Every single day I walk, run, or cycle. It doesn’t matter whether it’s rainy, sunny, windy, snowy or other. I do this out of habit. I know of quite a few routes that I can walk, run or cycle so there are variants. Some are long, some are short. If it’s going to rain I may choose a shorter route.
Leysins Group Hike Today I could have driven to Leysin to do a group hike.
Yesterday I walked with a light rain coat because it rained a few times during the day. This morning it has been raining heavily for hours. I stepped outside to get 4 season tyres from the post box for the bike and my back was quite wet after a few minutes.
Such rain might feel limiting if it fell several times a week, but it doesn’t. It usually falls heavily for a few hours, and then it stops for a few days, before coming back.
Today it’s raining, which may imply that I will not go out for a walk, or a run, and definitely not a bike ride. It also implies that I am wearing the Apple watch for no reason today. My step count will be low, as will my calories burned count, and finally my exercise minutes. On a day like today I could keep it off, for peace of mind. I really wish Apple Fitness behaved like Strava, rather than a silo.
This year I have spent 350 hours hiking and walking according to Strava. In contrast I have spent just 44 hours cycling. If I had spent as much time cycling as I did walking then my cycling fitness would be higher than it is at the moment.
Part of me wishes that I had spent more time cycling but another part of me spends less time cycling than walking because finding safe cycling paths is not so easy in a place as densely populated as the Arc Lémanique.
This weekend when I hiked to Valangin I thought that I would found a water fountain along the way, so I took just 600ml of water. A few weeks ago when I went to Charmey I took the same amount of water because I didn’t want too much weight for the Via Ferrata. The result is that I have run out of water twice recently.
The paradox is that this isn’t because I lack water bottles.
Yesterday I went for a 50km bike ride that took two hours. During the first half the weather was good, and it felt warm. I cycled down to Nyon and towards Prangins, before cycling back towards Nyon before heading to Duiller and from there up towards Genolier, but not the direct route because of roadworks. I went up via a smaller town. When I got to Genolier I then went down the hill before heading back up to the road that takes you via the top of Trelex before cycling to Gingins and up via the golf of Bonmont before riding to La Rippe and up via the upper route that takes you to Divonne via the upper route.
A few days ago they announced a “cocktail météorologique explosif” but the result I saw from my vantage point was some medium rain, and plenty of rain and thunder. The thunder was constant for quite a while.
When I saw the weather warnings my fear was that we would end up with hail. I have seen the damage that hail can do to nature. It shreds trees, destroys veluxes and more.
For five years it was sunny almost every day in Switzerland. It was sunny so often that the water tables declined and village fountains dried up, as did fields. Clouds of dust could be seen rising when tractors worked the fields. It’s because of this excellent weather, for years in a row, that I stopped looking at weather apps.
Now, weather is interesting again. Two or three weeks ago Geneva flooded.
Yesterday it rained so consistantly that I didn’t leave the house. I stayed indoors the entire day. I wanted to go out but because of the never-ending rain I never set foot outside.
I considered going for a run but by the time I had digested I considered that the rain would be soaking. I don’t like not going out.
I could have gone for a meetup event on Saturday and enjoyed snow, crampons, plenty of climbing and descending, while hiking.
Rain was forecast today. If rain had not been forecast then I would have driven to Ins, near the Lake of Murten near Neuchatel to go around the lake at a slow up. I didn’t go, not because rain was forecast, but because rain was expected although not quantified. I like to drive and do things, sometimes, but if I drive so far, especially to do something in relative solitude I would prefer to do it when the weather is good, rather than rainy.