Richard's Blog

Posts tagged “Swiss walks”

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  Zero Minutes Per Week on Facebook — Nov 15, 2021

  I noticed that Facebook has a way of letting you know how badly you are addicted to their website. In the process I learned that I spent zero minutes on their website this week, and one minute last week. I do not spend time on their website because it fails to provide me with a community that I want to interact with on a daily basis. There are a number of reasons for this but the key reason is that they spent so much effort trying to make the timeline more addictive that they made it repulsive....
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  Zero Minutes Per Week on Facebook — Nov 15, 2021

  richard - Nov 1, 2021...
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  Yet Another Sunny Day — Aug 27, 2021

  As I looked straight down from a bridge today I noticed that the river is so low that the river bed has become bone dry in places. In other places you see that the gress is turning yellow. When tractors tend to the fields you see that they are stirring up clouds of dust. It is so dry, so often, that it is only a matter of time before forest fires burn down local forests....
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  Yet Another Sunny Day — Oct 11, 2021

  Today I looked at two of the masks I used over summer and they are both bleached by the sun. So is my hat. I normally expect things in Spain to be sun bleached, not Switzerland. The reason is simple. First, it never ever rains, and even clouds are rare today, and second, I spend an hour and a half outdoors a day walking. Plenty of time for my things to get sun bleached....
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  Yet Another Pandemic Friday Evening — Nov 5, 2021

  Today is yet another pandemic Friday evening, with no plans for the weekend. It would be easy to throw caution to the wind and to try to socialise, but to do so, when the number of new cases is going up would be silly. The paradox of pandemics is that it is a marathon of solitude, rather than a sprint. I calculated recently that we could have another 410 days of pandemic left. That’s around eight years....
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  Wordle Attempts — Mar 25, 2022

  I like this collection of words. I think the experiments are more interesting than the result....
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  With A view of the Mont Blanc — Sep 24, 2021

  I’m afraid to open the veluxes because of the threat of finding yet another large spider. I don’t mind having to dispose of it, but I hate the idea of having one walking around without me knowing. A great alternative to open windows is to go for your daily walk. You’re far from neighbours, from smokers, from metalworking and more. You are free to daydream. Today the Mont Blanc was clearly visible. The image is at max zoom with an iphone 8+....
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  Wing Foil Near Nyon — Mar 25, 2023

  https://youtu.be/DbBUmiYBxcQ...
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  When Rain Doesn't Show Up — Dec 4, 2022

  They forecast rain and I looked forward to going for a walk and having clean shoes as shoes are washed by the rain keeping shows slick. The rain didn’t come so my shoes got muddy and I stood by the tap trying to get the mud to drain away from between the tread, without much luck. Tomorrow if I run down the stairs as I always do I will leave thick clumps of mud from my apartment down to the garage...
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  What Do The Logs Show — Sep 17, 2021

  Joke: I was on the phone with tech support when I walked by these and I was asked “What do the logs show?” I had a double take before I understood he meant the web logs and other server logs. I then continued walking...
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  Water bottles and Oxydation — Sep 9, 2021

  I often hiked with a Sigg one litre water bottle and it has served me well. It has been with me for rock climbing, via ferrata, hiking and more. I like it because it is light, easy to use and maintain. I liked the one litre version enough to get a smaller 600ml version for conferences and work....
• Walking With Worn Shoes — Nov 25, 2021

  At the moment I am walking with worn shoes, not because I do not have shoes that are not worn, but because I do not want to walk with shoes that have good tread at this time of year, due to the mud that gets stuck in them. When I walk with shoes with treads I collect mud during my walk, and I bring it up the stairs when I walk up, and I drop it off when I run back down. This leaves a mess, which, if I was a child, would be forgivable to some degree, but as an adult may be seen as immaturity....
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  Walking With A Fear of Dogs — Mar 12, 2023

  I walk every single day, whether it’s raining, windy, snowing, a heat wave and more. I like heatwaves because dog walkers usually stay in. We live in an age and society where fear of dogs is not respected. Yesterday I was on a walk and i saw two big dogs. One was on a leash and the second was free to roam. That freedom to roam encouraged me to divert my route to go through a muddy forest....
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  Walking Through Mud — Feb 15, 2021

  In normal times we can walk along clean paths, without walking through the mud because we can walk within a meter or two of people. During a pandemic though, the recommendation is to be at least two meters from people. Many agricultural paths are not that wide, especially when people walk two or more abreast....
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  Walking Into Heavy Rain — Dec 15, 2022

  Sometimes you end up walking into heavy rain. That’s what I did today. I looked at the weather and because it was meant to get better over the coming days I assumed that this evening it would get better. Instead, as I walked it started to rain a little more, and then a little harder, and eventually quite a bit harder. Did I get wet beyond the top layer? Nope, but my beanie got a little wet, as did my fleece. My shoes on the other hand were clean, thanks to the flow of water....
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  Walking from Village to Village, and Village to Town — Jun 22, 2020

  The conversation is too often about designing cities to be car-free, but I would argue that designing the countryside to require less frequently would be more advantageous. The reason for this is that walking from village to village, and from villages to towns eliminates the need for, and appeal of the car. If the need for a car is mooted by making the sides of roads pleasant for pedestrians and cyclists, we reduce the allure of the car....
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  Walking from Nyon to St Cergue — Aug 27, 2018

  When I neared the top of the Jura I walked through part of the forest where the smell of pines was strong. I usually associate that smell with hikes further afield and at higher altitudes. It was nice to find it so close to home. To do this walk you can set off from Nyon Train station and follow the signs with the number 5 for the Chemin des Crêtes Du Jura....
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  Walking Down The Jura — Jul 22, 2021

  View of La Dole and the limestone rock....
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  Visiting the Creux de Van and spending time with Bouquetins. — Apr 29, 2015

  Images I saw of the Creux de Van made me want to visit the location in person. Yesterday despite the mediocre weather I went there. From Neuchatel you drive towards Noiraigue. Free parking is available. For the first hour you are walking up a steep winding path. A few trees have fallen, stones and mud are also present until you reach the top of the cliff. From there you see a glimpse of the cliff and views to come. As I stood there I saw a solitary Bouquetin on the rocks. From there I went right and walked along the cliff. On one side I had green grass and a farm and on the other side I had a steep cliff. I walked along and came to an outcrop. From here you could see the full cliff face. I walked around the arc until I came across a herd of Bouquetins. They were right in my path. I took several pictures before heading back down the other side. I came across a wooden hut and table where people can have a snack. As you walk through the woods you get towards the end of the Gorge De L’Areuse. It was full of water due to the recent rains. By this point I had already walked 10km so I continued back towards the car. [caption id=“attachment_2260” align=“aligncenter”] This is the path you take to get up to the top of the Creux de Van [caption id=“attachment_2259” align=“aligncenter”] One of the first views as you emerge from the woods and see the landscape open up [caption id=“attachment_2258” align=“aligncenter”] A nice Valley [caption id=“attachment_2257” align=“aligncenter”] More landscape [caption id=“attachment_2256” align=“aligncenter”] Looking away from the cliffs you see the woods. [caption id=“attachment_2255” align=“aligncenter”] If you look down from this point you will see a long drop [caption id=“attachment_2254” align=“aligncenter”] I liked the quality of light here. [caption id=“attachment_2253” align=“aligncenter”] With Spring coming back all the trees are becoming green once again [caption id=“attachment_2251” align=“aligncenter”] A herd of Bouquetins were playing [caption id=“attachment_2250” align=“aligncenter”] When I arrived they were standing by the grass and slowly made their way towards the cliff [caption id=“attachment_2249” align=“aligncenter”] Just like when we were children they are playing on the wall [caption id=“attachment_2248” align=“aligncenter”] Just like when we were children they are playing on the wall [caption id=“attachment_2246” align=“aligncenter”] A bouquetin with the Creux de Van in the background [caption id=“attachment_2245” align=“aligncenter”] A bouquetin with the Graux de Van in the background [caption id=“attachment_2243” align=“aligncenter”] Nice Landscape and nice view [caption id=“attachment_2242” align=“aligncenter”] The Creux De Van [caption id=“attachment_2240” align=“aligncenter”] This is a physical 14km walk ....
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  Visiting Buildings — Mar 9, 2023

  There is a rule that you should often visit churches and other buildings, if you are authorised to. You can often find something interesting. In the case of the Temple De Crans-près-Céligny it’s the kitsch paintings and blue colour....
• Village Photography — Nov 25, 2014

  On Google Plus, one of my muses, I saw that instead of Street photography someone suggested Village photography. I like the idea because villages are such an integral part of my life. Life in villages is a privileged one. Every time we go for a walk we cross people we do not know and say hello. We walk from field to field and along paths. We see which crops have been planted and which ones are being harvested. We see frequent horses and dog walkers. We also see families. We hear the sound of rifle practices at the local gun range. The practice is for military service most of the time. We also have fountains and old buildings. We hear the church bell every half hour and hour. We see the fountains with wooden chalet to protect from the cold in winter. Villages are seasonal. In summer the sounds of children playing, of fireworks and of barbecues can be heard. In Autumn the sound of wind blowers can be heard. In Winter we see lights on as the neighbours prepare their evening meal. In the mornings we see parents bring their children to school before the bell rings and they head in to their classes to sit and wait impatiently for the school day to be over so that they may go out on adventures. That’s why village photography captivates my imagination. I know villages well. I appreciate them. I look forward to looking at images from the past, and preserving today for future generations....
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  Views From Les Diablerets — Aug 12, 2021

  Swiss hiking signs...
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  View of Winter — Nov 27, 2021

  View from my daily walk...
• Via Ferrata de Tière — Aug 29, 2010

  In the valley close to Champéry there is a via ferrata. Via Ferrata are routes passing on rock faces thanks to the help of metal pedals, hand and foot pedals and bridges. On this Via Ferrata you climb up vertically and horizontally depending on the moment. Some obstacles are easier to get past than others but overall it’s good fun. One of the things you should take the time to watch, especially on a rainy day is the way the water erupts out of the rock. The first waterfall reacts to what the second waterfall higher up spews out. It’s fun to watch how much power this water has....
• Via Ferrata de Tière, first of the season — Apr 16, 2011

  The weather was good today and spring is here. As a result I headed back to the Valais for the first Via Ferrata of the season. I felt a little nervous at first as I had not done any via ferrata for a few months but that fear soon left. The walk up to this via ferrata takes up 30-45 minutes depending on your level of fitness. Once you get to the bottom of the ferrata you ascend with the river to your right. There are two bridges that must be crossed and the waterfalls are impressive. Today the amount of water was low due to the lack of rain. At this time of year it is better to go up a little later in the day to take advantage of the sunlight. I didn’t. The sun was on the other side of the valley. It is a nice easy via ferrata without too much height, hardly demanding physically and divided in to three parts. The first part to the waterfalls is easy going, walking along a path. Once you get to the waterfalls you have your first via ferrata climb to the first of two bridges. You cross the first bridge and walk to the second bridge. From the second bridge you walk along for a bit, to the cave with teddy bears people have left there. From this point the via ferrata starts properly. You have a traverse to the left, then up a bit, then to the right. Looking down you get a feeling of height but you are not that far off the ground. Chains are there for you to grab on to. After the chains you start going straight up again for a bit, traverse to the right again before the final ascent to the top of the via ferrata. There is a walk back to the car from the peak through arcades carved in to the rock. You have two buvettes to chose from and a tree adventure park. I think that after via ferrata the tree adventure would not provide enough adrenaline to be fun. [flickr-gallery mode=“photoset” photoset=“72157626508513366”]...
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  Vapor and Trail Gloves After Twenty Kilometres — May 11, 2023

  The easiest sport to practice every day is walking. We can walk to the bus stop, train station or other places every single day. We can walk in the morning, we can walk at the shops, and we can walk at lunch time or in the evening. All of these walking opportunities mean that shoes are on our feet for hours at a time and need to be comfortable. That’s why playing with Vapor Gloves and Trail Gloves makes sense. I have now walked twenty kilometres in both....
• Two via ferrata later in Leysin — May 27, 2012

  Running down a ski slope in hiking shoes is fun. You’re jumping, bounding and landing back down. The snow is slush and you sink, you rise up and fall on the second thought. Continue for a few hundred meters and you get to the bottom. You can also sledge down and get soaked without worrying about it. The truth is that was the easiest part. You still have a 30 minute walk straight up a hill to the base of the cliff. From here you walk across and to the right until the beginning of the via ferrata. As a distraction you may spot the occasional marmot at this time of year. The via ferrata itself starts vertically and then goes by two chimneys before flattening out. By the time you’re to the top the vista is nice. [flickr-gallery mode=“photoset” photoset=“72157629918614486”] If you’re not tired by the first via ferrata there is a second one lower down the valley. This is an adventure one with quite a few bits of overhanging rocks a dozen or so meters off the ground with a short patch over two bridges and through the trees. It is divided into three sections. The first one is the hardest for the arms and particularly for the hands. The second part is quite easy but if you are slightly shorter be methodical about your actions. You might get stuck. For the third part you have two ladders going out from the rock and outwards. There is a squeeze between the bag on your back and the ladder. The way down is more comfortable....
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  Two Donkeys In The Sun — Jan 3, 2022

  Two Donkeys In The Sun...
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  Twitter's Not For Me — Jan 21, 2023

  Twitter has a new For You page inspired by TikTok’s For you page according to Quartz. Many years ago we had Seesmic, a video chat community where people could share video messages 24 hours a day. We even experimented with recording videos and sharing them by phone when this was still novel....
• Twenty Seven Thousand Steps in BareFoot Shoes — May 28, 2023

  A few days ago I took twenty seven thousand steps in barefoot shoes. My feet did not suffer at all from walking that far in such shoes. I did some of that walking in the vapor gloves and the rest in the Trail Gloves. The beauty of barefoot walking is that you acclimate to such shoes quite fast. Within a matter of a week or two they become comfortable and feel normal....
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  Twenty One Thousand Five Hundred Steps and A Wind That Plays The Harmonica — Mar 13, 2023

  Today I could have taken the scooter to some shops but I went for a walk. The result of that walk is that I reached twenty one thousand five hundred steps. I often take a lot of steps per day. I wish I was walking somewhere more interesting than in circles....
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  Twelve Hours Of Focus — Oct 17, 2021

  Today I drove for twelve hours with hardly any breaks and finished two books. Twilight of Democracy and Almost Human....
• Trying To Read Nested Data From a JSON File — Jan 14, 2022

  Over the last two evenings I have been attempting to read nested data. I have tried to parse the data and other methods but without success. I have browsed the web to try to find solutions but for now I am getting stuck. Learning is also about trial and error, and knowing where to find the right information. For now I am lost. At the end of this process I will be more self-sufficient....
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  Trip Desire — Oct 7, 2021

  This 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....
• Trevolution Ultralight Daypack - Thoughts After a Few Uses — Oct 8, 2021

