A Weekend in Two Hikes

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This weekend I didn’t blog because I went on two hikes. The first hike was with the History hiking meetup group, and the second was with a GoSocial group. Both hikes were around 10km in different landscapes. The first one went from Bière to Allaman and the second one went from Haut-De-Caux to the Dent De Jaman and back.

From Bière to the Arboretum

The first hike was with a larger group than usual for this meetup group. Usually we are 3-10 people. This time we were 23 I think, maybe even 25 after a moment. That’s a huge group to hike with. As an introvert I prefer smaller groups.

I am familiar with the Arboretum. I have been many, many times over the years. It’s a nice, short walk. It has some climbing, and descending and because it has trees you can see them flower in spring, get their leaves and more. You can also see plenty of tadpoles in one pond, swimming around. Children can look for frogs. In Summer you have the shade of the trees. In Autumn you have the changing of the leaves. I haven’t been in winter so I don’t know what to expect.

The part that I wanted to try was walking from the Arboretum to Bière, or vice versa, and this weekend we did. Part of it is along single lane roads and you have to allow cars to pass every so often so it’s not ideal.

Switzerland has an issue. There are plenty of narrow one lane roads. These would be fantastic for cyclists and hikers, if they were closed to cars, except for agricultural vehicles. In France, Spain, and Swiss German parts plenty of roads like this would be made into Voie Verte. During the pandemic these were fantastic for going on hikes without touching a car. After the pandemic cars made these roads unpleasant for cycling and hiking.

Switzerland loves to say "We love mobilité douce and we want to encourage it, but they forget that it’s when we’re going from towns and villages to towns and villages that we want to leave the car in the garage. Once we’re in town we walk anyway. It’s between towns and villages that we need walking paths.

It’s the first one point eight kilometres that are like this. After this you’re in the woods, the arboretum, along a parcours vita and more.

The parcours via, in and of itself is interesting. They have just put down fresh wood chippings so the surface is soft and comfortable under foot, great for running. In some places Parcours vita get muddy, especially after rain. This one is a good one to know about.

I would be tempted to try some of the route on a bike in the near future. These roads are quiet and they’re right next to the busy roads I would usually use.

Hauts-de-Caux to La Dent de Jaman

It was raining heavily in the morning, when I woke up at six. I questioned whether to go on the hike. I checked the weather for Caux and see that the rain was not meant to come until sixteen hundred so I made sure to have the rain coat in case. It’s part of my standard hiking kit anyway.

When you drive up to Montreux to Caux the road is steep and winding. On the ninth of March I walked from Montreux to the Buvette de Jaman. We stopped at Hauts-De-Caux for a toilet break last time. This time it was where we parked the cars. If you come up later in the day they control how many people can come up and park so it’s good to go up in the morning.

This walk was a loop rather than a linear walk. The loop can be done clockwise or counter-clockwise. We went clockwise. The gradient in this direction is more gentle than via the route we went up in March.

You walk along paths through trees, and every so often you get glimpses of the valley beneath. It was nice, because at one moment I slowed down to take photos, and the group went behind a ridge and I had the sound of silence. That sound of silence made me think about how nice it would be to hike solo. In the process I came to plenty of Ail D’Ours. I forget the English name. Bear Garlic, if we want to translate it literally rather than correctly.

It’s at the Manoïre, and the Col De Jaman that I would have taken a different route. I would have continued straight and used the same path as we use for the Via Ferrata before climbing up towards the Dent De Jaman. It would have added one kilometre but it would have been much safer.

One of the challenges with hiking with different groups and leaders up to twice per weekend is that you don’t know how much experience the leader, and participants have. This means that whilst you’re equipped for a winter hike others are not.

There is a clear message. Everyone is responsible for their own safety. When I saw that the route was becoming more challenging I made the decision to remain at the rear of the group. It’s the same thing I do with via ferratas and in other situations. The rational is simple. If you’re scared, or stressed as one or two people clearly were, being at the rear is deeply unpleasant, ‘abandoned’ by the group. By being at the rear of the group I removed that pressure from the person who was struggling.

The challenge, when you’re in the clouds, is that you don’t know how safe, or exposed you are, so it’s better to assume that the situation is not safe. It’s also a cruel irony. The group stopped for lunch, just 400 meters from the summit. We stopped at 6.7 kilometres and the summit was at 7.1 kilometres. On a clear day the group would have seen how close we were, and we could have stopped where we usually stop for lunch.

Two of us did get to the top. There was no view so the détour was good for a GPS track, but we didn’t gain a beautiful view by reaching it.

Slight Regret

I have a slight regret. If the entire group had been better equipped, and if I had remembered how exposed that route was, then I would have insisted that we took the safer route. Having said this, on a clear day the experience might have been different. My interpretation of yesterday’s situation is based on the experience on the 9th of March. In that situation we were exposed for one portion of the hike. I don’t remember if where we were yesterday was as exposed.

Group Activities as an Introvert

When I am around people I have only just met I am an introvert. Saturday and Sunday we were twenty five on one day, and fifteen or more the second day. That’s a lot of people, for me, as an introvert. I suspect that there are hundreds of hikers which is great. It means there are plenty of people to meet and do things with. It’s a drag, because it means that its harder to see the same people regularly. It means that every hike requires new meeting and new socialising. It’s still April, so there is plenty of time for Summer hikes and finding new friendships.

Morally, I did the right thing by being the sweeper during the difficult part because it provided psychological and moral support to someone who was struggling in an unfamiliar situation. Having said this I would have probably been happier near the front.

And Finally

I saw a group photo from the Lavaux hike and I question whether I would have been happier doing the easy hike in Lavaux, rather than the Dent De Jaman. I knew with certainty that I wanted to do the physical hike, but now I have ROMO. Regret of Mission Out, on the easier hike, especially if it was a smaller group.

Time to see what the next weekend will bring.