Walking

Recently I was thinking about how some people want to offload their work to AI and it got me to think about how people already offloaded getting around to cars. When is the last time that you saw a group of people walk from Nyon to St Cergue via La Dôle, rather than take the train most of the way, and walk a short loop at the top?

If we think about it, years ago we offloaded walking between villages and towns to horses, and carriages, and cars, and trains, and boats and more. We delegated the activity that kept us fit and healthy to animals and horses. The consequence of that shift. as we became more and more dependant on cars, and buses, and trains, is that the energy we burned doing sports, went towards enhancing our girth and mass.

Walking and hiking are integral to my identity. I walk from four and a half to five and a half million steps per year. I walk in heat waves, rare snow and normal conditions. I hike with groups and I walk alone. Recently my desire to hike is much lower.

This isn’t so unusual. I often get tired of going for daily walks so I have to work towards motivating myself to walk on weekdays. The issue is that the walks that were interesting are either dangerous because of cars, or because of dog owners that can’t read when someone is afraid of their dog.

My definition of Mobilité Douce and the Swiss definition are quite different. For me Mobilité Douce is walking, hiking, cycling and other sports that require a certain dedication and desire to cover long distances. In contrast Switzerland seems to see Mobilité Douce as going from home to the shops, while leaving the car at home. The journeys seem to be short, and at a slower pace.

When I walk and cycle into Nyon, almost every day, I am struck by the sight of people waiting to catch a bus to travel 400 meters or less. To me, taking a bus for such a short distance is not mobilité douce. It’s lazy, especially for young healthy people in the prime of their lives.

Tomorrow there are at least three hikes and three bike rides that I know of. The hikes are via GoSocial and the bike rides are via Meetup. On Sunday I know of at least two to three GoSocial hikes and one Meetup hike. I have plenty of choice for what to do on weekends. In fact the choice is broader than that.

Over a week ago I signed up for a hike but over the last two weeks I have seen people say “I want to participate” without ever being told “sorry, we’re full”. My concern is that this will be another large hiking group with people who are out for a chat, and just happen to be walking at the same time. For some that’s fine, after all it is a GoSocial hike, not a GoHike event.

This weekend I have the choice between running, hiking, walking, via ferrata and probably more. Years ago I would have automatically gravitated towards Via Ferrata because that is a sport I really loved. These days I’m not so sure. It’s especially that the VF would take one and a half hours of driving, which isn’t really the issue, but that it starts at around 11:30, which, for me, is late.

This year, as I walk and hike with others, and as their activities are shown along my own, in the list of participants, so I begin to follow people I know on Strava, Komoot and other social networks focused on sports. Notice how I didn’t call them social media. The reason for this is simple. We’re sharing GPS tracks that are categorised by sports.

This weekend I saw that one or two people I know seemed to do group activities and I felt left out, because I had not seen them advertised on GoSocial or Meetup.com. Either that or I wasn’t attentive when they showed up.

Yesterday I was uninspired by an AI talk but went anyway and I didn’t get as much out of it as last time. That’s why, when it came to the networking part and talking about oneself I vanished to pay for my hot chocolate to have a conversation with other people. In the process I discussed electric vehicles and electric foot scooters.

I had considered going to this event with the e-scooter but chose not to because I am afraid it could be stolen if I am not careful. In the process I learned that someone did have his stolen, in front of friends, without them understanding what was happening. Apparently the theft of e-scooters, like bikes, is normal.

Sometimes when we go for a hike we walk along a route that makes getting back to the car quick and easy. For tomorrow’s walking getting back to the car would take three trains and more than an hour. For Londoners this is a familiar routing situation, but for people in Switzerland it might not be.

When I was looking at the route I found that the best place to park might be near Cossonay and another town. It’s convenient because you can take train A in the morning to get to the start of the Hike, and take the train from the end of the hike directly back to where the car is parked.

Yesterday I walked from Vevey to villeneuve with a stop in the castle for a visit before taking the train home. In the process we walked about fifteen kilometres along the lake. This was an easy pace for me. It was slow enough for my heart rate to be at seventy eight beats per minute, while walking, rather than over a hundred when I walk at my pace.

For me this was a stroll but I thought I could hear the others short of breath. it surprised me since the walk is an easy one by my standards. The other thing that was curious was how some people were dressed as flanneurs, rather than walkers. They were dressed to be seen. I was dressed to hike.

I saw that there is a hike taking place nearby. I would have really liked to join it but I would have been participant eleven with a limit of ten people. I wanted to participate because it would have required walking to Nyon, and taking the train de St Cergue to St Cergue and then walking for a few hours, before taking the train back down and walking home. Both my carbon footprint and my travel time would have been small and the environment would have benefited.