  If you want a bag that isn’t a bag until you need it to be a bag then the Trevolution Ultralight Daypack is a great option. I like that it folds into its bag and that it’s easy to have with you at all times. What I don’t like about the version I have is that it’s too flimsy for daily use and the top opening is not practical. It requires both hands to open and close the main compartment....
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  Trees Turning Green — Apr 1, 2023

  Trees are currently turning green on the Jura. Leaves are growing and so the colour of the Jura is shifting from brown to green at last. Trees suffer in Summer at the moment, due to the lack of rain. That lack of rain results in them changing colour sooner....
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  Traditional Staircase — Aug 5, 2021

  You go to Italy or France to see old buildings but you can see them in Switzerland. Some villages and towns do not destroy buildings with character and replace them with sugar cubes. Coppet is one example. Parts of it look old and of architectural interest....
• Tourism and Ingress — Jan 2, 2015

  If you’re a geek and you like mobile phones with a data plan then ingress is for you. Over the last two days I walked 18 kilometres playing ingress and winning back the City of Nyon for the Resistance. It didn’t last long. The same evening the enlightened players destroyed my hard work. I will just have to go back and liberate the city later. I have more important tasks this weekend. Tomorrow Ingress FS Neuchatel will take place. At least twenty of us will be playing, walking around the city, looking for portals and trying to take over the city. Staring at a phone while walking around a city may sound counterintuitive, or absolutely normal for those who still use text messaging apps or tweet. In this case though you discover details of cities that you would not notice. You notice plaques, the names of places which you always walk by but never knew about and more. Playing the game has two parts. Attack and defence is one part and farming the second. Attack and defence are good because they don’t require much walking around. They just require having a lot of “toys” to play with. The drawback to having a lot of toys to play with is that you probably walked around like I did going from portal to portal and hacking it. You get weapons, modules, resonators and more. They are good for game play. There is a cultural aspect to farming. Missions designed by L9 players of ingress have portals related to a certain theme. If you walk in the old town of Geneva you can follow the Calvin track, the park brunswick mission or the Geneve, around the Cathedral mission. There is a good chance that you will know some of the monuments and you will discover others. With each portal players can write a description. These descriptions can provide you with a new understanding of the places you pass by. In essence it could serve as a guide book for those who like to see things in a different light....
• Tomorrow I Have The Long Drive — Jan 7, 2023

  Tomorrow 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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  Time Spent being Social — Jun 10, 2023

  Who do you spend the most time with?...
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  Thrown or Dropped Out Of A Car — Sep 4, 2021

  This fell out of a car window....
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  Thoughts On Long Drives — Oct 15, 2021

  The most I drove was 3600 kilometres in four days. I went to Western France, Barcelona, back to Western France, and then back to Switzerland. It was an average of 800 kilometres a day. About two or three hours from home I was so tired of driving that I stopped at an empty motorway stop and just zoned out for ten minutes or so before continuing to drive....
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  Thoughts on Large Watch Screens — Feb 9, 2023

  Today I played with an Apple Watch Ultra in a shopping centre and two thoughts came to mind. The first is that this is finally a calculator watch that is big enough for an adult to use. This is meant more as a joke than as a serious comment....
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  Thirty Seven thousand Kilometres later — Apr 25, 2023

  I have had the same scooter for about 37,000 kilometres and yesterday I finally decided to sell it off, after years of frequent use. I sold it off because whereas the usual service was about 270 CHF the quote for the latest service was 500 CHF....
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  Thirty Kilometres Per Day — Apr 7, 2023

  The Swiss travel an average of 30 kilometres per day in their cars, according to a new survey shared by the Radio Television Suisse....
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  The Wastefulness of Mobile First Design — May 3, 2023

  For a few years now I have noticed a worrying trend, one that sees content become so sparse on a web page that you see one tweet or facebook post per screen height....
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  The Walking Paradox — May 21, 2020

  Today I noticed how quiet the world, or at least the area in which I was walking, was. I saw very few cars, very few people walking, and very little noise from other people....
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  The Walk from Paquis to Decathlon/Mediamarkt — Jan 15, 2020

  The walk from Paquis to Decathlon can be almost straight if you take the most direct route. You walk from anywhere in Paquis to the train station and from there you head up towards Balexert and from there you head along the cycle and walking paths that veer slightly to the right, take you over the motorway and then to the airport, by the private aviation terminal. From there the rest of the walk takes a few minutes....
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  The Unthreatening Clouds — Jul 31, 2021

  The unthreatening clouds did not bother me during my bike ride but it was cooler than sometimes at this time of year. I occasionally felt that an extra layer or two would be welcome. That’s unusual in July at this time of year....
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  The Unedited Podcast — May 9, 2023

  There was a time when I wanted to listen to hours of podcasts a day, and I did. I would listen on my walks, on my commutes to work, while driving and more. I would love listening to podcasts so much that I would wish I had more time to spend on listening to podcasts. That, unfortunately changed, as podcasts became livestreams, and thus unedited....
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  The Sound of Bells and the Smell of Colza — Apr 20, 2023

  What do you hear and smell when you go for a walk in Vaud at this time of year? You hear the sound of cowbells and you hear the sound of cows mooing. I like the sound of cow bells...
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  The Solitaire Puzzle — Jun 2, 2023

  Recently I rediscovered my love of the game solitaire. It is the game we played on windows 3.1 and other windows operating systems, up to iOS and more. Solitaire is a simple game to play on a mobile phone, ipad or computer, whether laptop or desktop....
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  The Sigg Original and The Shield One - Thoughts — Oct 4, 2021

  A single coke will cost 4.50 in a bar. Water could even cost four francs per glass. When you go to the shops do you buy a few litres of Rivella or coke. Do you buy wine, vodka or other alcohols? If you do then you can easily spend thirty or more francs per week, on glasses that will leave you thirsty, drinks that will leave you hungover, and containers that will require you to consider a trip to the recycling centre....
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  The Setting Sun Walk — Mar 2, 2023

  I went for a walk and by the time it ended the sun had set. I walked with a flashlight in case but didn’t need it. Usually I would have gone for a walk earlier in the day....
• The Season of Muddy Shoes — Nov 14, 2022

  We are in a pandemic and I like to walk away from people. To do so I need to walk along muddy paths by the sides of roads, motorways and fields. In the process my shoes get covered in mud and I need to find ways of removing that mud....
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  The Romans on Twitter — Jul 4, 2021

  Over a few months I have seen that tweeting about the Romans is growing in frequency. The accounts that I see are tweeting about Roman Britain. They share images of mosaics, digs and new discoveries. It is a way to follow archeology and Ancient history in a modern context....
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  The Phone Box library Walk — Aug 24, 2019

  If you’re looking for a reason to walk from one village to another the practise of using old phone boxes as free libraries are common in Switzerland. This means that if you’re shopping around for books in Switzerland you can either go to the shops and buy them with the car or you can go for a walk and see if any of the nearby villages have the books you’re looking for....
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  The path of the Monkeys — Jun 26, 2021

  Chemin Des Singes, an amusing street name....
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  The Pandemic Groundhog Day - Sisyphean Life — Feb 1, 2022

  This week we have the pandemic Groundhog Day and this is the time when we will see if the Sisyphean life continues. Most of Europe is reopening, and although for those who have not read broadly about the pandemic rejoice, others do not. By deciding to reopen now, it is almost certain that next winter will be a pandemic one....
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  The Pandemic Duality — Apr 29, 2022

  There are currently two societies. On one side we have those who believe what they are told and take everything at face value. On the other side we have those that look at the bigger picture, that follow international news, and look at the big picture....
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  The Old Habit of Walking In The Rain — Jan 9, 2022

  A Walk In The Rain...
• The Negative Impact of Social Networks on The Mental Health of Girls — Jan 16, 2022

  In today’s Le Matin, which was then mentioned by the RTS they discuss the impact of the pandemic of girls. When I first read this I was unclear as to whether they mean women or girls. It is about girls. The article speaks about how boys can play computer games and compete and in general to win, whereas girls go to social networks and compare themselves to their peers and other girls. As a result of this they end up needing psychological help....
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  The Mask — Jan 6, 2022

  Where is your mask hanging?...
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  The March Walking Challenge — Mar 4, 2020

  I’m on the Apple Activities March Walking Challenge this month. The app has decided that I must walk or run 298 kilometres. It’s an average of 9.6 kilometres a day. This is both easy and challenging at the same time. Walking 10 kilometres takes about two hours....
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  The Last Thing I learned — Mar 10, 2023

  What is the last thing you learned?...
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  The Landscape — Jul 20, 2021

  The view is not as good as sometimes. A few clouds but with the haze hiding the Alps today....
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  The GBD-800 Continued — Jan 13, 2023

  The GBD-800 Continued is a step counting Casio with two serious flaws. The first of these flaws is that although the GPS from the phone can be used to map walks and other activities it has to be activated at the start of a walk and deactivated at the end of the walk. If you do not deactivate the GPS it will track the drive to and from the start of the walk, to the end of the walk. This isn’t ideal unless you’re on a multi-day hike....
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  The Garmin Instinct Solar And Activity Tracking — Nov 11, 2021

  For two days I have played with the Garmin Instinct Solar and I already see a niche for it. If I want to be like every other reviewer I will say, "use the expedition mode for up to 127 days or hours of battery life, but I won’t because I think there is another more interesting niche. Activity tracking, without needing to take off the watch for weeks or months at a time. With Suunto, Apple and other devices you need to remove a watch at least every three or four days to recharge it, which means that you have a gap in heartrate and activity data....
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  The Futility of Blogging — Apr 9, 2023

  I have been writing blog posts every single day for one hundred and fourty five days and rather than feel more inspired, and get a big audience, I am writing for an audience of one. Some days I am filled with inspiration and I write the blog post in twenty minutes or less. Other days it takes me an hour or two. It’s hard to write every day because some days are interesting, so there is something to talk about, and other days are dull....
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  The Easter rabbit? — Mar 28, 2023

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  The Dynamism Of Light - Walking on a Cloudy Day — Jun 22, 2021

  If we did not have seasons, and weather, then walking the same route several times a week would get boring. Thanks to the weather we see plants get sown, we see them grow, we see them harvested, and then we see new plants planted. Over time, we recognise plants at an earlier and earlier stage of development. Today I saw that cherries are close to being ready to be picked, so it may be time to prepare Foret Noir....
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  The Day Switzerland and Denmark Decided to Ignore the Pandemic. This Isn't Freedom, This is Exposure. — Feb 2, 2022

  Today is the day that Switzerland and Denmark decided to ignore the pandemic. They and other European countries have decided to lift quarantines, remove the need to work remotely and other such safety measures. Health indicators shows that there is a consistent rise in new cases in Switzerland and Denmark. They say it’s over but the graphs and data show that it is not....
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  The day 16+ and 5+ year Olds Could Get Boosters And Vaccinate — Dec 10, 2021

  This is the day 16+ and 5+ year olds could get boosters and Vaccinate in Switzerland. For 16+ year olds, at least in Vaud, we are now eligible for vaccination, as long as we’re in the country. I am not. I have to wait until I get back. This is a big step forward. Being able to get a booster is good. 5+ year old children should be able to get their first vaccine shortly, although the details are not clear yet....
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  The Daily Workout — Feb 17, 2023

  According to Euronews Next up to half of people in some European countries do not exercise enough. This is based on “A joint report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)”....
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  The Daily Walk When People are Back — Aug 29, 2021

  The daily walk, when people are back, is less pleasant because the roads and paths that were quiet when everyone was on holiday catching the virus were quiet. Now that everyone is back it is a challenge to avoid people again and it could be worth finding quieter routes....
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  The Daily Walk - 100 Days of Consecutive Blogging. — Sep 23, 2021

  We walk daily to look into the distance, to have fresh air, and to think about things. We take our daily walk because it’s a habit. We take our daily walk because it is a way of travelling from one place to another, without necessarily changing location....
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  The Curious Step Miscount Due to Walking Sticks — Apr 11, 2023

  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....
• The Crosscall Odyssey Plus — Apr 22, 2015

  The Crosscall Odyssey Plus fills two niches. It is a rugged weather proof phone rated to the IP 68 standard and is equipped with dual sim capability. This makes it ideal for the sports I enjoy, mainly via ferrata as pictured below and hiking. It comes with a smaller carabiner than the one pictured below. I swapped it for one of my own. IP 68 is a code to determine how resistant a device is to both particulate matter and liquids. 6 denotes that the device is dust tight so particulate matter will not make it’s way in. 8 as defined by the manufacturer denotes that this device can be submerged for half an hour at 1m before damage occurs. If you get caught in the rain or have to cross a river the phone should survive. Another interesting feature is the dual sim capability. This phone allows for two microsims to be used at once. In my case I have a Swiss sim card and a french one. Both sims are constantly active so you can select whether to make phone calls from Sim 1 or Sim 2. You can also select which sim card is using the data plan. It runs android 4.3 and works fine with the TomTom app, the ingress and others. I found that battery life is also comfortable. With me as a user the battery lasts for a day. more info...
• The Casio GBD-200-1 — Dec 14, 2022

  The Casio GBD-200-1 and similar watches is a watch that counts steps and tracks runs. It communicates with the Casio Move app to provide you with a log of your steps, runs and progress. From what I gather it uses the phone to plot the GPS points of your run....
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  The Bison Of Geneva — Aug 13, 2021

  The Bison Of Geneva and calves...
• The Bike Ride — Jul 29, 2021

  During a pandemic one of the safest places to be is on a bike on quiet rural roads. The only people you meet are sporty so there is a higher likelihood that they are sporty....
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  The Arches — Oct 24, 2021

  If you are looking for a sport easy walk with a little scrambling, walk to the rock arches. Two holes have been eroded into the rock providing two natural arches....
• The Apple Watch does not fill a niche — Apr 16, 2015

  The Apple Watch rather than fill a niche provides a fifth screen. According to Wikipedia the four first screens are the cinema screen, the television screen and the mobile phone and tablet screen. The fifth screen is the smart watch as designed by Apple, Samsung, Sony and others. Apple and others have designed phones that bring the mobile phone experience to the wrist. Energy efficient Suunto, Garmin, Fitbit and other brands fill the wrist worn niche effectively because they have designed devices with energy efficient displays that provide tracking whilst at the same time giving extended battery life. Extended battery life in use Health trackers by fitbit and other companies have been designed to last for a week or more whilst tracking movement 24 hours a day. Suunto, Garmin and other brands have designed watches that can track activities for hours or even days before they need charging. Long stand by time When not in use all of the devices mentioned above can last for weeks. In the case of the Suunto Ambit two I have found that it loses one percentage of charge per day. As a result of this it can be used as a watch for three months before I need to think of charging. Data analysis All of these tools are for collecting data about the route you took, the intensity of the exercise tracked, heart rate and complementary information. When synced on the computer or website a lot of information is presented. Garmin syncs with Runkeeper, Strava, Garmin connect and other services, Suunto syncs with Movescount and Strava intuitively. Fitbit syncs with the fitbit site and other fitness apps. The most interesting data is analysed on a computer rather than the wrist unit. This leaves the device to track information cost effectively, where cost is battery life, and effective is defined by how long you can track an activity. Conclusion: My passion for “smart watches” stems from scuba diving. I bought a Suunto D9 to track dives and loved taking dive data and analysing it in view of improving my diving ability. I tracked training at the gym, hiking and other activities with various phones and their weakness was battery life. When you go for a hike in the mountains, go for a via ferrata or do a number of other sporting activities for extended periods of time you want a device that can last as long as you do. Suunto’s Ambit 2 filled that need very well, so well that I upgraded to the Suunto Ambit 3. As an android user I can’t  take advantage of all the features yet but that will come soon, this month in fact. The Apple Watch does not fill any of the requirements I have listed above and for this reason I am not tempted. I see it as a fifth screen that does not fill a niche. Fitness trackers, fitness watches and other devices cost the same price or less and fill niche requirements effectively. Why would I want a gimmick?...
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  The Afternoon Sky — Mar 26, 2023

  undefined...
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  The 298 Km Walking and Running Challenge — Mar 12, 2020

