk. I want an 8-10 km walk and in order to have such walks you need to walk between villages, and along busier roads. Nothing is built for people who want to walk from village to village so it’s for us to find routes that are not too exposed to car traffic, and especially dangerous road segments. This road segment is very dangerous. Cars go along too fast, and there is nowhere for pedestrians to shelter. There is a smaller bridge here but it seems to be on private land and there is a metal chain to block access if you come from the village. If this bridge was open to pedestrians and cyclists then walks would be much more pleasant, and a lot less dangerous.

Danger comes from cars not slowing down, and not letting others pass safely. The other danger comes from people not deflecting to the other side of the road to avoid pedestrians when there is no reason not to.

Mobilité Douce With Blinkers

There is a pedestrian mobility site but as with every other mobility body it looks at cities rather than the countryside. It looks at making walking popular for people who already have pavements, side streets and more, rather than to connect villages. The more dangerous it is to walk from village to village, the more likely people are to use cars. Switzerland has invested millions in cycle paths, and yet those cycle paths go through car parks, and in summer the cycle paths along the lake become pedestrian paths for the car drivers who parked on the pedestrian paths.

You don’t encourage people not to use cars, if you make it dangerous to walk or cycle between villages. Policies and decisions are taken by people who live in cities and towns, rather than villages.

For more than a decade, but especially since the pandemic lock downs I have seen the need for walking paths that connect villages, without cars or other vehicles. Walking and cycling routes should be safe and pleasant for walkers. Walking between villages should be a pleasure, not a gamble.

And Finally

If I walked once or twice a week I wouldn’t feel the way I do. it is because I walk along these paths every day, and I am exposed to the danger on a daily basis. It’s since they put in some bushes that I feel in danger. Until those bushes were put in I was in danger crossing the bridge but I was safe before, and after. Now I’m in danger walking to the bridge, and from the bridge, by a farmer’s choice. What was a safe and pleasant route, became deadly.

Walking is the simplest, cheapest, and lowest impact sport we can do from home, without using a car. As a result infrastructure should be put in place to make it possible to walk for 10 kilometres without having to expose ourselves to walking by dangerous road sides. The safer we make walking, the less we will have to deal with the nuisance of cars.

Colza, Sheep, Metamorphosis and Mindfulness

Colza, Sheep, Metamorphosis and Mindfulness

Byrichard

Yesterday I took a picture of brilliantly yellow Colza with the Jura looking dark due to storm clouds overhead. If you walk at this time of year you will see a lot of cola. At the moment it is brilliantly yellow and at it’s prime. Later on, the colza will be passed its prime, and at this moment it will lose all of its petals, and become green, before drying up and becoming brown. Colza is not beautiful for that much of its growth cycle. 


Colza field with the Jura in the background, looking dark due to thick clouds
Colza field with the Jura in the background, looking dark due to thick clouds


I have been passing by some sheep for several days now and each time they have progressed down the field. I walked by the field yesterday and it was quite amusing to see the path of grazed grass they left behind them. It went from being a prairie field with long grass, to a short grass field. The sheep are doing their job well. 


Sheep grazing in a field.
Sheep grazing in a field. You can see where they have been, and where they have yet to be.


At this time of year you see spiders and beetles running across the tarmac in front of you. It’s when hiking that I first noticed the hundreds, or even thousands of spiders running around beneath my feet


I try not to step on the beetles and spiders as I walk, and that’s why I noticed a beetle lying on its back. Upon seeing this my reaction was “This is a real life instance of “Metamorphosis”, the book about the person who wakes up, stuck on his back, unable to get up. It is rare for such a sight and I thought that I had filmed it, but I didn’t. 


Although I walk around in circles or loops, I do notice new and different things on every single walk, which is why I walk these routes so regularly. I do vary between five to ten routes, but where I turn left instead of going straight, or right instead of left, etc. 


