A Spanish View
A view of Calpe and the Peñon De Ifach from Portixol
The Desire for a Road Trip
Almost every time I get into the car I wish I was going on a road trip. I wish I was driving from point A to point B and that the drive would take hours, rather than minutes. As much as I hate “commuting” between point A and point B on a daily basis I love travelling from A to B as a journey. I love sitting for many hours in a car, thinking, looking at the landscape, remembering things, thinking of the future and more.
Not the Usual
It’s interesting, because I use the car twice a week, on normal weeks. To go shopping, and no other reason. I used to drive an hour or two to go for walks. Now I never do. I should, because the roads into and out of my village are very dangerous for pedestrians. The paradox is that if I get into the car to drive ten minutes to go for a walk, I become part of the problem, rather than the solution.
The Absurd commute
Most people drive to and from work, every single day, rather than taking the train, cycling, or other. I used to drive to work too, when I had a parking space. As soon as parking cost 30-40 CHF per day I got a half fare and took the train. The train journey saw me walking twenty minutes at full speed, rather than catching the bus, and then walking from the train station on the other end to the office. I hate waiting for buses, and being in crowded spaces. The walk is more pleasant.
If we made parkings cost 30-40 CHF per day for everyone, most people would leave their cars at homes and motorway traffic would be a fifth or less of what it is now. They want to expand the motorway from 2030 onwards, but that’s absurd. Reduce commuting by car and you don’t need bigger motorways.
The Road Trip
The drive is thirteen hours long. I set off at 0300 and hope to be at my destination by about 1600. For the first three or four hours I drive in the dark. I head towards Grenoble, and eventually I go towards Porte De Valence. That’s when the sun starts to ride. I then drive west towards the Franco-Spanish border. I cross it and refuel. My first stop in over 800 kilometres. I then drive towards Barcelona, hit that traffic, and then towards Valencia, and beyond, before arriving at my destination.
During the last three or four hours I find myself needing the toilet more often. I think it’s fatigue.
I snack along the way, especially when I feel that I am losing focus. It usually brings my focus back. I also found that when I’m in France I find it comfortable to drive at 120 kilometres per hour, rather than 130. I’m used to this speed. It is the speed limit in Switzerland and Spain, so it makes sense to drive at a speed that causes less fatigue.
That’s also why I set off at 3am. It’s early, but I find that it’s easier to drive towards Spain during daylight. I find that as soon as the sun sets I begin to feel more tired.
Paradoxically on the way back I often drive through the night, from Grenoble towards Geneva. When I’m heading home it matters less.
A Mental Break
In a normal year I might do this drive two to three times. I flee southwards to avoid Christmas fuss, but I might also drive again in April or so, to get “spring” or summer sooner.
Podcasts and Books
During the drive I listen to hours of podcasts and books. To some extent the drive is an opportunity to listen to books and podcasts while watching the landscape change. I listened to Harry Potter books, Louis L’amour books and more. It’s nice to have an opportunity to listen to books for hours in a row, without worrying about doing something more productive with one’s time.
It’s like my daily walks, but for longer, and sitting down. I managed to finish entire books in a single sitting.
And Finally
The most I’ve driven in Four days is 3600 kilometres. I drove to Tarbes and then Barcelona, and from Barcelona back to Tarbes and then to Geneva. By the end of the trip I was exhausted. This is much smaller, it’s 2600 kilometres with a few weeks in the middle to recover.
I could fly but a big part of the experience is the drive. There was a time when I was flying between England and Switzerland and it became boring. It felt like commuting, rather than fun. It’s more tiring to drive but the experience is more pleasant.
Almost every time I get into the car I wish I was going for a road trip. I finally have the opportunity to go for that road trip next week. It will give me new things to write about, and it will recharge me before coming back.
According to TomTom Go if I set off now the trip should take just 11 hours. In practice, because I drive at 120 in France it will take about twelve to thirteen hours. Part of me is impatient to set off but another part of me wants to finish what I’m working on. Within the next day or two I will have PhotoPrism and Audiobookshelf running off of a 4 TB hard drive, rather than an SD card and a 2TB drive and that setup will be a serious iteration, rather than experimental.
spain | Swiss walks | travel
Nervous Energy
I don’t know whether I’m nervous or anxious about driving from 11-13 hours almost non stop tomorrow. In the past I have driven from Switzerland to Spain, without stopping. In the past we had to stop to refuel but not anymore, not with modern cars. We have to stop for toilet breaks instead.
During long drives I spend my time listening, either to books, or to podcasts. Recently I have spent a lot more time listening to books. I used to love podcasts but they have too many adverts and they’re too long. When you’re catching up on a series of podcasts you don’t want hours and hours of one and a half hour episodes because there is a lot of fill, rather than worthwhile content. I also get information from courses instead.