  The 298 Km walking and Running Challenge is now ten days old and I’ve managed to run or walk the required distance every day. Yesterday rather than walk I decided to run despite the rain. As a result, a pair of my hiking trousers are now nicely covered in mud. I walked through two puddles near home hoping that most of the mud would wash off the shoes and it seems to have worked....
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  Tap Water, Hollow Fibres disagree with Calcar and a Barrel According to WaterMinder — Oct 14, 2021

  Today the Service Industriel de Nyon, SI Nyon, sent an e-mail saying that tap water is one thousand times more environmentally friendly than bottled water. Bottled water is sold at between 20 to 90 centimes per litre and tap water is sold at about 0.1 centimes per litre. It is 200 to 900 times cheaper....
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  Taking a Break From The Apple Watch — Sep 21, 2021

  Yesterday I decided to take a break from the Apple watch for up to a week. I am tired of two behaviours. The first of these is the watch’s habit of saying that I did not stand for two or three hours in a row. I know that I have. I need to stand to cook, or to brush my teeth and other tasks. It also annoys me that if you bend your arm it counts that you sat down. Bend your arm to check if you have been standing for at least one minute and it resets the counter....
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  Switzerland, Fitness centres and the mountains — Sep 10, 2015

  For three years I was a fitness club member. I loved going to the gym up to three times a week when possible. I loved training so much that I bought apps and devices to track my progress. Any time that I could not spend three sessions a week at the gym I felt disappointed. That passion, when you are in full time work can be hard to keep active. I tried going to the gym at 6am and I tried going after work but the habit never picked up. In Switzerland fitness memberships can vary from 700-900 CHF per year to over 1200 CHF per year depending on the membership perks you take. If you go to the gym 52 times a year that’s 23 CHF per session. If you go twice a week it’s reduced to just 11 CHF per week. If you go three times a week it’s 7 CHF per session. In theory this is a reasonable price. It’s less than a week’s pay for most professionals. In practice you want to justify the expense. You want to go to the gym when you have time. This means weekends, evenings and on public holidays. I was often frustrated to have free time but for the gym to be closed. I would love to see gyms that take your outdoor sporting passions in to account. Running and cycling are already somewhat covered in the lac Léman region of Switzerland. What I would like to see next are ski days, via ferrata excursions and canyoning within the club. During week days and when the weather is bad you would train in the fitness centre. As soon as summer weekends and holidays would allow then as a fitness centre you would enjoy the great outdoors. I see through Glocals and facebook groups that the interest to do activities in groups is there. Fitness centres could attract a younger demographic to join. I love physical fitness and I love exercise. If I lived in a city like London or Paris I’d be happy to sit in a gym and train. I’d have filtered air and less traffic to contend with. As I live in the Swiss countryside though I want to take full advantage of what nature has to offer. When I find a fitness club that offers discounted canyoning, waterskiing and other activities, and subsidised via ferrata and ski days then I will rejoin....
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  The SUUNTO SPARTAN SPORT WRIST HR BLUE — Mar 18, 2017

  I have logged 799 activities with my Suunto devices. This includes hikes, via ferrata, climbing, swimming and scuba diving. I like Suunto devices because their battery life is good enough to last through entire days of hiking and the battery lasts for weeks between charges when used as a simple watch. I like to track my heart rate but I often feel self conscious about putting the heart rate monitor belt on. With the latest Spartan watch I no longer need to worry about the belt. At the same time as I start the activity I will be able to keep track of the heart rate. This is especially good for group activities when you do not want to keep people waiting and in winter when you’re wearing layers of clothing. I like that devices like the Fitbit Charge 2 can be worn at almost all times and track heart rate effortlessly when at the climbing gym and during other activities. I look forward to the same simplicity with a Suunto device. I especially like that Suunto devices survive swims and showers. I like that the Suunto Ambit 3 tracks how many steps I take during the day. It’s a shame that the step count is not logged and visible on Movescount. I like to see how energetic or lazy I have been on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. It’s not unusual for me to go from a 21,000 step day to a 6000 step day. It depends on weather, work and other factors. If you go for a bike ride your step count will not be high. I will wait to see whether they apply this technology to the Suunto Ambit watch collection. If they come out with the Suunto Ambit 4 Wrist HR then I will be tempted to upgrade. With 799 tracked activities I believe Suunto devices have demonstrated that they are reliable....
• Suunto are filling the gap that mobile phone manufacturers are leaving open. — Jun 1, 2013

  For a period of time I would buy new mobile phones every six months. This was to test new hardware, new operating systems and new versions. Recently mobile phone development has hit a development wall. http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/31/white-nexus-4-available/ of a phone is excellent, if that’s the reason you chose one phone or another. That’s not how I select my phones. Battery life is. For the last two years I have looked at mobile phones and battery life and it has not improved. I like to use my phones as GPS during via ferrata trips, walks and other outdoor activities. Within an hour you are usually down to half a battery or less and by the time you arrive home the phone is dead, unless you get an external battery to recharge the device. The fashion to develop phones that are thinner and thinner with bigger screens is only making things worse. I’d love to see manufacturers once again double phone size and triple battery capacity. I’d like something thick that I could use for a day in the mountains. Suunto have provided an alternative: This is a device that you wear as an ordinary watch on your wrist. It has an integrated GPS, pressure sensor and a rechargeable battery. In day to day use the battery loses around 1% of battery charge per day when in normal mode and around 3% per hour of exercise. It takes just a few seconds to get the watch in to activity tracking mode, to pause, tracking, or to stop tracking all together. The data it collects is synced with a computer very easily. If you spend a little extra money you can buy accessories for cycling, for heart rate monitoring, for cadence and more. Satellite acquisition is fast. Every time you sync the watch and charge it Geo-stationary satellite information is downloaded and synchronised with the watch. This speeds up the time it takes to have an accurate location. It takes around 4 seconds when near the location of synching and less than 30 seconds when 1-200 kilometers away. It’s fast. The beauty of such devices is that they encourage physical activity. Online you can share your tracks with friends and you can tailor apps to the types of sports you do or goals you set. There are apps for 10k runs, marathons and many more similar activities. Part of the purpose of this watch is to be a fitness trainer and app developers have made a variety of apps for interval training, distance etc. This watch has replaced my need for a mobile phone app to track the activities I do when outdoors. I can preserve battery life on the mobile phone until I am back on the home cellphone network or using the phone for in car navigation....
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  Suunto and Sports tracker collaborate. — Jan 22, 2016

  I have been using sports tracker for years. I first used it on the Nokia N95 8GB several years ago. This was an excellent app that allowed you to track your moves using the mobile phone as a GPS. The limitation of such an app was battery life on mobile phones. The battery usually did not last more than an hour at first and eventually progressed to two hours or more. The first Suunto Device I used was for diving. I used the Suunto D9 dive computer for many months before upgrading. As I satisfied with this device I bought the Suunto Ambit 2 and eventually the Suunto Ambit 3. The reason for buying these watches is battery life. As normal watches they can last for 100 days, losing about one percent a day. If you use them as fitness watches then they easily last for a day or more. When you’re doing via Ferrata, hiking, cycling or doing other sports you want the device you use to track your fitness efforts for as long as you’re going. That’s where Sports trackers and other mobile phones had their weakness. Mobile phone apps sometimes crash. If you’re pushing yourself hard during a workout you do not want to reach the end of a workout with no data. Another frustration I often encountered was with Movescount, Suunto’s social sports app. At the end of quite a few workouts, I was unable to sync my workout data and analyse my progress. At the time, I wanted to see Suunto and Sports tracker combined. They’re both Finnish companies and they both excel at specific tasks. Suunto for the hardware and Sports tracker for the analytics. By combining the two we have the best of both worlds. Communications between Movescount and Sports tracker has been available for several weeks at this point and it works flawlessly. I have hiked, cycled, walked, sailed and climbed and each activity has synced without problems. [gallery ids=“2690,2689,2688”]...
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  Sunflowers Looking Towards A House — Aug 10, 2021

  Do you feel like you are being watched. Imagine loving south of a field of sunflowers....
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  Sunflowers And Bees — Jul 26, 2021

  Sometimes you go for a walk and you see sunflowers and bees. The bees love the sunflowers and sometimes the volume of bees is so great that you can hear a swarm, or even many swarms of them. Each one picks up a little nectar before moving on to the next....
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  Summer without a car has taught me to live locally — Sep 28, 2018

  This summer I was thinking of buying a car until I found out that my contract break was for six months rather than three. As a result of this my ability to buy my own car vanished. I used the scooter, my feet and eventually the bike to travel thousands of kilometres....
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  Summer Nyon — Jul 11, 2016

  [caption id=“attachment_3100” align=“aligncenter”] Summer Nyon This is an image of Nyon on a day when the thermometer indicated at least 31°c on a sunny Sunday afternoon. In this image you can see the CGN boat leaving Nyon and heading towards Geneva. You can see the Jet D’eau in the background. You can see a sailing boat in the distance, some kayakers nearby and two pedalos. What you don’t see in this image are the people playing volleyball, other people sitting at Nyon Plage or yet more people at the Nyon Swimming Pool. From Nyon you can cycle along the lake road to Geneva or Lausanne and if you feel you have the stamina you could cycle from Nyon to Nyon by taking the long way around. This may take 10 hours depending on your level of fitness and endurance. If this does not tempt you then you could go up to the Jura. You can either go up towards La Dôle and choose one of three routes to get to the doppler radar or you could go to St Cergue and walk from that side to the peak. The walk is short but physical so make sure to take appropriate shoes and something to drink. If those options do not tempt you then you can catch the boat you see in the image above or the smaller boat that you see below. These boats are regular. People like to take the boat from Nyon to Yvoire, have lunch, dinner or an ice cream and then come back. If you have the right friends then you could do this trip on a sailing boat as we used to do frequently with one friend. [caption id=“attachment_3102” align=“aligncenter”] CGN boat Nyon has quite a few activities to distract people in summer so if you’re in the region there are a few events and activities to choose from....
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  Stormy Skies Near Nyon — May 3, 2022

  The weather was finally dynamic today. The storm warnings were flashing towards Hermance, on the French side of the lake. This gave a nice contrast between the yellow of the Colza fields and the dark threatening clouds behind....
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  StepsApp — Dec 23, 2022

  Walking and taking steps could be seen as boring. It’s something we do every day, without thinking about it. At conferences we can easily take 20,000 steps a day, when we’re standing for the entire day, with barely any opportunities, or need to sit, except when eating or getting from A to B. The Steps App is a way of seeing step counts in a variety of ways....
• St Hilaire du Touvet - Via Ferrata du Belvedère — Jun 5, 2011

  St Hilaire du Touvet is a place I have always thought of as one where in Septembre there is an adventure film festival. What I found out on Saturday is that it has two interesting via ferrata. There is an easier one which you can explore as a novice and a more challenging one you can try if you like to overcome your fear of heights and fragile looking rock ascent. I tried the latter and enjoyed the challenge. At first you park your car at the summit before walking down for half an hour. You meet a fork and start heading back up towards the start of the via ferrata. The path is not as clearly marked as it could be so we ended up scrambling up what is a river when the rain is falling. It was dry on Saturday. The first part of the via ferrata is easy. You have a vertical climb with some contact with the rocks. There is some loose material so wearing a helmet is useful. There is a split where you can choose whether to do the hard or very hard via ferrata. For the easy one you go down to where the waterfall has dug itself a small pool. Beware the slippery rocks. After that I don’t know what the via ferrata is like as I did not explore this option. As you go to the left so you start a more challenging bit of the via ferrata. You climb for a few minutes before getting to a beautiful crack in the rock at the base of which is an overhang. The overhang is a physically challenge. It’s also a nice way to overcome your fear of heights. I passed the obstacle suspending myself from my arms. I might as well have a little fun right? My feet were floating in mid air. The next part is hard (extremelly difficult by Via ferrata norms). You’re at least 20 meters off the ground and you’re heading straight up. The rocks do not look that solid although there are a lot of hand holds and foot rests should you prefer to use these than the metal path. The ascent is hard and there are few places to rest. You go from one side of the crack to the next and back. There is a nice resting platform at one point, to the side from the via ferrata. Here you can rest for a bit, gather some strenght before the last 30-40 meters of ascent. From here you traverse to the left and reach a ladder. It faces outwards so you’re looking at the landscape. As if this ladder wasn’t enough of a mental challenge you have the reveral to get back on to the rock. This is not a natural thing to do. From this point on the via ferrata is normal as you make your way up to the parapente take off point. [flickr-gallery mode=“photoset” photoset=“72157626884432498”]...
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  Spring — Mar 21, 2023

  25,000 steps in a day....
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  Spring Watch — Mar 6, 2023

  Magnolias in Nyon...
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  Spring and summer are playing with us — May 15, 2019

  Spring and Summer are playing with us. A few weeks ago it was warm and sunny. It felt as if summer was finally here and that we could start planning outdoor activities that don’t require enormous amounts of fossil fuels, like skiing and snowboarding do. ;-)...
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  Spring And Self Isolation — Jan 28, 2022

  Today I went for a walk and it felt warm enough for me to skip on wearing a layer. It was warm, around six degrees, and sunny. It felt like Spring, and it feels as though cycling could almost be considered. The cycling season is nice. I speak about cycling because I think that this year, like the last two, will be spent in self-isolation until we have zero new cases for two weeks in a row....
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  Speaking Of The Next Pandemic — Dec 6, 2021

  Imagine that you break a leg, but instead of speaking about rehabilitating that leg, and getting back to doing fun things, you get distracted by the joy/misfortune of breaking your leg again. I see people worrying about the next pandemic today, but this is silly. Why would you start thinking about the next pandemic when the current one isn’t understood or declining? Instead of ignoring the current problem and focusing on the next, people should be addressing a number of key problems....
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  Spain During A Pandemic — Oct 18, 2021

  People wear masks as they walk and do waiters. This is nice. It’s nice to see people wearing masks during a pandemic. It’s nice not to feel like an outlier. It’s nice not to feel eccentric for mask wearing....
• Solar Charging Watch — Dec 29, 2021

