Last Sunday I cycled betwen Nyon and Geneva, not once but twice. I cycled from Nyon to Geneva, passing close to my old school, before getting into Geneva. Once in Geneva I joined a group ride and we cycled from Geneva towards Divonne along a similar route to the one I had taken. We then stopped for coffee, and a pain au chocolat in my case, before riding back to Geneva, via the top, this time. Once this was done I cycled back towards Nyon along the lake until Mies, before climbing towards Coppet, and then heading back to the lake and Nyon. I then chased cars and managed to keep up, despite 100kms in my legs....
Posts tagged “driving”
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The Diminished Need for a Car — Apr 14, 2026 -
Trip Desire — Oct 7, 2021This morning I found that I did have trip desire after all. As I drove out of a village towards the East I found that I had this desire. I did want to go for a long drive, and go on a trip. It has been January 2019 that I haven’t traveled. My reason, before, was that we need to stay locally, to stop the spread of the pandemic. I had the old fashioned notion that a pandemic should be neutralised as soon as possible.... -
Tomorrow I Have The Long Drive — Jan 7, 2023Tomorrow I have the long drive. For 12 hours or so I will be driving the car with few stops and plenty of time to daydream....
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Ingress Operation Apache, Covering Geneva in Blue. — May 3, 2015Operation Apache...
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Looking Back In Time — Feb 13, 2020For a few days now I’ve been looking through thousands of pictures to make sure that they’re synced from iCloud to the Photo app before they’re deleted. In so doing I noticed how far in front of a group I was hiking a few years ago. Instead of hiking with the group I was so far in front that I could get group shots without trying. Eventually, they did pose, as if it had been intentional rather than my walking habit.... -
Driving in the rain — Jan 8, 2023Yesterday i drove through the rain for two hours at night and it was so demanding that i stopped the audiobook to focus on driving. It was harder to see the lines, and the rain was heavy enough to impact visibility....
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Apple Car Play and Roaming — Nov 16, 2021Several years ago I needed to download TomTom and I needed the latest map updates if I wanted to drive from Switzerland to England or from Switzerland to France, or to Spain. Thanks to roaming I now have a much broader choice....
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On AudioBookShelf, podcasts, Books, and Car Play — Jan 16, 2026Recently I drove for 26 hours over two days between Switzerland and France and I used Audible rather than Audiobookshelf to listen. The reason for this is that when I am driving I do not want to fiddle with an app on a phone. I don’t even want to fiddle with apps on Car Play.... -
On Driving Into Geneva and Walking — Nov 4, 2025Today I had to go into Geneva to do something Initially my plan was to drive to the Parking St Antoine. As I got towards Secheron and the P&R parking I thought, “I have time, I’ll park here and walk the rest”. I did park, and then I did walk.... -
On Trips to Geneva by Car, Train and Bicycle — Sep 30, 2025Yesterday I cycled along the lake to get to Geneva. When I got to Geneva I cycled by World Meteorological Organisation before heading up from there towards the Graduate Institute, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Palace of Nations (Palais des Nations) before heading by the International committee of the Red cross, by the International Labour Organisation and World Health Organisation before passing by the European Broadcasting Union, before finally heading back out of Geneva.... -
A Cycling Network Operating Centre or NOC — Sep 29, 2025Today I looked at the Sports Tracker app and I noticed that all of my activities started from home, whether cycling, hiking, or walking. That’s because I spent this month cycling and walking from home. I didn’t use the car, or trains to get around.... -
Distances on a Bike and by Car — Sep 11, 2025When I think of going to the Roche Au Dade via ferrata I often think “but it’s far”. That’s when I am going by car. I think the same when I consider going to St George, Fort L’écluse and other places. The paradox is that when I think of going to these places, by bike, now, I don’t.... -
The Cost of Cycling and Driving — Aug 5, 2025Have you ever considered the difference in cost between cycling and driving a petrol car? Of course you have, and so have I. Yesterday I was reminded of how expensive cars are. I think that the last time I used the petrol car was to change to summer tyres. It has been dormant since then. Yesterday I refulled for about 50 CHF I think. I also used the self-checkout in the shop, rather than going to the human being. Everyone else went to the human being.... -
On the Irony of Expensive Cars — Jul 14, 2025A few weeks ago two individuals in a car yelled abuse at a group of us who were cycling. They were mad that a cyclist did not pull in for them to pass easily. At this point I thought "Despair is not sat on a bench as in the proverb, he is sat in a car....