And Finally


I started to “read” Mindfulness for Dummies while walking. I tried listening to other content but this one kept my attention. The idea that struck me, so far, is the idea of kindness. It speaks about learning to be kind to yourself, of not being negative about yourself. It is something worth hearing. I will be reading this as I walk from now until I finish it. 

The Curious Step Miscount Due to Walking Sticks
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The Curious Step Miscount Due to Walking Sticks

Byrichard

Yesterday I walked with hiking sticks and whereas one watch told me that I had 13,000 steps, or so, the other said I had 9000. It is the second time that I notice such a difference in step count. 


Walking stick step count. The count is lower than without walking sticks
Walking stick step count. The count is lower than without walking sticks


The first time I noticed this issue was a few days ago, after a similar walk. I knew that the walk was over 10,000 steps so when I saw the low count I thought something was wrong, but didn’t worry about it. It happened again yesterday. I went for an 11 kilometre walk that should be at least 12,000 or more steps but it was undercounted by at least three thousand steps. The Apple watch had over 13,000 and the Garmin Instinct Solar had 9000. 


The normal walking step count
The normal walking step count


I have a theory about what is causing this issue. When you’re walking normally your arms swing for every single step. When I walk with hiking steps I usually take two to three steps in between stick strikes on the ground. This results in one step being counted for every three or so steps. It seems to happen when I am in the walking, rather than hiking mode. By resting my hand on the sticks for a few steps at a time the watch counts that as a single step. 


It doesn’t stop there. I also noticed that the step per minute count was a fifth of what it usually is. Usually my step count is around 100-120 steps per minute. In this case, just twenty steps per minute. 


The simplest solution is to shorten the walking sticks to match your walking pace. With long sticks you will take four or five steps between lifts of the sticks. With shorter it might be half as frequent.


I can run two more experiments. With the first I can measure whether walking stick length has an effect, and then I can test whether walking in hiking, rather than walking mode changes the result. 


If you’re not a habitual walker like me, and if your step count is important, then walking with sticks may give the illusion that you are lazier than you are. This isn’t an issue, since distance is measured. If you’re trying to beat a walking record then the Apple watch might be a better option, as it seems to count steps more accurately, even with hiking sticks. 

Connected Watches and Psychological Profiles

Connected Watches and Psychological Profiles

Byrichard

Connected watches know everything about us. In theory they listen to us 24 hours a day for years in a row. My Apple watch has been on my wrist for over four years, every single day. It has been for swims, runs, rock climbing, via ferrata, office work and more. 


The watch knows how much I walk, when I get up, when I go to sleep, how well I wash my hands, how exposed I am to noise and much more. It also knows whether I am moving energetically or lazily. It knows if I am walking faster or slower. It also knows how rested or stressed I am, by looking at heart rate variability. 


Some people will look at the two paragraphs above and think “I don’t want this”. 


The Suunto, Garmin, Casio and other brands I have used measure walking, sleeping, and more but not in the way that Apple does. Apple theoretically knows a lot more for two key reasons. The first is that the Apple universe includes your laptop, your phone, your watch, your tablet and your keys and other possessions. Apple has access to almost every aspect of our lives. 


I bring this up, not because of a sense of paranoia, but simply because there is an article about this on the RTS website after some uni students wanted to know more. They asked people hundreds of questions to get a profile. They then tried to correlate that data with watch data to see if the watch could help establish mental health via a watch. They don’t say anything about brand. 


What makes this report especially interesting is that these are conclusions from fitness trackers, rather than high end smart watches. 


Some things are obvious. People who go out on a friday night are considered extroverted, people who sleep little and move more regularly are considered nervous and more. This is nothing that we wouldn’t expect to hear. 


If we look at the bigger picture, at big data, then this could be interesting. By tracking enough people over time it could be determined whether people are becoming happier, sadder, more nervous, less nervous, about to commit suicide and more. There are reports of how connected devices showed signs that someone was beginning to fall sick, with COVID, or other diseases. 


Steps, sleep and heart rate are just the tip of the iceberg. Most watches collect more than this so they know more.