  Keeping the watch exposed to the sun...
• Snowshoeing while scuba diving — Feb 22, 2013

  A new Swiss scuba diving sport....
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  Smart Watches - Dumb Habits — Feb 28, 2022

  When I wore Casio digital watches, Suunto Dive computers, Suunto GPS watches and other wrist wathces I was happy. You wore it and it tracked what you wanted it to track, from walks, to dives, to altitude changes, weather and more. With the Apple watch a new age emerged. The age of the Digital Watch as object of addiction. I don’t like the term addiction, but I use it for simplicity....
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  Signs of Drought — Aug 30, 2021

  Today as I walked I could see clear evidence that Switzerland is now dry. As you walk by the side of the road you see that it is yellow, and that there is no growth. Crops are withering away and water gauges are now filling with dust, rather than rain....
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  Seventy Kilometres Later - Adapting to Barefoot Shoes — May 17, 2023

  I walk from three to fie million steps per year. In doing so I wear through shoes and through socks every six months or less. It makes sense that I would experiment with barefoot shoes since I spend so much time walking....
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  Seventy Kilometres from Finishing The Camino De Santiago - Virtually — Nov 6, 2021

  Now that I am seventy kilometres from finishing the Camino De Santiago virtually I have less than a week of virtual walking left. I walk in the real world, but the distance is mapped onto a virtual Camino. This is advantageous for two reasons. The first is that it makes walking around in circles near home less boring, but also because it means that there is less one less individual on the Camino De Santiago, so one less person contributing to population stress. I am doing this via the Pacer app....
• Seesmic from the mountains (via QIK) — Aug 30, 2008

  Whilst the connection is unstable and slow I decided to take the phone and Qik some landscapes from La Dole in Switzerland. Here are a few streams. As more people enjoy streaming live video from interesting locations so this will become a more common site. What I hope to do next is go to some of the higher peaks and stream from there too. Overtime we could have a nice collection of footage....
• Seaside walk — Dec 19, 2022

  https://youtube.com/shorts/XsWAjOjk5ic?feature=share...
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  Running From Village to Village — Feb 4, 2023

  Normally I walk from village to village. My walks can take me through four to six villages per walk. I walk from village to village in part because I live in the middle of a landscape where walking from village to village is easy....
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  Running Around in Loops — Dec 27, 2022

  Over the last week or two I decided to run and to swim. These are two sports that are easy to do if you have access either to a pool, or the right shoes. Swimming was in 14°c water for 17 and ten minutes. The first time my hands and feet were cold so I wore gloves. It’s a way of enjoying a different sport than usual. It’s a way of using different muscle groups too....
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  Roses From A Daily Walk — Jun 17, 2021

  Sometimes you go for a daily walk and all the roses are starting to emerge, and these are not tiny ones. These are saucer sized roses. They are mainly growing at the side of orchards. These are Red and pink, but there are other colours, so if I walk in the right places I should find them too....
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  Roses From A Daily Walk — Jun 17, 2021

  richard - Jun 6, 2021...
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  Roman Fish Salting in the Mediterranean — Dec 13, 2021

  Roman Fish salting bath...
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  Roman and Greek Mythology — Aug 16, 2021

  I was looking for this type of information online and I found a few websites that provided such information. This one is useful because it is full of Greek and Roman mythological people so it serves as a good resource....
• Rolle's Ingress mission — Jan 5, 2015

  [caption id=“attachment_2112” align=“alignnone”] If you like medieval castles The Rolle Ingress mission starts at the castle and has you walk towards the centre. You then walk along the main street and through an arch back towards the lake side. From here you walk along the lake for a short distance before heading back in to town and the last portal. As this mission requires hacks and nothing more it is a perfect farming mission. The distance is relatively short....
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  Rivella in a Sigg Bottle — Nov 24, 2021

  For months, or even years, I have seen adverts for the Rivella Unlimited Bottle. it is a competition that you can play, and if you win the competition you get a Sigg Rivella bottle that you can get refilled anywhere for free. I thought the idea of putting Rivella into any reusable bottle was absurd and messy so I didn’t try. Today I did....
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  Risk of Flooding — Aug 6, 2021

  Rain is forecast. Is this in anticipation to the weekend?...
• 
  Reviewing EcmaScript 6 — Jan 10, 2022

  Recently I have spent time focusing on JavaScript and EcmaScript to make sure that I understand it. By now it is over a year ago since I felt that I wanted to study Angular but felt that I didn’t have enough knowledge to resolve the challenges so I decided to return to basics. My return to basics involved a number of courses and books but it also led me to study this Linkedin Learning Pathway. It is easy to study, get a certiciate and move on, especially for extroverts or outgoing people who find interacting with people easy....
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  Relaxing with Language Learning — Aug 18, 2021

  Today I practiced vocal German and I found it relaxing compared to being with people in person. This pandemic sees the opportunities almost impossible....
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  Relaxing Cows — Jul 27, 2021

  Ordinarily you see pictures of cows standing up looking towards the camera but occassionaly people like me walk by cows when they are on their chewing the cud break. They lie around and slouch. It’s amusing to see three cows in close proximity like this. They have their eyes closed, their legs out. Are you used to seeing such scenes?...
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  Relaxing Cows - The Right Crowd To Be With During A Pandemic — Jul 18, 2021

  During a pandemic it makes sense to go to the mountains and it makes sense to walk where you have space to the left and right to keep social distancing. Today I saw the cows near St Cergue and they were all sitting and relaxing, chewing the cud, waiting for the tourist day to open....
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  Reflection — Aug 22, 2021

  undefined...
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  Reading to Understand The Past — Mar 14, 2023

  When I read books i read to be transported back to a different time and a different way of thinking. That’s why i read James Bond books, among others. The books are old-fashioned but it is that obsolescence that makes them interesting....
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  Reading The Cult of the Amateur By Andrew Keen in 2023 — Jan 22, 2023

  During yesterday’s walk I found that I could read The Cult of the Amateur by Andrew Keen as an audiobook so I listened to a few minutes. It took me back in time to 2006 when people worried about the detrimental effect that bloggers that were not accountable would have on information, disinformation, reliability and accountability. At the time people worried that bloggers and certain social networks would spread inaccurate information and manipulate people....
• Rainy Days — Aug 1, 2021

  A black and white cat sitting in a dry patch under a car....
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  Rain and Water Tables — Jul 16, 2021

  There is an article on Swiss Radio and Television that discusses the positive impact that the flooding has had on the water tables. For several years not only have we had warm weather but we have also gone with very little or no rain for months at a time....
• Quechua MH900 Shoes — Oct 2, 2022

  People who walk as much as me wear through shoes within a few months. The soles that were deep and ridged when new, become smooth as we walk, and wear away the soles. Usually I know that shoes are new, or that they need replacing the same way. They start to cause blisters, and I feel that stones are starting to be felt through the soles....
• Postcard from Switzerland - La Dole — Jun 5, 2013

  A collection of images taken up near La Dole earlier today....
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  Playing Wordle — Jan 18, 2022

  I saw the little boxes, and then I saw that the New York Times had an article on the distraction so I read about it. It’s a game some people were playing via whatsapp during the lockdown, spread to friends, and then it spread wider and wider. Boiled down Wordle is hangman for people who no longer feel comfortable with capital punishment even in game form....
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  Playing with WP Rig — Sep 12, 2021

  Today I started following the “Building Progressive Themes with WP Rig.” course on Linkedin Learning....
• Playing With VIM — Jun 18, 2022

  For a while I liked playing with VS Code but I grew tired of it because it autocompletes everything, to the extent that you end up deleting rather than writing code. For a while I was playing with Atom but Github have decided to retire that application so I decided to look for an alternative and that’s when I came across VIM once more....
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  Playing with the Hugo With An Old Site — Jun 1, 2023

  For a few days I have been playing with Hugo with Markdown and HTML pages. It says that it is “the world’s fastest framework for building websites” and so far I do notice that it has a key strength that I like....
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  Playing With Migros SubitoGo — Mar 31, 2023

  Yesterday I tried playing with Migros SubitoGo and the experience was good. You scan the QR code for the shop as you enter and then you scan the products that you want to buy. I kept them in my hands until I got to the checkout counters....
• Playing With Harmonicas — Sep 9, 2022

  During a walk a few weeks ago I came across L’Harmonica pour les nuls, Harmonica for Dummies, so I picked up the book and within a day or two I had ordered a harmonica to learn the instrument. The harmonica is a small versatile instrument. that can be used to play a range of music....
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  Playing With Github and Visual Studio Code — Sep 22, 2021

  Today I felt like taking a break from studying Wordpress. I played with some code from a book I got for free on the Apple Bookstore. At this moment this code is consolidation. I will get to the challenging stuff later. I have read, from many sources, that it’s good to have examples of your work online when you learn to code....
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  Playing With Garmin Coach — Jan 1, 2023

  Today I began playing with Garmin Coach. I decided to try one of the running programs. It’s the first of January, first day of the year, and I have already been for two walks and a run. The run was a calibration run so I ran too fast and too hard so I burned out on the first task. I ran at 16km/h and 230 steps per minute for a short burst before tiring and slowing a bit....
• 
  People Walking Along The Sea — Oct 23, 2021

  I can’t focus when I am not in my usual writing spot, so I am not bothering. I finally get to enjoy a few hours of rain after long periods without. I still want to see rain in Switzerland but for that I need to be in Switzerland. I also have nothing to write because I didn’t spend time in thought, or do anything noteworthy....
• 
  Pacer And The Camino De Santiago — Nov 9, 2021

  Just as I was thinking, "I have nothing to write about because I have been walking around in circles for three or four years I find that at least virtually I have almost achieved a big project. Walking 819 kilometres on the Camino De Santiago. I am now four kilometres from the end. By the end of tomorrow morning I will have completed this goal....
• 
  Pacer And The Camino De Santiago — Nov 9, 2021

  richard - 11th of Nov, 2021...
• 
  One Year With The Garmin Instinct Solar — Dec 12, 2022

  I bought the Garmin Instinct Solar because I was interested to see how the Solar option works. As with most watches the solar panels take several hours to recharge the watch, even during summer heatwaves. The Solar part is great, if you’re in Spain and leave your watch to recharge in the sun while you do something else....
• 
  One Hundred Day of 10,000 Steps — Feb 11, 2023

  Today marks 100 days in a row of walking 10,000 steps a day. It helps that we’re in winter than in summer because my step streaks are broken when I go for bike rides. Step counters don’t count pedalling as steps, so it’s easy to lose a streak....
• 
  One Hundred and thirty Two Kilometres in Trail Gloves — Jun 7, 2023

  In theory shoes are meant to last for eight hundred kilometres before they need to be replaced. I am now one eighth of the way towards needing to replace my Trail Gloves. In theory....
• One And A Half Years of Pandemic fatigue — Jan 27, 2022

  For the first one hundred days of the pandemic it felt long but we had a hope, and the impression that respective governments were working to eradicate the pandemic so that we could resume normal life. Eventually though people against lockdowns, and against other measures began to be heard and so societies around the world reopened, and with the reopening of society so the virus flared up again. In the French part of Switzerland society is opening up despite half of people tested for covid testing positive, and despite knowing that the numbers are climbing by around 30 percent per week....
• 
  On Whether I Prefer Vanilla JavaScript or Frameworks? — Mar 3, 2022

  Today someone on twitter asked this question, and rather than be reply: 320 of 10,000, I chose to write a blog post about it. The TLDR answer is Vanilla JS because if you learn how it works without the help of a framework you understand the language. This doesn’t mean that I don’t have an interest in learning to take full advantage of frameworks....
• On The Habit of Daily Walks — Mar 23, 2023

  Men’s Health has an article about a person that walked 10,000 steps a day for a month, when his normal step count is 4000. According to the Pedometer++ app on my phone I have taken more than 10,000 steps a day for 140 days in a row. I have to take 10,000 steps for at least six days in a row before I can have a lower step day count. Usually the only reason my step count is lower than 10,000 is that I spent the day driving from one European country to another....
• 
  On The Any Distance - Workout Tracker — Jun 15, 2023

  I watched the Apple keynote and thought “This is demonstrating a dystopia, with the Pure Vision Goggles, rather than a eutopia. A dystopia where everyone is alone, working in VR, rather than surrounded by people. The dystopia continued on with an app. In the age of two factor authentication they want to authenticate users by SMS, rather than free Two Factor Authentication. They’re losing users they almost seduced....
• 
  On Mastodon Niches — May 4, 2023

  Mastodon is a federated social network where people can join a server, based on their interests in tech and more. Most people join the servers that are open and easy to join but in doing so we have communities that grow, without becoming communal. I am on at least three different Mastodon servers....
• 
  On Long Drives — Jan 4, 2022

  In Switzerland a three hour drive feels long, but in France or Spain it does not. I drove from Switzerland to Spain and from Spain to switzerland. The drive to Spain is easier because traffic gets lighter as you get further south. Most of the time this is true. This time, as I drove from Spain to Switzerland I came across the opposite. From the moment I started driving I encountered traffic....
• 
  On Learning to Mark Unfinished Books as Read — Nov 8, 2021

  Over the last three or four days I have marked two books as finished despite not finishing for a simple reason. I have plenty of books on Kindle, Audible and Kobo that I need to read, but that to read all these books, would take time. I started to read one book and I stopped within pages, every time for the same reason....
• 
  Omicron - Ecolint Quarantined — Dec 2, 2021

  So far we have read a lot of articles saying that Omicron could be mild but as of this evening it is being treated as highly contagious. 2000 people, 1600 children and 400 staff are quarantined by decision of Vaud and Geneva....
• Of Raclette and Goulash — Oct 10, 2021

  One day I prepared Raclette and whtin a few days I prepared Goulash. I find the contrast between the two recipes amusing. One takes 15-20 minutes to prepare because of the need to cook potatoes for that long, and the other takes half an hour to prepare and then another hour or two to cook. One is just cheese, pepper and bread, the other is bread, pepper, tomatoes, potatoes, meat, paprika and more....
• 
  Of Blue Skies and Autumn Leaves — Sep 30, 2021

  Today we might as well speak of blue skies and autumn leaves because that is what we’re facing. The Septemper/Autumn grey clouds, fog, and cold are not here yet. Instead we have warm sunny days. The habit of walking one and a half hours a day is perfectly safe, with such a stable weather system....
• 
  Of Blogging and Substacking — Jun 4, 2023

  A month or two ago we had the chance to jump on the Substack wagon while it was hot and to ride the wave of new followers and experience a growing community. I could have joined in. I could have become one of those “I’m one of you people” but I didn’t....
• 
  Of Beets, Columns of Black Smoke and Finished Books — Sep 27, 2021

  If you walk around at the moment you see that they have cut corn, sunflowers and beet. You also see that there are piles of beet in fields, queues of tractors waiting to send them on a train journey and more. Agriculture is busy at the moment....
• 
  Nyon In Spring — Feb 12, 2023

