Switzerland

A cat on An aluminium roof, not tin.

Rain filled river It has rained enough to fill the rivers now. I walked in the rain for an hour and a half and might have crossed one cyclist and one other person. I did count five herons in a field. Hay balls in a field on a rainy day. Spot the five herons. In one location several roads are saturated by rainwater flowing off of the fields. Shoes in high water on a road.

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.

Wet chickens Chickens in the rain, for a change.

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. I chose routes that kept me as far from cars as possible. I also chose wider roads. They may be safer. The challenge is to find roads where cars are banned.

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. Today I had to be respectful when passing two horses. They can often be afraid when they see cyclists, as we look strange. Bright colours, a strange machine underneath us. It can also be that the rider is also a little afraid.

Good Walking weather despite the storm warning. The weather is stable. We should have sun tomorrow.

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? Cows in Switzerland have a good life. They head from the valleys to the top of mountains, eat grass, and then have siestas in the middle of the day.

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.

Grains in a hand, found on the road. According to my watch, and farmers, a storm is coming. That’s why they are busy trying to harvest all the grain before it hits. At this time of year you can watch the combine harvesters harvesting all the fields and collecting grain. You can then see tractors following up and gathering what they leave on the fields and making plenty of bails.