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The Strong Desire Not To Drive Others — May 9, 2025I am still really tempted to take the train to Jaun Dorf rather than the car. There are two reasons for this. The first is that the route is easy by train. It’s two trains, and a bus. The second reason is that I don’t save any time on the way up, by taking the car. I do burn petrol, and have to pay for parking while not driving the car.... -
Tempted to Camp in Gruyère — May 8, 2025Yesterday while I was looking for a Via Ferrata I came across this hike and I am tempted to do it. I will be in the area to do this hike on Saturday and if I camped overnight then I could do the second hike as a solo hike.... -
A Missed Coworking Event — Apr 17, 2025Today I drove to Geneva, with the intention of going to a coworking event. In the end I skipped it. Usually when I plan to participate in something like this I go at the start time, rather than at some point during the day. I broke with my routine so I was at the right place, at the right time, and I saw the group. I didn’t say hello....
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On Not Driving People for Free — Aug 26, 2024Years ago I would drive people to and from glocals activities for free. A diving friend of mine had excellent service. I drove to his home to pick him up, and then drive to dive sites. One day I decided that I wanted to go for a hike with a group, rather than a walk, so I went to Geneva, and asked two or three times, “Is it okay if I do this instead of that” and he said yes. I asked him two more times and he still said yes....
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What was the last thing you searched for online? Why were you looking for it? — Aug 23, 2024As a follow up to yesterday’s blog post the last thing that I searched for was the travel times between Nyon and Le Pont, the train time between Le Pont and Vallorbe and the driving time between Le Pont and Moléson-Sur-Gruyère and the time for a little détour to pick someone up near Vevey....
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The Decision Not to Drive For Sports On a Sunday — Jul 14, 2024This weekend I could have gone to Bellevaux for the VF, Thones for the VF, Kandersteg for the VF, and gone to Charmey, Rocher de Naye and one other places for hikes and climbing. I chose to do none of these things. My reason for this is to save money on petrol, after driving quite a bit last week but also to recharge.... -
The Desire for a Road Trip — Feb 10, 2024Almost 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.... -
The Absurdity of Driving Culture — Dec 7, 2023For a long time I thought that driving would give me freedom. I was impatient to be old enough to drive, and then I was impatient to pass my driving test. I failed the theory three times in Switzerland, zero in England, and the practical in England once, and once in Switzerland. Eventually I did pass my driving test in England, on Valentine’s day. I then drove to see the girlfriend of the time.... -
A Walking Decline in the US Since 2019 — Nov 17, 2023According to streetlight data walking in the US has declined over the past three or four years. The decline was by up to thirty six percent from 2019-2022. The clearest reason for this is that 2019 and 2020 were walking honeymoon periods. By this I mean that for the duration of lock down and “work from home” people had more time to walk since they spent less time commuting, but also because the natural habit of getting into a car to do something had declined., thanks to the pandemic.... -
The Habit of Walking — Oct 15, 2023This morning I decided to go for a benchmark run for a new Garmin training plan. After I ran the required 5 minutes and four minutes of walking I continued with my walk. I had a route that I wanted to walk but because I saw people, and dogs on the paths that I was thinking of walking down I took a bigger loop once, then again, and then a third time. In the end I walked 12,000 steps this morning. I walked from Nyon to Cheserex to Borex to Arnex and back towards Nyon.... -
The Amplified Case for Car Free Cycling and Walking Routes — Sep 29, 2023In the near future we may see many more self-driving cars from many different manufacturers. If this is the case then we should think about reducing the number of roads and lanes devoted to cars. As robots drive cars, rather than humans so safety distances no longer need to exist, because every car is talking with every other car, as a swarm....