  Due to the pandemic I almost never go to Nyon. If I do I often wear a mask and avoid walking around too much. Most people think the pandemic is over. I see, from the data, that it is not, and I want to stay true to previous ethics and morality....
• Nothing to write — Oct 29, 2021

  Nothing stood out today...
• 
  Nothing to say — Aug 17, 2021

  undefined...
• 
  Nothing to Say — Sep 1, 2021

  I have nothing to say today....
• Not a chance — Mar 4, 2023

  Do you believe in fate/destiny?...
• 
  Nordic walking for a change — Feb 3, 2022

  Sometimes we need change in life....
• 
  Ninety Five Days of Blogging In A Row — Sep 20, 2021

  I have managed to neutralise the inner censors. I have accomplished ninety five days of blogging in a row, once again. During the first 100+ days of the pandemic I did the same. At the time I thought that this would provide a document of how life was for the pandemic. The pandemic has lasted over 540 days and I eventually lost inspiration, and inspiration for new things to write....
• 
  Nid-De-Poule and Yerba Maté — Apr 5, 2023

  French speakers are familiar with the term “Nid-De-Poule”. It is a term used to describe potholes in French. This is a term I heard regularly but due to modern farm practices you don’t see these when they’re made by chickens. Chickens usually live in chicken coops and they don’t have the time to dig their little holes in the ground....
• 
  Nervous Energy — Dec 17, 2022

  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....
• 
  Negative Watch Displays — Jan 5, 2023

  The Casio GBD-200 and GW-B5600 both have negative displays but the GBD-200 has a display that is much easier to read in low light. The contrast is good enough to read at dusk with the GBD-200 but not the GW-B5600. When backlit both are easy to read....
• 
  Music Festivals, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sleep Deprivation — Jun 8, 2023

  First things First, I have had a lot of fun at festivals, and I have volunteered for a few. What I object to is the noise pollution. In the 21st century we could avoid that noise pollution, so we should....
• Moving Sugar Beet — Nov 24, 2022

  For a few weeks you see piles of sugar beet at one end, or another of fields. They stay that way for a while, until it rains for some reason. When it rains those piles of beet are loaded into hundreds of tractor trailer loads and transported to the train yard. The closest to Nyon is in Eysins....
• Mountain streams — May 11, 2008

  Whilst some people are perfectly happy sitting at a desk chatting to others via webcams I prefer to be out and about streaming daily life. Today was one example of what I like to do. I went up to La Dole for a walk with the n95 and streamed a few landscapes for people following me on twitter to see. We finally got caught out by some hail and thunder but my phone survived. I want more people to do this type of thing. Come out and have fun, stream life as it happens. Show us what’s outside your living room or home office....
• 
  More Cowbell — Oct 30, 2021

  A rusty cow bell bell...
• 
  The Moléson VF with the Narrative Clip 2 — Jul 6, 2016

  The Narrative Clip 2 is a specialist camera that can be programmed to take photos at regular intervals whilst you enjoy activities. This is sometimes referred to as life logging. The idea is that you wear the camera either on clothing or place it somewhere where it can capture the passage of time. [gallery columns=“4” ids=“3063,3064,3065,3066,3067,3068,3069,3071,3072,3073,3075,3076”] For this event the camera was worn around my neck and took pictures throughout the activity. As you can see from the last image I had the Ricoh Theta S on a monopod and the Sony Xperia Z5 compact for other pictures. You do not see that I had a fourth camera with a 30 times optical zoom. The camera took over four hundred images during this event and I chose just a few. I avoid sharing images of people unless I have their informed consent. I share the images that best represent the pleasant moments. If I took the time I could rotate this camera to be horizontal and I could capture daily timelapses. Every time I go for a bike ride or a hike it would capture regular images. The camera has enough battery power and you can keep the camera in your pocket until you want to start logging the event. When the event is finished you can place the camera back in to your pocket and head home for example. An improvement which I have recently noticed is that when you put the camera to charge it can automatically upload the day’s images to the narrativeapp website and you can then select what you want to share. As cameras get smaller and more portable and as they become more specialised so we have an opportunity to get different types of images. One is for time lapses, the other has a powerful zoom, the third allows us to capture spherical images and the fourth is practical for sharing to social media....
• 
  Minimal Walking - Day 2 — May 6, 2023

  I went for a walk with the barefoot shoes for a second day in a row. I didn’t regret it. I need to pay more attention to how I walk, specifically I need to make sure not to slam my heel into the ground with each step and this takes focus, muscle use, and discipline....
• Migrating from the iPhone 8 Plus to the iPhone SE (2020) — Jan 26, 2022

  I went from the iPhone SE to the iPhone 8 plus to the iPhone SE (2020) because the 2016 iPhone was an excellent low budget iphone that did everything you needed, in a small package. I switched to the iPhone 8 Plus purely to use the bigger phone screen with a drone. If you can see what you’re doing then a big screen is worthwhile. Eventually I crashed the drone and the need for such a large screen degraded, and that’s why I eventually settled for the iPhone SE(2020)....
• 
  Lopsided — Sep 2, 2021

  Flowers, a bale of Hay, and a road less travelled....
• 
  Looking At Sunflowers — Jul 25, 2021

  Most people go and take pictures from the front rather than from the back of sunflowers. I like to be different because it’s more interesting. Taking pictures from the front is easy now. All phone makers have made it easy....
• 
  Logging Hours Rather Than Days In A Row — Sep 26, 2021

  Duolingo and Babbel log days in a row, rather than the progress made in a day. The Kindle App counts days and weeks in a row. Kobo and Apple Books both log reading time. I want to dump Duolingo but I don’t want to lose my days in a row streak....
• 
  Learning to Prepare an Americano In A Sigg Miracle — Nov 26, 2021

  I love drinking espresso and preparing them but there is one big drawback. You drink them within a single sip and the pleasure of drinking coffee is over to soon. That’s where a quick google search provides the answer. An Americano is either two nespresso capsules of coffee poured into a mug of boiling water, or 15 grams of coffee per 150ml of water in a Moka coffee maker....
• 
  Learning About Service Workers — Mar 2, 2022

  I am currently learning about Working With Service Workers. Service workers allow you to make a website faster, for those who visit a website more often, or offline, in situations where connectivity may be unreliable. Some of the code used can be found on my github page. MDN Web Docs also have useful information about working with service workers....
• Le Sentier des Toblerones — May 27, 2015

  Le Sentier des Toblerones Toblerones Walk from Mainvision on Vimeo. Hidden among the trees in the Canton de Vaud you can find concrete blocks put there as a defensive line to slow down invading armies. The concrete blocks have a similar shape to chocolate Toblerones. There is a hiking trail that you can follow from Bassin down to the lake side. Along the way you can find concrete bunkers camouflaged as houses....
• 
  Lac De Divonne — Mar 27, 2023

  It’s a lake that was dug out when they built the A1 motorway. The quarry that was left behind became a lake. For a long time cars could drive around the lake....
• Keir Starmer's Speech Today — Jan 31, 2022

  This speech reminds us that English democracy is not gone, that there are moral people still around, and that we need to get the current Tory government out of power and go back to having leadership worthy of respect....
• 
  KDrive - A Viable alternative to Google One and iCloud — Nov 13, 2021

  KDrive peaks my interest because instead of cost over 100 dollars per year it costs around 64 if you buy directly from their website rather than The Apple App Store, but also because once you send your photos up to the cloud, you can get them down more easily....
• 
  Justified Self-Isolation — Jul 9, 2021

  It is important to know that you are in Justified Self-Isolation. Over the last three or four days I have felt like an idiot for self-isolating, but I now see that this is entirely justified. The R number for some canton went from 0.70 or so up to 1.4 or higher in recent days. This is for Bern, Geneva and Vaud, and it should spread more with the weekend....
• Just a Quick Embed test — Mar 5, 2022

  The pandemic situation in Switzerland. The pandemic is not over, but all safety measures are....
• 
  JSON-LD and a Walk — Oct 13, 2021

  A conventional tech blogger would usually just write about JSON-LD and completely ignore the fact that they went on a walk. I like to combine the two. JSON-LD, short for JSON Linked Document is an agreement for certain data fields to be used for specific purposes. The idea is to standardise terms within a database to make the sharing of data easier....
• JSON, Custom HTML and a Rainy Walk — Oct 5, 2021

  JSON...
• 
  JavaScript Patterns, A Skipped Walk And A New Purchase. — Sep 13, 2021

  Today I found a course about JavaScript patterns on Linkedin. I have been following course after course about Ruby, Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, Angular, React, EcmaScript, CSS and more, but most of them tell you how to do things. I watched plenty of their explanations and I managed to copy the code and get it to work but when they said “challenge time” I was usually lost....
• 
  Initial Thoughts on the Sigg Travel Mug Miracle Black 0.47l — Nov 10, 2021

  The Sigg Travel Mug Miracle Black flask has a mediocre name but a good niche. Drinking hot, or cold drinks, whilst driving, without worrying about it spilling, and as a bonus, the ability to open it one handed. This is especially relevant in a car, small enough not to have cup holders built in....
• Initial Thoughts on the Crosscall Core-S4 — Jan 7, 2022

  Not for FB or Twitter...
• 
  In August I will be at FIFAD — Jul 13, 2016

  In August of this year I will be at FIFAD as a volontaire. FIFAD stands for Festival International du Film Alpin Des Diablerets. It’s the international Alpine Film Festival of the Diablerets. I want to participate at this event for three main reasons. The first of these is that I have a passion for the documentary film genre and adventure films. I really enjoyed going to Montagne en Scène a few weeks ago and I expect to enjoy having the freedom to watch certain of the films at this event. The second reason I want to go as a helper is that every time I have applied to help at an event I have got something out of it. I have built my confidence. I have met interesting people and I have found new and interesting ideas. In this case I hope to view a number of the films. The third reason is that I will have an opportunity to spend a week in the mountains once again. I have frequently been to Diablerets for hikes and just once to enjoy a via ferrata. This time I will get to stay for a few extra days and learn to appreciate the town differently. I will have my 360 camera and via ferrata gear with me. Time to ride a tyrolean in 360 right? I hope it won’t rain too heavily. People told me they got wet last time they went under the waterfall. When I watch an interesting film or hear someone talk about an interesting topic I will try to take notes and write related blog posts. It’s good to share the knowledge and passion with you....
• Images from the Via Ferrata de Lavanchy — Apr 25, 2015

  Despite the warning that rain would fall after 1700 today we went up to explore the Via Ferrata De Lavanchy. it is a via ferrata that requires a 45 minute walk up hill. You walk up towards a cirque and then turn left and continue upwards through some trees. When you get close to the base of the cliff walk straight up to get to the base of the via ferrata. The via ferrata is simple and short. [gallery columns=“2” ids=“2236,2237”] [gallery ids=“2235,2234,2233,2232,2231,2230,2229,2228,2227,2226,2225,2224”]...
• 
  I Will Write Tomorrow — Dec 7, 2021

  I did not have time to focus today....
• 
  I Don't Need to Go For A One And a Half Hour Walk — Sep 16, 2021

  "I don’t need to go for a one and a half hour walk. I said that to a neighbour before my walk. I could have cut it short, if it started to rain too heavily. Paradoxically for most of the walk it was grey and drizzling. Nothing to worry about. I was almost dry for almost the entire walk....
• 
  Home Before The Storm — Jul 10, 2021

  One of the games I like to play is to look at the weather app and see when the rain is scheduled to arrive. I then estimate whether I will make it home before the rain. I took rain stuff just in case, to keep electronics etc dry but I don’t mind if I get wet, at the current temperature....
• 
  Holidays Break Streaks — Oct 26, 2021

  Today is a rainy day so I have less of interest to write about. The rain fell this morning. It continued until this afternoon. Rain is an excuse not to go for a daily walk. It is an opportunity for a rest day....
• 
  Hiking in the Jura in Minimal Shoes — May 27, 2023

  Today I went for a short walk in the Jura with minimal shoes and I felt fine. The shoes, despite being thin soled, felt fine on the dry dirt paths. They do get wet when walking in dew covered grass but that’s what you would expect so that’s acceptable....
• 
  Hiking in Switzerland — Jun 30, 2020

  In 2019 Swiss people spent 162 million hours walking and hiking in Switzerland. Hiking generates 2.5 billion CHF per year and there are 50,000 signs to help people find their way. In Switzerland people hike 20 times per year....
• Clean Water for Hikes and cycling, without the weight — Jun 26, 2017

  Clean water is important to have when you’re cycling, hiking or climbing in summer but the issue is that it is heavy. When I go cycling I go with just one flask and I fill up the water bottle when I get to fountains that are marked as safe to drink from. When I go hiking or climbing I usually do not go with more than one and a half litres of water although I have gone with up to three litres for a hot summer day’s activities when the temperature is above 32°c. In Switzerland, France and Italy you theoretically do not need to walk with that much water because you cross streams, fountains, rivers and lakes. If you had a water filtration system you could theoretically purify the water from these sources and continue hiking. Yesterday I came across Katadyn and two solutions for water filtration....
• 
  Hiking And Tea — Nov 21, 2021

  This morning, as I was doing laundry, I found that I couldn’t focus so I started to look at all the teas that are available at a local shop. I saw that they had herb teas, mint teas, nettle teas, weed tea and more. I also noticed that tea is cheap. You can get twenty cups worth of tea for 0.95 CHF if you’re not picky about the tea you drink. What I find interesting about the broad selection and choices of tea is that it is so cheap compared to water, soft drinks, fizzy drinks, juices, coffee and more. Not only is it cheap, but it is light and easy to carry....
• Hike near Leysin in the Canton De Vaud — Nov 27, 2011

  Today was a warm day. With a group of people we went to Leysin for a hike. Here are some pictures from the event. [flickr-gallery mode=“photoset” photoset=“72157628177774925”]...
• 
  High Winds And A Skipped Walk — Jan 21, 2022

  There is a cold wind blowing today so I skipped my daily walk. I can dress for the weather and I am usually fine. Today I simply decided to miss my daily walk. I believe that walking whatever the weather, whatever the wind, and whatever the precipitation is good. I also believe that it fatigues us. For this reason it makes sense, sometimes, to stay indoors, and focus on studying or spending money on things we don’t need....
• 
  High Winds And A Skipped Walk — Jan 21, 2022

  richard - Jan 0, 2022...
• 
  Hay There — Aug 14, 2021

  Rolls of Hay wrapped in plastic...
• 
  Half a Million Steps in July — Sep 1, 2019

  In July this year I took half a million steps as I was banned from driving. I’m using that phrase for comedic effect. As I had one arm in a sling driving was out of the question for a few weeks and then it was out of the question because my tendons and muscles were in need of physio therapy....
• 
  Grapes and Apples — Jul 19, 2021

  I have seen combine harvesters at work over the last two days. Yesterday I saw them harvesting colza, and today I saw them harvesting wheat. At the moment you see grapes that are still in a juvenile state, and apples that look a little more mature, growing on their respective plants....
• 
  Grains - Harvesting Before the Rain — Jul 23, 2021