I drive with hardly any breaks because as I’m travelling alone I don’t want to leave the car unattended, but also because it’s not much fun to see families and couples. travelling together and I’m doing the same journey as I have done plenty of times in solitude. That’s also why I feel differently about the time before a trip.
I get in the car, to drive to the shops, and I feel the urge to go on a road trip, and then when it’s one or two days before the road trip I become melancholic. It might sound stupid but I am attached to my routine, and it feels as if I will feel time away from my routine. Pandemic solitude, and living alone can have a strange effect on us.
I have 17,000 steps today. I got to three thousand steps just preparing things for the trip before lunch and then after lunch I went for my daily walk, and now I still have quite a bit of nervous energy. This shows that although I might feel melancholic I’m excited for the drive.
I love the drive. I love looking at the landscape, seeing the progress on the GPS and listening to books. I also enjoy the time to think. If I wanted to push things I’d say that I enjoy the mindfulness of the drive. It’s several hours of being free to think, or listen to audiobooks.
I like walking, and cycling, and climbing. I like going from A to B. This year I have walked double the distance I am driving tomorrow. The difference is that this drive is linear, rather than circular, and it’s about endurance. It’s about staying focused for 13 hours.
Today I have been unable to sit, which is silly, but rational. Tomorrow I will be sat for hours, unable to get up, except to refuel and go to the toilet, so it makes sense to be fidgety today, calm tomorrow, and recover the day after.
And Finally, tomorrow I drive, and I will be calm. For the homeward leg I will be fine.
Reading About The Camino De Santiago
Over the last month or so I have been reading Le Camino Seule, ou enfin presque and it is one of my favourite hiking books. It might simply be because it was written in French, by a french woman rather than in English by Brits or Americans but it made me feel more than other books. She often references Sylvain Tesson’s book Forêt de Sibérie, a book I read a few years ago.
I like the book because it’s about leaving life behind for 38 days to do a walk, to find herself, only to find that she doesn’t find herself, and that she has more questions than answers by the end of it. I like that it goes from location to location and day by day. I like the meetings that she speaks about, the people, the situations and more. I also like that she has choices to make, whether to walk the normal route, or to take the Primitivo.
When she spoke about the Camino Norte and Français I didn’t feel a desire to go for a walk but when she spoke of the Primitivo this is the part of the Camino that I would consider. It sounds more like the walking I am used to. Through mountains, clouds, remote villages and more.
I read this book during the solitude of a two year pandemic, where there is no end in sight. The people I have met during walks were pleasant and interesting to spend time with. It would be nice to go on such a trip, and to spend time with a community of people while doing something enjoyable like walking. It’s what I miss most from pre-pandemic life.
If you read this when the pandemic is over you will not understand. Pandemics are a moment where we can socialise, if we want to take a silly risk, or we can self-isolate to stay safe. I choose safety, but safety is solitude. When the pandemic ends I want to go on such walks, to spend time with people once again.
Bookcrossing and A November Walk
Today I went for a slight variant and came across a book dating back to 1930 so of course I picked it up. I like the look and feel of old books. I also like that they carry history. The book is 91, almost 92 years old and it has been passed on from generation to generation for almost six generations. I looked in the book and at first I just ignored the scribbles at the front of the book, not thinking much of it. Now that I looked closer I noticed the BCID so I looked up bookcrossing.com and logged that I found the book.
Now that I know about this project I feel that I should add books that I own to that database, for people to find and share them. One book has 601 hops, and the next only 198. That is how many times books have been passed on from person to person.
I see that the project is still new but it will soon reach two million members (bookcrossers) and approaching 14 million books. It is present in 132 countries, and what is impressive is that this is only since April 2021, so the site is still new. Registering a book is quick and easy. Note the ISBN, Double check the info, write a comment, create the book, and then add the BCID to the inner cover and a new book is logged. It takes seconds.
I believe that this is a great project because if you think that the use case for cars, is bad, due to how much time they spend sitting around, then imagine how bad it is for books. They spend years, even decades on shelves collecting dust, without being read more than once. With a website like Bookcrossing those dormant books are given the opportunity to travel, to be read, to be discussed and to be shared, over and over again. A book is no longer read by one person but dozens, or even hundreds. It works like a library, but the library is the world, and everyone can be a curator.
I could now create an entry for The Unbearable Lightness of Being and other favourite books of mine, and over time I could follow as they are shared, commented on, and as their locations move either west or east, south, or north. It would show how interconnected the world is.
I will participate in this project. I like the opportunities that I think it opens up.