  Grains in a hand, found on the road....
• 
  From Grächen to Zermatt via the longest suspension bridge: part two — Sep 12, 2017

  From Grächen to Zermatt via the longest suspension bridge: part two...
• 
  Good Cycling Weather — Sep 11, 2021

  View of the Alps...
• 
  Gone Fishing — Dec 20, 2021

  I haven’t gone fishing, but the bird has....
• 
  Going West, Rather than East - A Walk, Books and Drinking Vessels, Again. — Nov 7, 2021

  Today I went for one of my walks, but rather than turning East as I normally do, on that route, I went West, and as a result I went for a longer walk than usual. I too this route because I wanted to look at the books in a new phone box that was turned into a lending library....
• 
  Going Around in Circles — Aug 26, 2021

  There is a hill that is steep. You often see people struggle up it, trying to beat their own records and in so doing get knackered by the top. Yesterday I went up such a hill and I felt low on energy so I didn’t bother to sprint. I just focued on getting up to the top. As I went I saw a group of runners running down towards me and I wanted to take a picture but I was too slow so I took a picture of my shadow as I cycled instead....
• Gimel's Ingress Mission — Jan 6, 2015

  The views as I drove up to this ingress mission were beautiful. I could clearly see the Jet D’eau in Geneva and the streets of Lausanne on the other side. I could see how light was playing with clouds to provide enjoyable views. Gimel is a village/town in the Jura surrounded by forest and fields. The mission is a six kilometre run or walk. At this time of year wear snow shoes as other shoes will get wet. You start from the village centre and head north to the first check point. You follow field paths until the next checkpoint 1.2 kilometres away across mud paths. Once you get to the second check point the path is road without pavement so be careful of oncoming traffic. The first and last checkpoints of this mission require that you upgrade the portals so make sure that you are able to. It would be a shame to go on a 6.2 kilometre walk only to find that the mission cannot be completed due to the portals being fully upgraded....
• 
  Getting Home Before The Sun Sets and Pikmin Bloom — Nov 4, 2021

  At this time of year there is a race between the walker and the sun. Either you must go for a walk earlier in the day or you must be ready to walk after the sun has set. Both of these are possible. The days are getting shorter and the temperatures are getting lower. They are getting low enough for gloves to be tempting. I haven’t worn them yesterday, or today, but yesterday I almost felt the need....
• 
  Getting Back Into Running — Jan 12, 2023

  I am getting back into running at the moment. I have run several times recently, irregularly enough not to feel pain in my knees or other articulations so this is a good sign. The advantage of running, over other sports, is that it’s easy to catch a bus, car, train, parapente or other form of transport and start running. The second advantage is that it is twice as fast as walking....
• 
  Get Up - A Book Encouraging Us to Stand and Move More. — Nov 20, 2021

  What do snails have to do with chairs, I wondered as I listened to a book speaking about our addiction to sitting and chairs. It turns out that snails and other animals are programmed to move, walk, slither or other in an individual way. He started, by discussing sleeping in class, and having chalk thrown at him. Movement is an integral part of our lives and apparently, and as we have seen, children move a lot more than adults....
• 
  Garmin's Auto Goal — Mar 11, 2023

  Garmin allows you to select the number of steps you want to take in a single day, or let it be set automatically. For a year or two I allowed the goal to set. The result is a step goal that fluctuated from 12,000 steps per day to 15,000 steps or more. This was fine, because I ignored it....
• 
  Garmin Instinct Solar Run, With A Mask, And A Walk. — Nov 17, 2021

  I tracked the run and walk with the Garmin Instinct Solar. It is very easy to use while wearing gloves. You can stop the activity, change sport, start the activity, do the second sport, and then stop the tracking of the second sport, without taking off your gloves. Now that we’re in the cold part of Autumn this is useful. On the flipside anytime the clouds hide the sun this watch is unable to recharge itself. Despite this the battery life is still good. When fully charged it displays 27 days, but it loses around two or three days of charge per day with a tracked activity. This is still excellent. The Apple watch needs to be charged every single day. It is a watch that you can wear in the classic style of wearing a watch, i.e. keep it on for days or weeks at a time....
• 
  Garmin Expedition Challenges — Mar 16, 2023

  Garmin have had challenges for years. Most of them have been about distance, or vertical climbing. Now they have new Expedition challenges. Each expedition is named after an expedition or adventure by the same name....
• 
  Frozen Fountain Water — Jan 29, 2022

  Although the name of this blog post is bizarre it is inspired by the site of a fountain with a big block of ice, serving as a mirror to the tree, and sun, in front of me. The weather is still nicer, more springlike than it has been. More people are out on bikes cycling together. They are taking advantage of the good weather. In theory we could have rain in the next few days but the likelihood, as usual, is very low. An app said that it could be 90 percent certain, but I think it is 100 percent unlikely....
• 
  From Grächen to Zermatt via the longest suspension bridge: part one — Sep 10, 2017

  Hiking from Grächen to Zermatt via the longest Suspension bridge is an interesting two-day hike. It provides you with views of glaciers, boulder fields, scree slopes and more. It also provides you with the opportunity to cross a suspension bridge that takes six minutes....
• 
  Fondue for Lunch — Aug 28, 2021

  The weather was cold and cloudy this lunchtime so going up to the mountains for lunch was feasible. If the restaurant had been filled with people, and if we had shared a table with others, then I would have skipped and driven home. Luckily the road was closed to go up to the mountains so that stopped some people from going up. There were also the benefits of clouds and cold air temperatures. Combined these things meant that the restaurant was less tempting for large crowds. We ate a fondue....
• Fog at the Lac De Joux — Nov 27, 2011

  On Wednesday I went to the Lac de Joux as the fog was lifting off the lake [flickr-gallery mode=“photoset” photoset=“72157628110677339”]...
• 
  Flitting Between Water Bottles and Rows of Corn — Oct 1, 2021

  I thought that when I bought two cycling water bottles and two normal day bottles I would be done, but then I found a nalgene bottle for a reasonable price, and then someone mentioned drinking from a steel container, rather than aluminium so I was distracted and tempted. I did tell myself that this would replace my habit of drinking other types of drinks. I thought “Stop with these drinks for three weeks per bottle and you amortise the cost”....
• Flight to the Monzino Refuge and hike. — Sep 12, 2010

  A short helicopter flight to a mountain refuge in Aosta, on the Italian side of the Mt Blanc. Good fun, walk to the glacier and back. I also tested my Iphone 4 phone....
• Five Storks In A Field and A High River — Aug 7, 2021

  Rain filled river...
• 
  Five Herons in one walk — Aug 3, 2021

  I saw five herons during this walk. Four in a single field....
• 
  My first Wehike Hike — May 1, 2017

  Wehike is a website dedicated to find people with whom to hike. People can contribute hikes to wehike and then they or other people can organise events based on the hike information. This includes a GPX file and images. At the moment this site is in beta so they are looking for user feedback. At the moment they are based in Switzerland but they will be able to expand globally as people contribute hikes and other people participate in these hikes. I liked yesterday’s hike because for once I was struggling to keep up with the group rather than the opposite. Usually I’m leading the group and stopping every so often to take pictures and because I’m not certain of which fork to take next. In this case they were waiting for me. This is in part due to the Via Ferrata de Saillon trip the day before. I’ll get back to being in front of the group and taking pictures soon. This hike was interesting because winter is not over. Apparently twenty five centimetres of snow fell the day before. As a result one local recommended that we choose another route than the one we had planned on. We decided instead to see how the conditions were. As is the case when you go for hikes in Spring the damage from winter has not being cleared away. We found trees and branches on the paths and paths that would normally be clear to find required more instinct and orientation than average. When you start heading up properly you walk straight up through a pasture and you get to a stone ruin. We stopped at the ruin for a snack/lunch. From this point you walk up steep paths near the field’s age with a river to your right until you get to a clearing. From the clearing you walk up some more and you get towards the vista below. This is a view looking North at a steep climb up. If you continue to the Cap au Moine then you still have some climbing to do. Due to the deep snow and conditions this is the point at which we started heading back down. We walked along in 20-30 centimetre snow falling someone’s snowshoe traces and then headed down. When the snow is deep and powdery like it was yesterday it’s really fun. You can run and jump down the hill. I would share the photos if I had the participants’ permission. Here’s a taste. If you look at my GPS trace you will see how fast we were descending the slope. Eventually you get back to the grass and the tree line. When you get back down to the river you cross a stone bridge and to the right you see a waterfall pictured below. I enjoyed this Wehike because we had the opportunity to navigate and find the route, we got to climb over trees and walk under branches. We also got to walk a steep hill in the snow and run and bound down a snowy slope without worrying. Snow is so much softer for the knees. I would like to redo the hike later in the season when the snow has gone....
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  Feeding the Seagulls — Jan 3, 2023

  Feeding the Seagulls by the Mediterranean Sea...
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  Feeding the Seagulls — Jan 3, 2023

  Feeding the Seagulls by the Mediterranean Sea...
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  Farming In Switzerland — Aug 23, 2021

  The Pandemic is alive and well and I am still walking around in circles. I would go for bigger, more interesting adventures but no one is publicising those events until after the fact. During a pandemic it helps to be misinformed, an alcoholic and a festival goer....
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  Exponential Pandemic Growth And A Lack of Accountability — Dec 8, 2021

  In theory I should remain neutral and not comment about current affairs but what is happening in Europe and the US merits comment. The runaway growth of the pandemic warrants comment. We are in week 98 of the pandemic, just two away from 100 weeks and people are still debating whether to wear masks, sing in choirs and more. People are still meeting in large crowds and doing more irrational things....
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  Entering Twenty One Degree Water — Oct 21, 2021

  For most people over 20 degrees air temperature and twenty one degree water is okay. I struggle. I like water to be warm. I like to be warm before I go in. I like to know that when I get out I will still be warm....
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  Enjoying A Rainy Day — Oct 3, 2021

  Although unfamiliar to most, there is pleasure to be felt from a day of rain. A day of rain, in a place where rain is rare is welcome. It provides a break from the daily walk. It provides an extra one and a half hours in a day. I have been impatient for such a day for months and it has finally arrived. Who wouldn’t want a day a rain. The rivers are happy. They were looking naked, with their rocks showing, and trees that are sometimes at river water level hanging high and dry. It will be good for the trees and everything else too. Rain cleans everything. That layer of dust that had accumulated over the weeks and months can finally run away, to flow into the lake, and from the lake down a river, towards the sea. It is also a break from the pressure of walking. Although walking is pleasant, and although it is relaxing, it is also a workout. You’re walking, deciding on a route, avoiding people and their dogs, and trying not to be yelled at by car drivers. You walk by one village and you hear a piano being played through a window. You wonder whether it is every day at the same time, whether the person is learning. Maybe it is simply someone who likes listening to music....
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  Duck Tales — Aug 19, 2021

  Ducks going out for afternoon tea on the Lac Léman. A mother duck and her ducklings....
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  Dry Weather, Clean Shoes — Mar 1, 2023

  We’re having dry weather which means that I have clean shoes, once again. They cut the grass recently but rather than see greenery we see yellow. We’re in March and it already looks as if we’re un June/July, with how dry the landscape is. The sides of the road, where it was once muddy, is now dry and hard. We are in summer dry weather despite being the first of march....
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  Driving the Microlino OnThe Outskirts of Geneva — Jun 12, 2023

  The Microlino is made by the same people that made the trottinette that I loved getting around with when I was unable to drive for a month due to overtaking a slow moving vehicle where I had plenty of visibility....
• Distracted Day — Sep 10, 2021

  Distracted Day...
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  Day Four of Orca in Switzerland - Exploring the Trail Less Travelled — Mar 19, 2020

  Today is Day Four of Orca in Switzerland and I saw that the Canton in which I live has the most active cases of COVID19 so my motivation both to go to shops and to go for walks has taken a hit. At the same time I don’t know whether it’s COVID 19 that is having this effect or the fact that I walked a theoretical 197.2 kilometres since the start of this month for the March Activity challenge....
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  Day 63 of Self-Isolation in Switzerland – A 15 Kilometre Loop — May 17, 2020

  Today I walked a 15-kilometre loop because I saw people walking two abreast and decided to retrace my steps a short distance before trying a new bifurcation. By the end of this walk, my legs were starting to get tired. I walked non stop for over two hours before a quick stop at a petrol station to get some drinks before heading home....
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  Day 60 of Self-Isolation in Switzerland – The Sixtieth Day of Solitude. — May 14, 2020

  It’s the sixtieth day of solitude for some of us and if we look at Twitter we see that people in other countries are suffering. One person spoke of the dark dog whilst another expressed distress. A third expresses another emotion. Around the world we see people suffering and trying to cope in their own unique ways....
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  Day 59 of Self-Isolation in Switzerland – Thunder As I Got Home — May 13, 2020

  For once I walked in the drizzle, rather than the rain but I could hear thunder as I got home. I have almost reading Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home during this walk. Poetically I was listening to her about walking with a storm on its way whilst a storm was thundering over the Jura....
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  Day 58 of Self-Isolation in Switzerland – Writing For Future Generations Now. — May 12, 2020

  I’m writing for future generations now. As I looked at the stats for the most recent posts i see that readership is low. I’m tempted to start writing about something else as a result. In two or three weeks if we’re still seeing low numbers of new cases I might....
• Day 57 of Self-Isolation in Switzerland – Another Walk In The Rain. — May 11, 2020

  Walking in heavy rain for two and a half hours doesn’t make much sense. You don’t see much. The more time you spend outside the more of you is wet, and by the time you get home you’re cold and in need of warming up....
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  Day 55 Of Self-Isolation in Switzerland – Long Horned Cows — May 9, 2020

  Long-Horned cows are a rare treat. We usually see short-horned or even de-horned cows in Switzerland. To see longhorn cow is a treat. I took a tiny detour from my walk to get some pictures. I have walked by the field a few times before seeing them close enough to the fence to consider taking pictures again....
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  Day 52 Of Self-Isolation in Switzerland – More Cows, and Cascading Style Sheets — May 6, 2020

  While some of us have gone fifty-two days without being within two meters of another person due to the pandemic others walk side by side down country lanes, forcing those walking alone to make the decision of whether to risk infecting the vulnerable couple or stepping off the road and waiting under an electricity pylon while the selfish people clear the way....
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  Day 51 Of Self-Isolation in Switzerland – Only Two People At A Time — May 5, 2020

  Today I went in to a shop without knowing that the limit was two people at a time. Paradoxically there were not two but five people in the shop because if you’re a parent with a child you’re allowed to be two, so there were four people. I saw no sign on the door because the door was open so I didn’t know. The shop in my village doesn’t have that rule....
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  Day 48 Of Self-Isolation in Switzerland - Calves And Their Mothers — May 2, 2020

  During today’s walk I saw calves and their mothers. Their mothers were mooing me away but I was taking video so I didn’t move until one after another started to approach me. By then I had the footage I wanted to have. I had a strong fence fixed with wooden posts and a bush between myself and the cows so I calculated that the risk was low enough not to bolt....
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  Day 47 Of Self-Isolation in Switzerland – A Walk In The Rain — May 1, 2020

  Yesterday I went for a walk in the rain. I walked for two hours, took pictures and listened to Echo Der Zeit and this episode of the Thru-Hiking podcast. Gretel Scarlet was the interviewee. She talked about South Bound (SOBO) hiking the PCT....
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  Day 45 Of Self-Isolation in Switzerland - The Need For Outdoor Exercise. — Apr 29, 2020

  This aftrnoon reminded me of the need for outdoor exercise. I was feeling lazy and unmotivated to go outdoors. I thought that the rain would come back during my walk, as it did during my scooter ride, and as it did yesterday. I checked the weather app and I saw that we should have good weather until tomorrow so I took advantage to go for my walk....
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  Day 2 - Villars-sur-Ollon to Le Sepey — Jul 19, 2017

  Hiking from Villars-sur-Ollon to Le Sepey...
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  Day 1: Hiking from Gryon to Villars Sur Ollon. — Jul 18, 2017

  First evening...
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  Crops — Sep 5, 2021

  Fields...
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  Cows on a Stormy Day — Jun 29, 2021

  undefined...
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  Cows And Trees In The Jura — Aug 11, 2021

  Cows resting beneath pine trees....
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  Confined by Freedom — Jan 30, 2022

  Some of us are confined by freedom. By this I mean that as society is opened up, as people are told that they don’t need to wear masks, that they don’t need to self-isolate and that they don’t need to show covid passes, so the freedom of others is taken away. During a pandemic there are two types of people. Those that hear the word pandemic and think “I need to self-isolate, wear a mask, and vaccinate.” and the others who think “Why should I do what the state tells me to do? I am my own person.”...
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  Colza, Sheep, Metamorphosis and Mindfulness — Apr 27, 2023

  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....
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  City Cat Sitting. — Jan 14, 2020

  For the first time in my life I am cat sitting. I’m used to village cats and this is a city cat so I don’t know how much time I need to spend with the cat, how much I need to play and more....
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  Chickens In The Rain — Aug 4, 2021

  Wet chickens...
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  Cheap Curiousities and Expensive Ones — Jan 17, 2022

  Mobile Phones...
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  Chamois at La Dôle — Sep 21, 2015

  [caption id=“attachment_2556” align=“aligncenter”] A chamois silhouetted against the clouds up at la Dole When the weather is cold and grey as it is today people are not tempted by a walk in the mountains. Chamois at la Dôle are more relaxed, especially up at La Dôle. They are hidden by the clouds and if humans are coming then they will smell them long before we get to see them. On Friday of last week we were lucky. With a friend we decided that we would eat lunch at La Barillette after going for a short walk up from the radio mast to the Sky Guide facilities above. There was a light drizzle and the clouds were playing. At moments we could see the top and at other moments it was hidden by clouds. We walked up the path and saw a few cows spread about the landscape. As we started up the steep path and arrived to where the path flattens we could see two or three chamois in the distance. I thought at first that it was just the mother I had seen several months earlier with her young one. As we approached and as the wind blew away some clouds we saw a full herd. [caption id=“attachment_2557” align=“aligncenter”] A herd of Chamois up at La Dole This was excellent. It is rare to see so many of them so close together like that and from such a short distance. At moments we were just metres away from them. It was a rare and welcome privilege. [caption id=“attachment_2558” align=“aligncenter”] Chamois approaching the cliff edge...
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  Caution: Bees — Sep 3, 2021

  Caution Bees...
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  Caught in a hailstorm 200 meters from the peak — Aug 14, 2017

  A few days ago a group of us were caught in a hailstorm 200 metres from the peak. When we were approaching the summit we aimed to climb clouds came in and covered the peak and rain fell. At this moment we had doubts about going on. Half an hour later the clouds had gone, we could see the summit and so we started for the summit. As we climbed up the conditions were good. There was a strong wind As we got within two-three hundred metres from the top the wind picked up and we could hear lightning several seconds away. At this point, we slowed our climb. [gallery ids=“3725,3726,3728”] As I looked behind I could see the clouds coming in fast and as I looked the other way I could see the clouds come that way too. By this point the wind was strong and the sky became dark with the clouds we were in. It started to rain and then hail. At first, it was a few very small hailstones but within a minute or two they became large enough to become painful through a cap and a rain jacket hood. We sheltered against rocks to minimise what was exposed to the weather. The intensity of the hail increased and as I started to feel pain I hitched my hiking bag over my head, shielding as much as I could beneath it. As I did this I looked out and it looked like someone was throwing buckets of hailstones. I could feel my trousers getting drenched and my hands got very cold. The wind shifted and the hailstones started to pummel my back and I stayed sheltered. It was an uncomfortable situation to be in. Water was running from my trousers into my shoes and my feet were soaked. When the hail started to subside I stood up and we started to head down. I looked up. One person from the group was rushing down and I decided to descend as well for a bit. I couldn’t see the person who was leading the group so I decided to wait. The storm seemed to have passed and I chose to wait. When he came down I blew into my hands vigorously, warming them up again. Diving in cold lakes I grew used to having cold hands so I did what I always did. I warmed them up again. This was a mild cold. After some dives, I had such cold hands that they hurt so badly that I was close to tears. In this scenario, I was just uncomfortable. The surface was white with hailstones, as if it had just snowed. The leader did come down, smiling. By this point it was an adventure. The concern we had from being in such a situation became amusement at having experienced extreme weather. It’s the first time that we had been caught in a hail stone after years of hiking in the mountains. I almost always carry my rain equipment when I’m hiking for just such an occurrence but usually, it’s just weight that I carry in case it is required....
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  Catkins in January — Jan 14, 2023

  Until today I didn’t know what catkins were because I never looked them up. “A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster (a spike), with inconspicuous or no petals…” according to Wikipedia. They are out at the moment and I know this is unusual because a few days ago I saw an article about how it was unusual to have pollen warnings at this time of year....
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  By The Sea — Dec 21, 2022

  Sometimes we walk by the sea, after spending months by a big lake. Living by a lake, and the sea are similar....
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  Brushing Shoes and Mindfulness — Dec 13, 2022

  Have you considered brushing shoes and mindfulness? I ask because as I have played with the brush, to clear dirty mud off my shoes I have noticed that this is a time consuming task that always takes several minutes, if not half an hour to complete. People stigmatise leaving a muddy trail behind you indoors, but as the last few shoe cleanings have shown, cleaning shoes is more time consuming than cleaning up after muddy shoes, especially when the mud is dry....
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  Broken Stones, Good Weather and Autumn — Sep 18, 2021

  Today as I looked at the ground I saw broken stones. The one in the image below is especially beautiful. I don’t know why there were more broken stones than usual. It seems that the conditions were right to bring the stones to the surface and for the farmers’ machinery to break them all to pieces. It’s impressive to see the size of some of the broken stones....
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  Bookcrossing and A November Walk — Nov 19, 2021

  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....
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  Bookcrossing and A November Walk — Nov 19, 2021

  richard - Nov 1, 2021...
• Blogging — Apr 8, 2023

  What job would you do for free?...
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  Blogging One Hundred And Fifty-Two Days In A Row — Nov 14, 2021

  Blogging one hundred and fifty-two days in a row is an interesting challenge. It encourages you to think of something daily, for months in a row. It also forces you to have the discipline to sit and attempt to write for one or two hours a day, whether inspiration is there or not. Often it isn’t. Add to this that most blog posts get zero views and you have a reason to stop and give up....
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  Beware The Storms — Jul 30, 2021

  A field with hay and trees...
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  Become A JavaScript Developer Completed and GeoJSON — Feb 4, 2022

  We’re in a pandemic, and it makes sense to invest time in learning. I completed the Become a JavaScript Developer course last night and today I played around with some code to see if it worked for what I wanted. It didn’t. I also listened to a live stream which discussed geojson, smapshot and other projects. I like the idea of geotagged data, and an open API to allow for the data to be shared more easily...
• Autumnal Colours — Sep 28, 2021

  One of the great things about using the word Autumn, rather than Fall, is that we can say that something looks Autumnal. We can say it with a single word. With the word Fall, you need to add context. Fall sounds like something people do when they make a mistake and lose their balance. I prefer Autumn, it is a nicer word....
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  Audiobooks, Instead of Podcasts — Oct 2, 2021

  I love books, and I love podcasts. We will never get to the end of our podcast queue, but we will work towards the end of our reading lists. My reading list is 70+ books long so it would take months of effort to get through. My goal is not that ambitious. My goal is to read the 25 books this year, that I set out to read. I am three behind schedule. At the start I was seven behind schedule so I have made up for the time that I have been missing. We will see whether I reach this year’s goal....
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  Approaching the Five Kilometre Mark — Feb 13, 2023

  I am approaching the five kilometre mark now. I am getting close to being able to run five kilometres in a row once again. It is paradoxical that I find running hard, compared to walking and cycling. I was able to run up to 13 kilometres before. Now I’m aiming for half, to a third less....
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  Application Programming Interfaces, Really Simple Syndication and the Open Protocols — Jun 3, 2023

  Twitter and Reddit want to charge people to use their API despite already wanting people to pay them directly. Twitter decided to drive users away and make itself more expensive. As a result of this the website is imploding, rather than thriving....
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  Apple Health Step Data Sources — Jan 15, 2023

  Yesterday I spent some time looking through Apple Health Data Sources. I see that there are plenty of data sources. These are the Apple watch, the iphone, Alltrails, move, connect, stepsapp, pacer, Suunto, Ingress and three more that are marked as inactive....
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  Apple Car Play and Roaming — Nov 16, 2021

  Several 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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  Another Walk By The Mediterranean. — Oct 20, 2021

  One treat of being in Spain is that some people do wear masks when walking outdoors. You are normal for wearing a mask....
• Another Pandemic Weekend Without Plans — Mar 5, 2021

  Normally at this time of year, as the snow melts and the temperatures increase the opportunity for spring and summer sports returns. These sports are via ferrata, outdoor climbing, hiking and more. This year is different because although today is Friday no plans have been made for the next two days. There is a excellent chance that I will either hike or cycle alone. Usually I avoid cycling on Saturdays because that is the day when people are anxiously driving between their homes and their shops....
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  Announced Rain and Storms — Jul 24, 2021

  They often announce rain and storms and we often get very little of either. The weather here is dry. The little rain that did fall was sandy. Farmers have harvested their crops but so far the rain is not worrying....
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  An Outdoor Workout — Aug 25, 2021

  We are in the middle of a pandemic and governments see no urgent reason to end it by rational means like soft lockdowns. As a result of this we can pay 1100 CHF per year to go to an indoor gym, rebreathing the same air as other people, using the same machines, and the same washrooms or we can go for the cheaper 49 CHF per month option but run the same risk. I found Option three. Some Freetness machines were installed in Celigny by a children’s playground....
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  An Interminable Pandemic — Jan 23, 2022

  At the same time as the number of active strains of Covid-19 are increasing governments in England, Switzerland and other countries are pushing the narrative that this summer will be normal, that we may no longer need the Covid passes and other such news. We are at a point where there is discussion about lifting restrictions at the same time as cases are going up. Some officials say "we will know whether this strain is dangerous to children in a month, so that’s when we will respond....
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  An Ingress Photo Walk Before The Rain — Oct 18, 2019

  Today I went for an Ingress Photo Walk before the rain and I eventually did have to go home because the phone was starting to get wet and there was no urgency to continue playing the game and walking....
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  An Excited Lake On A Windy Day — Feb 26, 2023

  https://youtu.be/UwJuKemh4VE...
• An Autumn walk at the foot of the Jura. — Oct 26, 2011

  An Autumn walk at the foot of the Jura. It was earlier today as I was doing the later shift. [flickr-gallery mode=“photoset” photoset=“72157627857326021”]...
• Amersports and Sports tracker — May 5, 2015

  Today Amer Sports announced that it has bought Sports tracker. Sports Tracker is an application that I have been using since I had the Nokia N95 8GB. I used it on symbian, iOS and Android devices over the years. What I love about this app is the way it displays information about the work out. It gives you several screens while you are exercising with the option to select which information you want to see most. [gallery columns=“2” ids=“2305,2306”] Once you arrive home and synchronise the workout with the web interface you can see the information displayed above. You can choose whether there is a topographic map, a normal map or satellite imagery. It is simple and intuitive to read. Suunto make devices that I like using. I have used the Suunto D9 diving computer, the Suunto D4i diving computer, the Suunto Ambit 2 and the Suunto Ambit3. Suunto dive computers are small diving computers that you can wear in day to day life. When you are passionate about diving this is nice. The Suunto Ambit family are more interesting for people who do land based sports. I used the Suunto Ambit 2 and 3 when doing via ferrata, hiking, cycling and other sports. The advantage of these fitness watches is that they have long battery life. This means that you can be active for two or three days before worrying about the battery dying. In this respect they are far better than mobile phones for fitness activity tracking. Suunto products and Sports tracker do not communicate natively. Suunto products synchronise with movescount. From movescount you need to export the GPX workout files and import them to Sports tracker. I would like to see Suunto devices communicate directly with Sports tracker. In my eyes the best option would have been for Sports tracker to buy movescount and for them to take over the web interface for Suunto. They both provide interesting web interfaces and combining the two would have been mutually beneficial. Time will show whether Amer Sports with links to sports tracker, precor and Suunto will come out with an interesting amalgamation of the three products/services. I look forward to finding out....
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  Ail Des Ours — Mar 18, 2023

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  Aerating Manure — Mar 22, 2023

  Today I saw a strange machine so I stopped to watch it in action. It went over a pile of manure and flipped it around to get air through the pile to help with the forming of fresh manure to spread on fields shortly....
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  A Weekend Walk During a Pandemic — May 14, 2022

  Today I went for my daily walk and I saw a shape. I thought, “That looks like a fox” and as I approached i had a doubt about it being a dog and I felt fear but I continued forward anyway. Eventually the fox noticed me, looked at me and then fled the other way. This is good news. This means that the fox was healthy, rather than rabied. It also means that I can keep being relaxed about seeing foxes....
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  A Walk While Downloading Files by FTP — Sep 19, 2021

  At the moment I study seven days a week without fail. Today I was learning about “Coding Your Own Wordpress Custom Post Types”. I think this will be interesting because you can create a new section to a website, or if not a section then at least a collection of assets. In the course they speak about businesses, events or other things. If this is what I think it is, then I will be happy to learn it....
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  A Walk Under Storm Clouds — Jun 24, 2021

  A Walk Under Clouds...
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  A Walk To The Chateau De Bossey — Aug 21, 2021

  I walked to the Chateau De Bossey today. It’s an easy walk from one village to another and another after that....
• A walk through the Vaud countryside. — Jul 25, 2010