From A Spanish to A Swiss Autumn
When I left for Spain Switzerland was just starting to turn Autumnal. Today, when I looked around I could see that Autumn has arrived properly in Switzerland. In Spain the sun is still warm enough for t-shirt wearing and swimming. The sun is still strong enough to change our chrominance.
Yesterday I drove for around 11 and a half hours, with just one stop to refuel. I usually stop three or four times on that route but I felt like trying to do it in a single hop. This is for two reasons.
1. We’re still in a pandemic and I want to minimise risk. The stop I made was quiet so there was little risk of being too close to others.
2. I didn’t want to leave the car unattended for too long. As I am driving alone I don’t want to leave the car alone, in case people decide to steal things, not that anything was visible.
During the drive I listened to Troy, read by Steven Fry. It is interesting, and it is revision for those who have read his other books. There are moments when I struggled to hear what they were saying, due to the sound being lower, and that cars are noisy.
During the drive I enjoyed eating Spanish honey flavoured peanuts. They are easy to eat, not too messy, and good to keep you focused and attentive. During this drive I had to be focused for twelve hours non stop. People say “oh but twitter, social media and television have destroyed people’s ability to focus. I don’t believe this is accurate. I couldn’t drive for twelve hours safely otherwise.
I did see that one car had swerved off the road, into some grass, and then bounced back. I am certain that this person was either distracted, or fell asleep and smashed into the barrier. From what I saw two or three people were standing beside the accident so I think they’re fine.
Two things make driving easier these days. Cruise control, because this gives you the chance to move your leg around, rather than keep it locked and immobile. The second is to drive at the speed limit or slightly below. When I was in France several trips ago I enjoyed driving in France at 130 kilometres per hour. I eventually found that 130 kilometres per hour, in a previous car was more tiring, and that I was comfortable with 120 kilometres per hour. So from then on I always drive at the speed limit or a speed limit that I am used to. For twelve hours the goal is endurance and comfort. I would not repeat the drive within two weeks again, especially with the change from summer to winter time. I think that such a drive is easy once, but that to be repeated it would be good to wait three to four weeks, before making the return journey, especially as a solitary driver.
On Breaking an arm and replacing climbing with swimming and cycling with walking
A few weeks ago I broke my arm while cycling. I was indicating that I was turning right while breaking with my left hand and the brake blocked and the next thing I knew the bike was on top of me.
I extricated myself from beneath the bike and dragged it to the side of the road and reached into my bag to get a bottle of coke to help with the shock. I drank it and tried to recover before walking home. This accident happened just meters from my home.
A driver helped and asked if I wanted a ride to hospital and I said “no” because I was so close to home. Within a few minutes I stood up and limped to put the bike in the garage and walk up to my apartment. I sat there for twenty or more minutes; thought about resting and seeing if the pain would decrease.
I could feel that my left arm was limited in motion and my right wrist was in pain. It felt as if the injury was serious enough for a walk to the hospital three kilometres away. When I felt relatively certain that I wouldn’t faint along the way i started to walk. A friend who lives in the same apartment was driving a post van and asked if I needed a ride and I answered yes. Rather than being delivered to hospital by ambulance I was delivered in a postal van. First joke opportunity.
I checked in to the hospital and was checked. I told them that my left arm hurt and that my right wrist hurt. I was asked if I had a helmet. I said “yes”. The medical person took my blood pressure, heart rate, checked my stomach for injuries and then told me to go to reception, take care of the bureaucracy and wait for the doctor to see me. The wait was a long one.
When I finally did see the doctor she checked the mobility in my arm and thought I had probably not broken anything in my left arm but wanted it x-rayed anyway, along with my right hand. The X-ray was painful.
When the doctor saw me after looking at the X-ray she said that I did have a small linear fracture in my humerus and that it had to be immobilised. My hand was not even mentioned.
For the next two days I struggled with everything from opening the doors and windows to getting dressed and showering. For a short period of time I thought I would need to ask for help with daily tasks.
I was sad about this injury because it meant that cycling and climbing were no longer possible for at least two weeks. I had just changed my yearly cycling goal to 3000km.
For over a month I could not drive or put any weight on my left arm. I couldn’t cook much. I couldn’t drive and I struggled to shower.
Due to this injury I had to walk everywhere. I walked to the shops and just to get out of the house. I was walking 15-20kms a day, during a heatwave. I enjoyed walking. As I walked everywhere I took plenty of pictures and completed my via alpine route one goal. I walked over a hundred kilometres a week.
Aside from walking I also needed to rest and recover. I would turn on the television and watch the Tour de France on France 3 and France 2 every single stage. This was my best way of resting and recovering.
When I could use my arm again and started physio I started to spend more and more time with the arm brace. This was a good time to get it to dry out. With the summer heat it got soaked.