  Every sunday I try not to use the car at all. As a result I went for a walk through the local countryside and experimented with the new camera. I was looking at the streams but they were quite low, not such a great opportunity to test the underwater part. [flickr-gallery mode=“photoset” photoset=“72157624577824618”]...
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  A Walk in The Swiss Sun — Jan 24, 2022

  Yesterday I read that we will have sun for at least a few more weeks due to a high pressure system over this part of Europe and this afternoon I read that it is snowing in Greece. Normally, out of pandemic I would love sunny days because it would mean climbing, cycling, hiking and more. During a pandemic it means solitary mud while avoiding being run over by cars, walking through the mud to avoid couples, and wearing a mask when you have to be close to others....
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  A Walk In The Snow — Dec 9, 2022

  Today I went for a walk in the snow. It wasn’t snowing and I wasn’t in a blizzard but there was snow on the ground. I like when it snows because the landscape looks different. It reminds us of a different age, of old post cards, and a time when the planet was cooler....
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  A Walk In The Shade — Aug 15, 2021

  A walk from one forest to another from Founex to Arnex....
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  A Walk By The Mediterranean. — Oct 19, 2021

  Have you walked by the Mediterranean recently? I walked by it today. It was blue and Green, turquoise and red. The sea was calm and a sailing boat or two set off to sail from one place to another....
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  A Walk By The Léman — Jan 20, 2022

  Today I walked down from a village towards the Léman and passed by the UEFA headquarters and football fields before walking by the car Park to the Colovrey Swimming pool. There were very few people, except a few cyclists. The road was good. I went down to the water and took two or three pictures before heading back up....
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  A Walk at the Snow Line — Mar 29, 2023

  The most striking thing about a winter with little to no snow is that there is no noise. Normally ski lifts clank, people talk and there is a lot of noise...
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  A walk Above the Woods — Sep 20, 2019

  Sometimes a walk above the woods is easy. I don’t mean walking while flying hanging from a parapente. I mean walking at an altitude where there are fewer trees....
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  A View of The Lake Léman and the Mont Blanc — Jul 5, 2021

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• A Third of Green Travel — Jan 15, 2022

  I am surprised by thirty two cities. Did I drive through them or walk through them? A quarter of my travel was green....
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  A Ten Kilometre Sunday Ingress Walk — Oct 21, 2019

  I was going to take the scooter but it was stuck by three SUVs so I had no option but to lazily give up and go on a 10 kilometre Sunday Ingress walk. I couldn’t be bothered running up to the second floor, getting the car keys, moving the car, getting the scooter out and then moving the car back. This is especially true since it’s going to rain tomorrow....
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  A Storm Warning — Jun 21, 2022

  Today I see that there is a nice storm warning. Storm warnings, during a heatwave are nice because it means that despite the heats we will have a short fun reprieve. I hope for thunder and lightning. There is every chance that the anticipated storm will not happen. We can sit and hope. This type of storm brings with it a risk of hail....
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  A Storm Alert Despite Nice Weather — Jul 28, 2021

  Good Walking weather despite the storm warning. The weather is stable. We should have sun tomorrow....
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  A Spring Walk — Mar 4, 2023

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  A Solar Powered Watch in Spain — Nov 29, 2021

  A solar powered watch in Spain...
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  A Simple iPhone - iCloud solution — Jan 22, 2022

  A few years ago I bought a 256 gigabyte iphone because I wanted more space and for a long time it was great because it meant that I had plenty of room to grow into. The issue comes when you get to over 200 gigabytes of data stored in iCloud because you go from 3 CHF per month to 10 CHF per month. You go from 36 CHF per year to 120 CHF per year. That is a big increase....
• A Saturday Walk During A Pandemic — Mar 6, 2021

  Last week it was comfortable and warm so it was tempting to go cycling. This week it has gone back to being cold. Yesterday it was cold and windy and today was cold but sunny. I went for my usual walk but rather than listen to a podcast I watched TikTok videos as I walked at full speed. I am so used to the paths that I do not always need to pay attention....
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  A Rebel Sunflower. — Aug 2, 2021

  One sunflower is looking the wrong way. The morning sun is in the other direction....
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  A Rainy Day — Mar 19, 2023

  I hate pandemic weekends because out of pandemic I would be free to do a lot. In pandemic I am not free to do those things....
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  A Rainy Day And Masks — Oct 22, 2021

  Plenty of rain today....
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  A Queue of Tractors Without Drivers — Oct 16, 2021

  Today I saw a queue of tractors without drivers. Tractors with trailers full of beat were parked by the on loading dock at the railway siding. There is a machine. The tractors come up to the machine, back, and then start to pour the sugar beet into it. The machine then transports the beets from the receptacle along conveyor belts before they are dumped into a train wagon, ready for transport by rail to where they are needed. I filmed it a few days ago but did not get around to editing the sequence....
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  A Penguin Feeding a Chick in Switzerland — Aug 20, 2021

  A penguin feeding a chick....
• A nice day for a ride — Jul 21, 2021

  A road between green trees....
• A long drive without stops — Oct 31, 2021

  I didn’t have time to write today....
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  A July September Day — Sep 8, 2021

  I saw a deer...
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  A Home Made Valor Hot Chocolate — Feb 6, 2022

  There is a high probability that I will regret putting paprika into the hot chocolate that I prepared for myself. It says to use four squares per 200ml but I used just six for 500ml. I let it warm up and melt the chocolate for the most part before adding some paprika, to make a spicier hot chocolate....
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  A Heron on a Hay Bale. — Aug 9, 2021

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  A Happy Pan - When Oil Smiled — Oct 12, 2021

  Yesterday I had a happy pan, when the oil smiled at me. I didn’t intend for it to become a smiley face. I poured in the oil as I always do before cooking. That’s when my imagination thought it saw something. Yep, a face. I was amused enough, and I thought that my imagination was seeing something clear enough for others to recognise, so I took pictures....
• A Funny Sight — Mar 24, 2023

  Easter...
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  A forest walk by Chavannes Centre — May 28, 2019

  When I cycle towards Geneva i often pass by a forest near Chavannes centre. Usually I only skirt the exterior of the forest but I have twice passed through it on a bike on my way back from Geneva. Yesterday I drove the scooter to Chavannes centre and parked it where scooters and bikes can be parked....
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  A Flawed Approach To Ending A Pandemic — Nov 18, 2021

  Switzerland is currently following a flawed approach to ending a pandemic, because rather than taking a pro-active approach to preventing outbreaks in various communities across Switzerland they are doing the opposite. They are ignoring the problem until it flares up enough that they can no longer pretend to see it. Today the number of cases has reached 6000 a day for the whole of Switzerland....
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  A Field Filled With a Multitude of Flowers — May 16, 2022

  Plenty of yellow, some purple and other types of flowers in a field nearby...
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  A fear of mountain trails - a healthy concern — Jul 28, 2016

  In Switzerland you grow up walking on mountain paths that are narrow and steep. One one side you have the mountain and on the other you have a steep slope. I remember having a fear of mountain trails once or twice in the German part of Switzerland. I think it was in Kandersteg. You walk along a path high above a lake. If you fall and slip in the grass then you may be unable to stop. You could fall off the cliff. Fear or concern are normal in such circumstances. A week ago we went climbing as a group of friends in the Jura near Vallorbe. One person was scared. I was not there to witness this person’s fear but a year ago I did accompany someone who was afraid. I slowed down to that person’s speed and provided a hand when needed. I also provided moral support. These trails are an integral part of Via Ferrata. When I was still a child I did slide on the way up to La Dole but stopped within metres of where I fell. I climbed back up with no problem. Ironically last week someone did slip when we were walking back at night. He did not slide far. Luckily the person who was afraid missed this incident. [caption id=“attachment_3200” align=“aligncenter”] Walking up to a via ferrata If you want to do the Via Ferrata du Rocher de Naye you walk on narrow trails with a steep drop on one side. Experience keeps us sure-footed. Experience tells us that if we do slip or fall we can recover. We know how to avoid slipping and falling in the first place. [caption id=“attachment_3201” align=“aligncenter”] Danger of falling The reality of the mountains is that we do hear of people slipping and sliding to their deaths when hiking in the mountains. In summer the stories of people killed by avalanches are replaced by the stories of older hikers sliding to their deaths. The dangers and threat are real and it is for this reason that experienced hikers need to help less experienced hikers. We need to keep those we are with both safe and comfortable. If they are uncomfortable we must turn around and find a more appropriate route. [caption id=“attachment_3202” align=“aligncenter”] "Beware, dangerous corridor, you are committing yourself under your own responsibility. When you complete the Rocher de Naye Via Ferrata you can either go down with the train or you can hike down via this route. This route takes you via a scree field where rocks are loose. You could slip and slide or you could loosen rocks that hit people below you. [caption id=“attachment_3203” align=“aligncenter”] Walking down from the Tour D’aï Either you can walk up to the Tour D’aï or you can enjoy the Via Ferrata. If you enjoy the via ferrata you must keep in mind that you are walking down an alpine trail to get back. These are marked by the blue and white trail markers. There is a sheer drop to the side of this trail. Wearing the right shoes and being sure-footed is key. The landscape is beautiful from this vantage point but experience is key to staying safe....
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  A Fallen Tree. Images taken With The Crosscall S4 — Jan 8, 2022

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  A Distinct Change In Pandemic Attitude - Pandemic Travel — Nov 22, 2021

  I am against travel during a pandemic. I am against venturing further than a two hour walk. To be more accurate I was against these things until the vaccines. My attitude since then has changed because of the indifference and incompetence governments have shown. Instead of having a primary and a backup safety measure they have gone for a primary, with no backup solution....
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  A Different Challenge — Mar 17, 2023

  I like the long project but I decided to try a shorter one first....
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  A Day In The Clouds — Jan 25, 2022

  Today was a different to recent days because we spent it within the clouds, rather than beneath, or above them. It is hard to be above the clouds when you are near lake level. SRF has two nice time lapses of clouds flowing over a mountain as if it was water, or dry ice. Choose the one you prefer....
• A Curious Little Fox — Jun 3, 2013

  I enjoy to go on walks that last from one to two hours and to explore the area where I live. In doing so I see interesting wildlife. Just yesterday I came across a furry little fox. I didn’t have my proper camera so I had to go home and get it. This is some of the footage I managed to get. He’s cute isn’t he?...
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  A Cupboard Filled With Books — Jan 29, 2023

  Yesterday I went for one of my usual one and three quarter hour walks and when I came into one village I noticed a green cupboard so I opened it and looked inside....
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  A Cold Walk In The Wind — Jan 11, 2022

  Today I went for a cold walk in the wind. The wind was blowing from west to East so for at least half of the walk I had it in my face. This was a good day to wear a cagoule and to wear the face mask, even when people were not around. The windchill made walking unpleasant and I even considered skipping my daily walk but didn’t. I am disciplined enough to walk, even when it is unpleasant. This weather is frustrating because we have the cold, without any of the beauty. It would be nice to have this cold, with snow and ice, rather than just ice....
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  A Cloudy Sky — Sep 29, 2021

  Today as I walked from one village to another I looked up the hill and I saw a cloud arch framing a nearby village and I had to take a picture. The framing of the image was rather unique. It is below. Is it kitsch? There is a good chance. It was unique, so I captured it....
• A City Scape — Jan 12, 2022

  A city scape made of water bottles and shadows....
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  A Cat on An Aluminium Roof. — Aug 8, 2021

  A cat on An aluminium roof, not tin....
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  A Call for More Cycling and Walking Paths — Nov 29, 2022

  I walk or cycle almost every day across five or six villages per walk, and more on bikes. During these walks and bike rides I see that there is a chronic lack of safe walking and cycling routes, if you want to go for any distance. Almost every village has five, six or more roads in and out of it, but there are no safe walking or cycling routes...
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  A Busy day — Sep 7, 2021

  I did not write today, because I was busy....
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  A Bull in a Field — Jun 28, 2021

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  A Break From Listening To Podcasts — Nov 12, 2021

  For two or three months at least I have taken a break from listening to podcasts. I used to enjoy listening to podcasts every single day. I would listen when I walked, I would listen on the commute. I would listen when I cooked. During this pandemic, I found that I could stand fewer and fewer podcasts....
• A blog of interest and walking — Aug 31, 2008

  When I started reading Made in England by Gentlemen the blog was about technology but over the past few months the subject of the blog has changed. It’s now a blog about walking, and it’s not just any walk. They had decided to spend several months walking the Continental Divide trail and blogging the entire trip. What I’ve enjoyed are the images and some of the comments. It’s a picture adventure of beautiful lanscapes. It’s just two friends who walk, occasionaly teamed up by a GF or a brother and father before continuing on the journey. It’s something I’d like to do. Every day I walk for an hour or two, covering about 12 kilometers. It’s nothing in contrast but it’s an important part of my daily routine. It’s been part of my daily routine for years now, since the IB. I love the solitude of the walk. It’s a moment where you’re in your thoughts and the only distraction is the music or podcast you’re listening to. It’s a moment when day dreams and dreams form and where other ideas come to an end. It’s a point of refreshing the mind. It’s also about pleasure and endurance. When you start walking every day walking jsut two or three kilometers could seem tiring, then 5-6. Eventually as you get more and more used to the walk you’re taking so the loop gets bigger and the more you need that walk. It’s one of those enjoyable things. In London I missed not having kilometers of paths to walk down. In London I would walk through central London from one part to another and I’d get to know the whole city. I’d get to see places and how they were linked. I often joked with friends that when you’re in London you should get to a tube station and walk away from it for as long as you’re not tired. Once you’re tired find the next tube station, get back to somewhere you know and travel in another direction. After living for years in a place you get to know every street and every corner. Every place has a memory and you might even burst out laughing… well not quite. It would look strange. It’s familiarity. It’s that thing that the main character in L’auberge Espagnole talks about when he’s fresh into the city. “at first all the streets are unknown and resemble each other but at the end ever one of them has memories”. that’s when you’ve lived in a place long enough. Do many of you walk far? Do you walk fast? Is the walk part of something you do everyday?...
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  A 360 timelapse walk through the woods — Jun 22, 2016

  Yesterday I went for a 360 timelapse walk through the woods above Trelex. I set the camera to take an image every 8 seconds. As the woods were dark and dense it took some effort not to walk in too much mud and not to slip too many times. The result of the timelapse is not as good as I had hoped. Ideally I want to find a way to fix the camera so that it looks at my direction of travel. From this footage you see that the camera suffered with the lack of light and that because the camera occasionally rotated to the right it is easy to become disorientated. It is for this reason that it is useful to find wide open spaces when possible and to find places with a lot of ambient light. What I like about this video is that we can see the various exercise locations. We can see the horizontal bars, the rings and other activities. When I design something to hold the camera steady while I walk with it I can have a little more fun. I could hang on the rings or play with the bars. With a little luck the month and a half of bad weather is coming to an end and I will be able to go out and get to some interesting locations to film some time lapses. There are a number of panoramic locations that I think would lend themselves well to 360° views. Imagine a walk by the lake side or a walk near the summit with a view of the landscape below. What locations or sites would you like to see as 360° timelapse videos?...