Eventually I did feel well enough to travel and left for Spain where I swam every morning in the sea and every afternoon in a pool. The sea was between 26-27 degrees and the pool was at a pleasant 30c.
I swam half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the afternoon. Swimming was a good sport because it’s a soft sport. You can easily modulate the effort according to whether you feel pain or not. It also requires no lifting or extra strain as the bone recovers.
I love swimming but the main issue with this sport is that water is cold and that air is also cold. I love to be warm so I enjoy swimming most when I know that I will stop shivering sooner rather than later.
I almost always swam with a mask but often with a mask and snorkel. In so doing I could see how few fish were around in the sea but also to reduce the strain put on my arms. With a mask and snorkel you don’t need to pop your head above the surface for every breath. You can also make a gentler effort and avoid straining the bones that are mending.
I tracked these swims with both the Suunto spartan wrist hr Baro and the Apple Watch series four. Neither had any issues. I used the Suunto in the sea and the Apple Watch in the pool. The problem with Suunto is that they do not accommodate pools shorter than 25 metres so the stats it gave were wrong.
Staring at phones in the rain once again…
Once again I was out in the rain walking around a city. Once again I was looking downwards and then up. I was also looking around and navigating through a city I have been to before but only for a meal and on my way to another place. I went there for a blogobar event many months ago. More recently I went through the city on my way to a Via Ferrata near La Chaux De Fond. This time was different. I was meeting people who stare at their mobile phones when walking around city. To many of you this describes what you think is wrong with society. Too many people withdrawing from society, not interacting. This isn’t the case.
These people who met from 10am on a saturday until 1145 before a group picture was taken are ingress players. Ingress as you know from previous posts is a muntiplayer augmented reality game that people play by walking around in the real world. They walk towards buildings, monuments, statues and other sights of interest. As a group, as I wrote about yesterday we had three missions as a group. I only did two of these with the group. One of them required a physical walk up to the castle of Neuchatel and back down the slope. As we walked we saw parts of the city which I had yet to see. The second walk was from the train station down towards the lake side.
This is relevant for two reasons. The first of these is that I am a hiker and in summer I spend my weekends in the mountains. The second is that I have walked around more cities than I can remember. The best way to get to know a city is by walking. You gain a sense of scale. You understand it’s geography and you also see what points of interest are where and how they are connected. Rome is a city which I visited many times alone. I love the city because I love the life style contrast between Geneva and Rome. I also love the city because of it’s history. Where else do you park a car in a basement next to some Roman walls. Where else do you have two Millenia of history so visible?
Ingress today offered me an opportunity to meet with strangers and do activities with them, to see parts of a new city and to have company. So often mobile phones are associated with solitude and isolation. Through this account you may understand that mobile phones and especially smartphones can be inclusive. The conversations that we had through social media have faded as the noise has gone up and this is where social augmented reality games can pick up. They can provide a new opportunity for people to connect.
Next month I plan on going to Firenze for another event. So far over 600 people have signed up. They will come from around Europe and around the world to meet in a beautiful city with a rich cultural history. This will be the backdrop for the game. I look forward to visiting the city once again and meeting new people precisely because of smartphones rather than despite of them.
London | Post-university life | travel | university | work
The drive home – My 400th post
Last night’s drive was amazing. It’s just the type of drive you want to have. It starts in the middle of the afternoon as a friend helps you load the car and you set off for a 900 kilometer drive. At the beginning you have to deal with London traffic/congestion. After this you’ve got part of the m20 that’s closed so you need to take a slip road. As I got into France I was welcomed by a lot of snow coming straight at me, like the windows screensaver from a decade ago. That meant I couldn’t really drive as fast as I wanted. Still made good time. For most of the journey the road was fine.The part I really loved is when I got off the motorway to go via the Jura. At this point it wasn’t snowing too much but as I progressed up the slopes and let the Garmin Nuvi 250 guide me along the path so I saw a little snow, and it started to stick. As I drove I had to stay awake and battle with the ever present threat of loss of adherence. That was the fun part of the drive. The road was covered in a thin layer of snow and people were driving more slowly. At moments I was chasing a snowplow across the mountains as it was salting the roads.At other moments there was no snow plow and I lost traction two or three times but kept the car in control. I occasionaly thought that I wouldn’t make it up the hills but I did, and I loved the view. The trees were covered in snow and they were lit by the grand phare. It’s memories from childhood. I’m glad I’ve spent so much time playing in car parks covered in snow to learn how the car behaved.At five in the morning the last thing you want to learn is how to drive in snow. Luckily I do.It made a nice transition from the student life I’ve been living over the past three years and the job seeking following that. I wanted the drive to be a transition from one phase in my life to the next. Now I’m  an employed graduate who’s working in Switzerland as of next Monday. This next chapter of my life should be fun. Â